Poster Presentation: Why UI? A Case To Take On Another Case

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Session Type: Poster Presentation

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In the traditional single semester litigation clinic, students often get only a glimpse of one segment of litigation and rarely ever participate in trial. This limited view can prevent students from seeing the forest through the trees. One of the core lawyering skills commonly taught in litigation clinics is trial advocacy, however our students rarely ever get to exercise that muscle. However, the short lifecycle of state public benefits hearings allows students to interview and counsel clients, develop a case theory, and engage in a trial-like hearing all in one semester, while maintaining several other active matters. This poster will share a developing model at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau (HLAB) where, in addition to their primary cases, students can represent a claimant in an unemployment hearing. Using HLAB as a model, this poster will seek to address several of the common perceived barriers to adding unemployment insurance hearings to any litigation clinic and examine the benefits of the same.