Stories and Evaluations
Victories! The SLO is on the move. As cases are ripening, we are currently in our own harvest season. The atmosphere in the office alternates between hot and cool—either exciting (because of preparing for court or de-briefing) or quiet (because everyone’s in court). Here are some of the stories of the small victories our students are winning day by day.
- One municipal judge denied our request to represent our client in his court, claiming that since the prosecutor had stipulated that there would be no jail sentence in the event there was a conviction, that the client was not entitled to SLO representation! Our student lawyer, Wendy Hess, filed a motion to reconsider, citing the Student Practice Rule, which places no such restriction on our representation of poor people. The judge reversed himself.
- Another client, who had been denied representation by the Public Defender’s Office (because it was a first-time DUI charge and thus not a PD priority case) represented herself in a jury trial earlier this year. During the court’s advisement to the client of her right to remain silent, the client burst into tears, announcing that she needed a lawyer, and couldn’t afford to hire one. The court declared a mistrial and referred the client to the SLO. Her SLO student lawyer, Christa Kilk, was recently successful in arguing a Motion to Supress the Breath Test because the police department destroyed the second breath sample and the defense was thereby deprived of potentially exculpatory evidence. Christa used the same tactic in a shoplifting case in another jurisdiction where the police destroyed a videotape of an alleged crime scene, even after our student lawyer had filed a request for discovery. That case was dismissed outright.
- One client of ours is a young father trying to support his family by painting houses at night. During the day he and his wife help to exercise their son, who has cerebral palsy. Recently our client made the mistake of shoplifting a Walkman for his child’s birthday gift. With the help of our SLO student lawyer, Kenneth Capps, the client received a favorable disposition of his case—one that allowed him to continue to work and help his son.
- One local apartment manager has been the focus of separate complaints by several SLO clients who use Section 8 housing vouchers to pay rent. For example, one of our clients is an elderly woman who had been living temporarily with her adult daughter while she (the client) recovered from an extended illness. Because her lease prohibited leaving her unit vacant, she notified the manager where she was staying temporarily and continued to pay her rent. Nevertheless, the manager filed an eviction action. Three of our students have challenged this manager’s efforts to unjustifiably evict our clients. To date two have been successful and one case is still pending.
On average, the Student Law Office litigates 250 cases a year. (These numbers do not include cases handled by 10 mediation students.) We accept approximately 65 student attorneys each semester for positions in the criminal defense, civil litigation, mediation & arbitration, environmental and civil rights clinics.