Civil Rights and Community Justice Clinic

Faculty: Professor Karen Tokarz

The CIVIL RIGHTS & COMMUNITY JUSTICE CLINIC introduces students to civil rights practice and dispute resolution from a community-based perspective.  Clinic students and faculty work in collaboration with the Health & Welfare Unit and the Immigration Project at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Council, Interfaith Legal Services for Immigrants, and a local “low-bono” public interest immigration law firm.  This course provides opportunities for clinic students to 1) engage in client advocacy and dispute resolution on behalf of workers, individuals with HIV/AIDS, individuals displaced from or denied housing, and immigrants; 2) connect directly with clients and client communities; 3) grapple with ethical issues that arise in practice; and 4) develop the fundamental ability to learn from experience.  Professor Karen Tokarz teaches this course. 

The course explores the intersectionality of poverty, work, health, housing, and immigration.  The course seeks to engage clinic students with the urban world in which they live and to connect their professional lives with the lives of their clients and client communities. In the beginning of the course, students receive 16 hours of training in interviewing, counseling, negotiation, and mediation.  During the course of the semester, students have primary responsibility for at least three civil cases, engage in at least three dispute resolution experiences, and participate in community investigation and justice projects under the supervision of Professor Tokarz and a field supervisor.  

Clinic students engage in a diverse range of interdisciplinary, collaborative, and community lawyering strategies and skills, including interviewing and counseling, case analysis and planning, problem solving, fact investigation, negotiation and mediation, document drafting, written and oral advocacy, legislative advocacy, community education and organizing, policy development, communication and media, administrative practice, transactional practice, pre-trial practice, and litigation. Past clinic students report gains in a variety of key areas, including writing clearly and effectively, solving complex real world problems, improving advocacy and dispute resolution skills, contributing to the welfare of the community, understanding people of different racial and class backgrounds, working collaboratively with others, learning effectively on one's own, developing a professional identity, and clarifying career goals. 

CIVIL RIGHTS & COMMUNITY JUSTICE CLINIC faculty and students recently: 

• Partnered with Legal Services of Eastern Missouri and HIV/AIDS communities on various community education projects. 
• Worked with members of the Missouri General Assembly and community housing organizations to draft and promote legislation requiring mortgage foreclosure mediation. 
• Collaborated with the Saint Louis University Law Clinic, Equal Housing Opportunity Council, and others to challenge anti-immigration efforts in Missouri at the state and local levels through litigation, community education, and legislative advocacy.