Since its launch in 2008, the KU Law Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) has provided free legal assistance to thousands of low-income patients at area hospitals while offering hands-on training to law students. Lou Mulligan, Earl B. Shurtz Research Professor and director of the MLP program, said the MLP benefits its host sites, its patient-clients and its student interns. “Our patient-clients lives …
Ensuring justice through the Project for Innocence
I firmly believe that every single law student at KU should participate in a clinic before they leave. My year as an intern in the Paul E. Wilson Project for Innocence and Post-Conviction Remedies improved my legal writing, lawyering and client-management skills, and appellate advocacy. Interns also receive a first-hand look at the criminal justice system and the post-conviction remedies …
Student Spotlight: Liz Thompson pursues justice for clients that ‘feel like they are voiceless’
Liz Thompson is passionate about public defense. Thompson, a third-year law student from Salina, spent her summer in New Orleans as a law clerk at Orleans Public Defenders (OPD). OPD is an organization that provides legal assistance and representation for individuals that are unable to afford an attorney. According to the OPD website, the organization represents nearly 20,000 people each …
Taking the lead: Meet KU Law’s student publication editors
Third-year law students Denise Dantzler and Joy Merklen are embracing their roles as editor-in-chief for each of the law school’s two student-edited publications. Merklen leads the Kansas Law Review, and Dantzler heads up the Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy. Dantzler and Merklen learned about their selections this spring, and have been at work setting goals, reviewing write-on submissions …
Student Spotlight: Aidan Graybill bolsters values of tribal community through internship
Second-year law student Aidan Graybill plans to utilize her legal education to practice tribal law. Graybill is a member of the Wyandot Nation of Kansas, which is based in Kansas City, Kansas. This summer, Graybill is an intern for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation’s tribal prosecutor in Mayetta, Kansas. The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation is one of four federally recognized …
Gaining experience through the Criminal Prosecution Field Placement
During my first year of law school, I was convinced that I wanted to practice family law. One summer as an intern for a Kansas District Judge warned me off that career pathway real quick. Instead, I became fascinated with criminal prosecution. Following my judicial internship and subsequent interest in criminal prosecution, I structured my 2L schedule entirely around the …