Opportunities in the Civil Justice Clinic

My colleague, Dahlia Grace, and I run Quinnipiac’s Civil Justice Clinic – one of six clinics offered at Quinnipiac. In the Clinic, students have a chance to apply the lessons learned in the classroom to actual legal problems facing real clients. They experience the full range of the dynamics of client representation, including interviewing, counseling, negotiation, and litigation, while at the same time providing access to justice to many Connecticut residents who would otherwise go without.

The Civil Clinic recently began helping day laborers – that is, people (many of them newcomers to the U.S.) who are hired and paid on a day-to-day basis, with no promise that more work will be available in the future – collect unpaid wages from their employers. After gathering facts about their clients’ cases and researching relevant wage-and-hour law, students have the opportunity to draft demand letters; negotiate informal settlements with employers; file a complaint to the Connecticut Department of Labor; or file a complaint in Small Claims Court and put on the testimony of their clients, introduce evidence, and cross-examine their clients’ employers.

On Wednesday, October 7th, two Quinnipiac students – Richard Fennelly (3L) and Stephen Cho (3L) – represented their day laborer client in Norwalk Superior Court.

Kevin Barry, Assistant Professor of Law