Family Law Clinic

Courses

• Family Law Clinic - 4 credits
• Family Law Clinic - 1 credit

Professor: Lissette Diaz
Offered: Fall and Spring semesters.
Credits: 5

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Introduction

The Family Law Clinic provides free legal services to individuals needing representation in a variety of family law matters. The cases may include, but are not limited to, restraining orders, divorces, custody and parenting time issues, and support issues. Students work under the supervision of the clinical professor, but assume primary responsibility for their assigned cases, including court appearances.

Clinical Law Practice

Students work closely under the supervision of clinical faculty in all phases of case work from initial client interview through court decision or other case resolution. Students will interview and counsel clients, work with interpreters, interview witnesses, conduct fact investigations, engage in legal research and analysis, and draft pleadings, motions, briefs and other legal documents. Students will also be immersed in the litigation process, which may include arguing motions, conducting negotiations, participating in mediation, preparing clients and witnesses for trial, and representing clients at trial.

Students are required to spend approximately fifteen hours per week in practice during the spring and fall semesters, for a total of 195 hours during the semester.

Recent cases handled by students in the Family Law Clinic include:

1. Represented a mother in negotiating a consent order for custody and parenting time of her minor child. The student attorney prepared for the court hearing and, prior to the hearing, drafted and negotiated a comprehensive consent order with opposing counsel, taking into account and achieving our client’s primary objectives. This negotiation helped our client to avoid the time and emotional cost associated with litigation.

2. Advocated for a woman with mental and physical disabilities, who had been strangled by her husband in front of their one-year old son. After a contested trial at which the student presented the client’s testimony as well as documentary evidence, the court entered a Final Restraining Order that granted sole custody to the client, supervised visitation, and child support. The defendant attempted to retaliate against the client by filing a false criminal complaint and false charges of abuse with the Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCPP). Clinic students aided in the dismissal of the criminal charges and the closing of the DCPP case through informal advocacy.

3. Successfully obtained the return of a nine-year-old girl to her mother in Colombia after she had been wrongfully detained by her father in the U.S. for over nine months. The mother had raised the child for the first eight years of her life after the father left for the United States shortly after the child’s birth. Then one December, the father requested that his daughter visit him in the United States for a couple of weeks during the holiday school break. Towards what was planned to be the end of their daughter’s visit, the father told the mother that he would not return the child to Colombia as they had agreed, but instead wanted to keep the child permanently in the United States. Horrified, the mother quickly sought legal representation and the Center for Social Justice accepted her case. The mother’s student attorney filed a compelling Complaint, Order to Show Cause, and supporting Legal Brief pursuant to The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction as well as applicable federal and New Jersey state law. The judge was so appalled by the situation that he heard oral argument by the student attorney and father’s counsel on the day the complaint was filed and ordered immediate removal of the child from the father’s home under police escort to avoid any attempt by the father to abscond with her. Shortly thereafter, the child was reunited with her mother.

4. Represented a woman in a contested domestic violence hearing against a former boyfriend who had stalked and harassed her, making her feel unsafe in her own home. The student attorney assisted with preparing for the hearing, including client interview, legal research and evidence preparation. The student attorney also provided the client with resource information, including the Victim’s Crime Compensation Office. The Court entered a Final Restraining Order in favor of our client.

The Seminar

The classroom component will include lectures and simulations reviewing the substantive law in the relevant practice areas, practice and procedure, and advanced trial advocacy skills.

Note: You will be required to attend class, office hours and court hearings during the day. If your employment situation is not flexible in this regard this may not be an appropriate clinical placement.