SOL Magazine Spring 2023

SCHOOL OF LAW NEWS

LAW STUDENTS ADVOCATE FOR AND PROTECT RIGHTS OF SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS

A St. Paul elementary school student will receive appropriate special education services as a result of the advocacy work of students in St. Thomas Law’s Special Education Legal Clinic. In response to an administrative complaint filed by 3L Kari Thoreson, an advanced student practitioner in the clinic, and Professor Andrea Jepsen ’06 J.D., on January 12, 2023, the Minnesota Department of Education issued a decision that found that St. Paul Public Schools (SPPS) did not follow federal and state special education laws and that the child was eligible for compensatory educational services to address the educational failures. Law students working in the Special Education Legal Clinic began representing the child in the spring of 2022 through a partnership the clinic has with

St. Peter Claver Catholic School, where the student was attending school. Under Minnesota law, students who attend a private school and qualify for special education services receive them from the public school district in which the private school is located, in this instance St. Paul Public Schools. “Our clinic students were essential to ensuring that this student will now receive the services they are entitled to, services that are calculated to result in educational progress,” Jepsen, who co-leads the clinic with Associate Dean Elizabeth Schiltz, said. “I’m very happy for the student and the student’s family and overjoyed to see the hard work of our law students changing the course of a child’s education.”

ST. THOMAS ONE OF FEW U.S. LAW SCHOOLS RANKED AS POLITICALLY MODERATE

creates better lawyers – not only in how they approach the practice of law, but also how they work with their clients. “Having a diverse set of voices helps students hone their own positions on an issue, and practice articulating and respectfully expressing their views clearly while considering the full perspective of others,” Nichols said. “They need those same skills as attorneys. Those skills are harder to build if everyone around you thinks just like you.” In 2018, the University of St. Thomas School of Law was listed among the most politically balanced law faculties in the country, according to a study from Harvard and the University of Chicago.

St. Thomas Law is ranked among the country’s politically moderate law schools according to a recent report by preLaw magazine. Just under 12% of law schools fell into this category. “We’re pleased for another validation of the balance we seek to achieve,” Interim Dean Joel Nichols said. “In pursuit of our mission, we work to create an environment that will draw a diverse set of voices and opinions to our law school. And further, we want to foster an environment where people can express differing views and perspectives, be fully welcomed and learn from one another.” Ideological diversity among faculty and students is important in law school, he said, because it ultimately

Andrea Jepsen ‘06 J.D. (pictured left), co-director of the Special Education Legal Clinic, and 3L Kari Thoreson (right).

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