My Community Cares

Emily Aucoin, J.D. ’20, joins the Law Clinic as a staff attorney under a My Community Cares grant funded by the Louisiana Bar Foundation. This grant will allow the Clinic to provide civil legal services directly to youth and families who are involved in the child welfare system or at risk of entering foster care. Emily will be working primarily with the Law Clinic's Children’s Rights, Family Law, and Youth Justice sections, all of which are accepting referrals and accessing current cases within the program for this need. Emily brings three years of experience as a child's attorney representing children in foster care. As a law student, she was a student practitioner with the Children's Rights section, and interned at several local civil legal aid organizations through the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center as a student and the Graduates for Justice program.

Renter's Rights

The Maroon published a piece on renter's rights by clinic director, Davida Finger. Professor Finger works on housing justice and is an evictions expert. In the piece, she shares helpful tips for renters in New Orleans.

Read the piece here.

Spring 2023 Justice Journal

Click below to see the full Spring 2023 Justice Journal, the newsletter for the Stuart H. Smith Law Clinic and Center for Social Justice. The Justice Journal newsletter contains updates, new projects, and highlights of section successes in the Law Clinic. Look out for the next newsletter to stay updated on the latest clinic news. Read past newsletters here.

Spring 2023 newsletter

Honored by the AALS

Christina Luwisch has been named to the Inaugural Pro Bono Honor Roll by the AALS and the Section on Pro Bono Access to Justice. The Pro Bono Honor Roll recognizes Christina for "exceptional work engaging in, expanding, and/or supporting your law school community in providing pro bono legal services." 

Clinic Director's Successes

The U.S. State Department named Professor Davida Finger a Fulbright Specialist for the next 3 years. The Fulbright Specialist program matches U.S. academics and professionals with significant expertise with the opportunity to complete short term project-based exchanges designed by institutions around the world. Professor Finger's focus is on collaboration with experiential curricula and law clinic programs.

Additionally, research by Professor Finger is cited in the Times-Picayune, ProPublica, Salon, MSNBC and news outlets nationwide as new data shows that the federally operated Road Home program implemented after Hurricane Katrina favored the wealthy and “shortchanged the poor.”

Workplace Justice Project

The Workplace Justice Project's work is rooted in improving economic outcomes for low-wage workers by LITIGATING workplace claims to increase access to, and fairness in the court system. We engage in POLICY RESEARCH and VIGOROUS ADVOCACY that supports economic equity. And we EDUCATE on best practices that promote access, opportunity, and fairness in the workplace.

24th JDC Presentation

Clinical Professor Emerita Cheryl P. Buchert, Clinical Professors Ramona G. Fernandez and Tobie L. Tranchina, and 2023 Clinic Graduate Aspen Murphy, presented “Student Practitioners and Court Appointments” at the 24^th Judicial District Court on August 30, 2023 attended by the Judges, Hearing Officers, and Commissioners.