Community Development Clinic Information for Clients
The Clinic’s Work
The Community Development Clinic serves nonprofit and community organizations in Alabama and the US, international and foreign nongovernmental organizations, and local, rural governments.
Working under Prof. Baker’s supervision, students in the Community Justice Clinic work on corporate, transactional, operational, and policy matters for its organizational clients. In a client-centered practice, students write, research, draft, counsel, advise, and represent clients. Students will usually work in teams. This work includes significant contact, ongoing communication, many meetings, and cultivated relationships with clients. The work product will include formation and founding documents, government applications and filings, governance and operational policies, procedures and forms, contracts, letters, memos, and more. Our work may include community education and public presentations.
The Clinic’s Courses
The Community Development Clinic requires students to enroll and complete its seminar course for 2 units and its casework course for 4 units. Both courses are graded. If students have the rare opportunity to repeat the Clinic, they are only required to complete the casework course for 4 units.
The clinic seminar meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The seminar has three major objectives: to prepare and form students for excellent, ethical law practice; to train and prepare for the Clinic’s practice; and to manage our law practice together. The seminar will include lecture, reading, class discussion, student presentations, and training. It will also include significant time for case rounds, reflective practice, and team work.
The casework course requires 170 hours of work during the semester; this is about 12-14 hours per week when students will work on client matters. Almost all student work will be in collaborating teams. Much of this work will be in the clinic workspace, but students may also work remotely so long as they ensure confidentiality and data security. The nature of the work does not lend itself to many external deadlines, so students must be diligent in setting and meeting deadlines with clients.
Students will be responsible for timekeeping, filing, and other tasks necessary for managing a professional law practice. Students must communicate consistently and timely with clients, partners, and clinic faculty and staff.
About Prof. Jeffrey R. Baker
Clinical Professor of Law Jeffrey R. Baker is the Associate Dean of Experiential Learning, Director of the Law Clinics, and Director of the Community Development Clinic. Baker graduated from Vanderbilt Law School in 2000, then practiced in Mississippi primarily with Watkins & Eager as a civil trial and appellate litigator. In 2006, he joined the faculty at Faulkner University Jones School of Law in Montgomery where he directed the clinical program and led the Family Violence Clinic and Elder Law Clinic. In 2013, he joined the faculty at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law in Malibu, California, where he served as Associate Dean of Clinical Education and Global Programs and founded the Community Justice Clinic and the Disaster Relief Clinic. He is a member of the Mississippi, Alabama, and California bars, and he is a Fellow of the Alabama Law Foundation and the Fred D. Gray Institute for Civil and Human Rights. He writes on social justice, human rights, law and theology, Christian ethics, public policy, and jurisprudence.