Duration: One semester clinic

Credits: 4 credits per semester (grade pass/fail)

Students attend class in addition to working at an assigned placement one full day each week.  At the beginning of each semester, there is an intensive three to four-hour class scheduled on a Saturday or Sunday to prepare students prior to the beginning of their placement.Placements may be in a District Court, a Legal Services program or a shelter-based office.  Some students are placed in Suffolk County at either Chelsea or East Boston District Court; these placements are coordinated by HarborCOV, a local DV program in Chelsea.  Another DV program in Essex County will sometimes take students for the Salem and Lynn offices.Additionally, Greater Boston Legal Services has accepted students at the Domestic Violence office staffed at Suffolk Probate and Family Court in Boston.In Norfolk County students have worked with the victim-witness advocates of the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office in Quincy, Dedham and Wrentham District Courts or Norfolk Probate and Family Court in Canton.  Students work with anyone seeking information and/or assistance after they have been abused by an intimate partner, spouse or family member.  Students can assist at hearings for orders of protection and advise on pressing criminal charges for domestic violence-related crimes, including violation of protective orders.Students placed at a Legal Services office often work with survivors of abuse within the context of Family Law cases under the supervision of a Family Law attorney.  Similarly, the Essex County program will place a student with a Family Law attorney or with an Immigration attorney working with survivors.In addition to the above-described responsibilities, students are required to attend at least monthly supervisory meetings once their placement has begun, to keep a journal on their placement and to maintain case files for all cases involving representation.

Questions: Contact Christine Butler, Practioner in Residence at cbutler@suffolk.edu