A Message from the Executive Director
I had the privilege to join the Loyola Social Justice Law Clinic as its inaugural executive director this semester, shortly before the spread of COVID-19 dispersed us all to remote work locations. Court closures and the inability to travel or meet in person have made our work more difficult and at the same time more urgent. But we are not standing down. Our students, staff and faculty have kicked into emergency gear to come up with ever-more-creative solutions, immediately adapting to virtual case meetings and remote hearings, setting up complex phone trees for client contact, and even developing the ability to conduct full mediations online. When our teams found themselves literally locked out of the courthouse, they fought in novel ways to ensure our clients could be heard. In addition to legal representation, our teams have led advocacy efforts to ensure our clients’ voices are heard by decision-makers on issues such as education, juvenile detention and immigration. Read more>>
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Outstanding Clinical Student AwardsThe Loyola Social Justice Law Clinic is accustomed to challenging work, but it has really met its match in trying to choose a single one of its graduating students as the Loyola Law School nominee for the 2020 National Clinical Legal Education Association’s Outstanding Student Award. Check out all of the full-time clinical nominations, and please join us in our warmest congratulations to them all.
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The Center for Juvenile Law and Policy Fights COVID-19
The state’s current social-isolation orders have led to the indefinite detention and isolation of juveniles in solitary confinement, the traumatic effects of which are exacerbated by the almost complete lack of educational services provided to these children as they wait out the pandemic alone in cells. Thus the Juvenile Justice Clinic and the Youth Justice Education Clinic, both part of the Center for Juvenile Law and Policy, have battled heroically to get young clients out of detention and to remove obstacles to remote learning. Read more>>
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|  | Loyola Project for the Innocent Does it Again . . . and Again
In April, two LPI clients were released from prison after decades in incarceration: Janet Dixon and Jane Dorotik. Janet had spent 40 years serving an illegally imposed sentence, and Jane was released on her own recognizance while awaiting the resolution of her innocence claim. “We argued to the court that it would truly be a tragic outcome if, just as she’s about to prove her innocence, Jane were to contract the deadly coronavirus while in prison waiting for her hearing to take place, and then die before she is able to exonerate herself,” said Paige McGrail, third-year LPI clinic student who has worked on the case for the last two years. Read more>> | |  | JIFS Clinic Further Proves that April is Not the Cruelest Month
On April 7, Kiera Newsome, a client of the Juvenile Innocence and Fair Sentencing Clinic since 2013, walked out of the California Institution for Women after serving 18 years in prison for a crime she did not commit. The JIFS Clinic has represented her in her innocence case since 2013 and succeeded in their six-year campaign to commute her sentence, which led to her being found eligible for parole in November 2019. In addition to staff attorneys Marisa Sacks ’17 and Susan Harbert ’06, over a dozen students worked on Kiera’s case over the years. Learn more>>. | |
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Adjusting Services to New Distancing Guidelines to Ensure Continuity of Community Services
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 | Center for Conflict Resolution
LCCR's on-campus mediation clinic moved seamlessly to continue to provide all services remotely during COVID-19 through its established Legal Server platform. Services continue to be provided in a wide variety of civil disputes via telephone conciliation, zoom mediation and outreach, consumer-debt options counseling and COVID-19 referral to establishments continuing to provide service. LCCR has provided service to over 150 people in English and in Spanish during this time, resolving over 30 cases. As part of its service to the community, the LCCR is also doing a series of online trainings for its partners and neighbor. For assistance please call 213-736-1145 or visit lls.edu/ccr/helprequest. Learn more>>
| |  | Immigrant Justice Clinic
LIJC continues its vital community services in the face of almost daily changes to immigration agency processes. In particular, LIJC has expedited its assistance to renew Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival status. While the community awaits the U.S. Supreme Court opinion as to whether the administration may terminate this program, DACA work permits may be more critical than ever to families losing income due to the current economic crisis.
The Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic’s very own Daniel Barragan is featured in a recent ABA Journal article discussing his experience as a clinical student while working under stay-at-home orders. Learn more>> | |
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Loyola Genocide Justice Clinic
It can happen here: That was the chief concern of the panelists who spoke on February 28 at the Center for the Study Law and Genocide symposium, “When It Can’t Happen Here: Genocide in the Age of Nationalism.” Organized by Rajika Shah, Clinical Director of the Loyola Genocide Justice Project, and LLS Professor Stan Goldman, the event’s panelists discussed the history of the rise of nationalist ideology before World War II and parallels to the increase in nationalism today. Learn more>
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