Participating in a Legal Clinic
If you are at all curious about applying for a clinic, this article is for you!
I have had the wonderful opportunity to work at the Thompson Rivers University Community Legal Clinic (“TRU CLC”) since the beginning of this semester.
In case you are not familiar with what a legal clinic is, it is a ‘class’ you take where you get to gain experience working on real-life files. Most clinics are somewhat limited in their scope due to client income guidelines, the complexity of the legal issues, or levels of representation. Regardless, a clinic takes on real clients with real legal issues and has students work under the supervision of professor(s) or lawyer(s) while receiving class credits like they would for any other course. Typically, legal clinics are only available for upper-year students. Legal clinics serve as a free service to those in need of legal information and/or advice.
Applying
The application process for the TRU CLC was very similar to applying for a job. However, to participate in the TRU CLC there is a pre-requisite/co-requisite, requiring students to take Community Lawyering. The Community Lawyering course fosters practical skills like client interviewing and legal research while teaching about areas of law like residential tenancy, advanced planning, and employment. If you are not interested in applying at a clinic, but your school offers a course like this, I highly recommend you take it anyway.
For the application itself, I had to submit my transcript, statement of interest (I treated this like a cover letter), and resumé. Applications were evaluated based on the applicants' year at TRU, skills, experiences, and interest in the clinic itself.
The application process is the time to sell yourself, explain to the admissons comittee why they should pick you. What will you bring to the clinic that will benefit their clients? What experiences do you have that make you the right person for the position?
The Experience
I am currently about halfway through my clinic term and I am really enjoying it. Not only am I promoting access to justice, but I am gaining so much experience and practical knowledge in the process.
While I did have an articling position last summer, TRU CLC has still been a pretty big learning curve for me. For the most part, students do everything on their own. If you want to know what the first or fifth step in the divorce process is, look it up. Yes, there are people there to help, but their job is not to tell us what to do, but to supervise our learning and make sure we are executing things correctly. The beginning of the term was a learning curve because, for most things, I did not even know where to start. The thought of someone else’s personal life depending on my expertise was intimidating. However, as I work through a wider variety of legal issues, my confidence grows and I am more comfortable being uncomfortable. I now know that I will be able to figure it out.
In addition to the learning curve I faced in the first couple of weeks, I have also had trouble balancing my other courses and the clinic. I often found myself struggling to rationalize doing my ethics readings when I can be working on someone’s tenancy issue. It is quite ironic at times too… what is more ethical? Reading for ethics? Or assisting someone in keeping their housing, preventing them from being on the streets? It is not that I do not have the time to work on clinic work during clinic hours, I just feel that I have to get it done as soon as I can. There is a voice in the back of my head saying ‘…but this is someone's life, they are counting on you’.
Despite these drawbacks, I would do the clinic 100x over, I do not regret my decision to do it at all. The things I am struggling with now, I know I would struggle with in practice too. I would rather experience the learning curve and learn to balance life and the law now, as opposed to in an articling term. Overall, TRU CLC has been really great. I am fortunate to have gained so much experience while still in school, like having the opportunity to deal with tenancy issues, drafting wills and other advanced planning, and matters in family law, human rights, small claims, and tort law.
A professor of mine once discussed how to make yourself stand out to employers:
He said “there are many things you can do, but I suggest that there are three particular “gold stars” that you can get in law school that really stand out: 1) journal, 2) clinic, and 3) moots.”
I chose the clinic. Hopefully, this article helps you make an informed decision, but I think the clinic is the way to go. Get your gold star!
