Assistant Professor Rachel Moran leads a discussion with the clinic students: Katherine Boland, Dolapo Oshin, Eduardo Salgado Diaz, Caitlin Levy, Aaron Bostrom and Allison Freese.
Being a part of the clinic has opened the eyes of the student attorneys to the realities of the legal system. “We shouldn’t take people’s licenses away for not being able to pay minor traffic fines, which is the current state of the law,” said clinic participant Leyla Bari 3L . “We’re against any imposition of fines on an indigent population, and people don’t realize what a serious issue that is,” Christopher Sharpe 2L added. “Just being in the clinic for a couple of months, we realized that imposition of fines on people who can’t pay them is a debilitating factor in the cycle of poverty.” “[The justice system] is very difficult to navigate for some of our clients,” Cavello said. “It’s not an easy system to navigate whether you’re guilty or innocent – it doesn’t matter. It’s really powerful for these clients to have somebody who goes in and fights for them and advocates for them; it’s hard enough even for someone studying law to navigate it.” REACHING HOMELESS AND VULNERABLE POPULATIONS Moran and her student attorneys have taken many steps to reach more people who could benefit from the clinic. For instance, in partnership with the Minneapolis Police Department Homeless and Vulnerable Population Initiative, student attorneys have ridden along with officers. They also meet with people at a
coffee shop, The Hub, operated by a church just south of downtown Minneapolis. In addition, Moran and her student attorneys participated in Hennepin County’s first Juvenile Warrant Forgiveness Day and Community Resource Fair last fall. Beyond helping clients, the clinic may be inspiring future attorneys. “We have had a couple of teenage clients who have said at the end, ‘I want to be a lawyer now,’” Moran said. “That’s really cool. I love that! I love that they connected enough with our students that they saw some reason for inspiration or motivation.” She also wants to build the reputation of the clinic as one that provides effective, zealous representation for its clients. Eventually, Moran wants to see enough graduates go through the clinic that the way people practice criminal defense is changed.
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