AALS Academy Program

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Session Type: AALS Academy Programs

Session Capacity: 198

Hotel: New York Hilton Midtown

Room: Sutton Center

Floor: Second Floor

Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) is a health care delivery model that recognizes that some barriers to good health have legal solutions. For example, a child suffering from asthma may require legal representation to force a landlord to address the mold or other adverse housing conditions that are exacerbating her condition. Other areas where unmet legal needs create barriers to good health include public benefits, employment, insurance, interpersonal violence, immigration, end-of-life, and education. In an MLP, legal care and health care are integrated, allowing lawyers to engage in preventive legal services that impact the health of especially vulnerable populations. Traditionally, MLPs have been forged between community healthcare providers and lawyers that work for legal aid organizations or law firm pro bono departments. But law schools have much to contribute to and gain from these partnerships. This program will introduce law faculty to MLP and its potential to further the educational, research, and community engagement/social justice missions of their schools. In addition to law school faculty currently engaged in MLP, the panel will also offer perspectives from the National Center for MLP and a law school dean regarding the benefits of MLP to legal education.