Advocacy. Impact. Justice.
Celebrating 30 Years as a Leader in Clinical Education
The seeds of UBalt's Clinical Law Program were sown in the late 1980s, when top scholars and practitioners joined the faculty to launch the first few clinics. These core faculty–which included Prof. Jane Murphy, Prof. Don Stone, Barbara Mello and Jane Schukoske–set high standards of rigorous pedagogy that would lead to the program being ranked among the top 14 clinical law programs in the nation by 2020.
Critical state funding, obtained with the assistance of then-U.S. Rep. Ben Cardin, gave a major boost to the clinical program in 1990 and allowed the hiring of several tenure-track professors and staff attorneys.
The clinical tradition at UBalt has always focused on client representation and advocacy for systemic change, but its deep pride comes from the achievements of the student-attorneys while in clinic and the alumni and former teaching fellows, who carry the mission with them to law firms, legal services organizations, government agencies, and law schools across the country.
"I don't think students learn something until they apply it," says Murphy. "And it has more meaning and importance when a real client's life is involved. I've seen students really blossom and develop as lawyers in this setting."
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