The benefits of the School of Law's community outreach initiatives were displayed last Thursday, when Gov. Mike Easley granted clemency at the eleventh hour to Charlie Mason Alston, Jr., a client of the school's Death Penalty Clinic who was scheduled for execution early Friday morning.
The Death Penalty Clinic, which uses Duke law students to provide free representation for inmates on death row, is one of three clinics established by the law school to encourage students to lend a helping hand to the surrounding community.
"The Duke Law School has seen the need in the community and wants to contribute our expertise to the outreach efforts," said Jane Wettach, senior lecturing fellow at the law school and director of the Children's Legal Clinic, which will specialize in cases concerning education, federal aid and children with disabilities when it opens its doors later this month.
In addition to the death penalty and children's clinics, the law school operates the Duke Legal Assistance Program, which provides free legal services--such as drafting legal documents, setting up standby guardianship for clients' children and representing clients at legal hearings--to clients suffering from AIDS and HIV.
The AIDS clinic, also run by Wettach, has been in operation for about six years now and sees around 100 clients a year.
The clinics serve two purposes, Wettach said. "[The clinics] acquaint students with their professional obligation to provide legal service to the less fortunate," she said, and they give students the opportunity to hone legal skills such as "interviewing and counseling clients and creating and implementing legal strategy."
Law student Carie Hersh agreed, describing her time working at the Duke Legal Assistance Program as "a very valuable educational and inspirational experience."
Clients are normally referred to the clinics by professionals and other organizations that are aware of the assistance they offer. The cases are then assigned to the students working at the clinics or at other law firms in the community.
Throughout the various stages, all of the work--from drafting legal documents to representing clients at actual hearings--is handled by the students. However, lawyers from either the University's faculty or other firms supervise the work and make comments as needed. Law students working at the clinics receive classroom credit.
Students at the Death Penalty Clinic, in cooperation with North Carolina attorneys, help develop post-conviction appeals for clients like Alston by conducting legal research, reviewing trial records, creating mitigation work-ups and interviewing defendants, family members and jurors.
At the same time, a classroom component of the program focuses on Supreme Court decisions regarding the death penalty, the Eighth Amendment and standards for capital punishment and post-conviction proceedings. Students also have the opportunity to meet with death penalty trial attorneys.
"Students are given the opportunity to see how the legal system works in an important, complex and very controversial area of law," said James Coleman, professor of the practice of law. "Students gain a unique insight into aspects of the legal system and the way it works that very few people, law students and attorneys alike, achieve."
The death penalty course was started in the late 1980s, and the clinical component was added in 1995.
The new Children's Law Clinic will be located downtown near the Five Points area. Originally, the law school worked with the University's Neighborhood Partnership Initiative to possibly locate the clinic in one of the NPI's community centers, but due to difficulties with space and timing, the attempt fell through.
John Burness, senior vice president for public affairs and government relations, said downtown is favorable due to its central location and accessibility to public transportation. The law school, however, is still looking into the possibility of working in conjunction with the NPI to set up workshops in the neighborhoods, Wettach said.
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