I got involved with the Immigration Law Clinic at McGeorge School of Law, largely because I wanted to continue gaining experience in immigration law. I had worked as an immigration paralegal for a year before coming to law school. My prior experience was specific to family-based immigration matters, and I wanted to gain exposure to other areas such as asylum and Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS).

I started at the Immigration Law Clinic during summer 2021, working on adjustment of status cases, and it was an incredible experience to have the ability to work on cases from the attorney’s perspective. In addition to working on cases I had prior experience with, I was fortunate to work on an asylum case, advise a consult about the impact of certain criminal convictions on his case, and provide consultations to individuals who might qualify for SIJS.

The Clinic has helped me to develop a variety of important skills such as organization, legal research and writing, and client interviewing. Being organized is an incredibly important skill to have because immigration is complex, constantly changing, and often varies from tight deadlines to a years-long wait. Patience with the process is also important.

Being in the Clinic has also provided me with the ability to practice legal research and writing, especially because of the asylum case I worked on. The client is in removal proceedings and must present his case to an immigration judge. Preparing his brief involved me using the skills I learned in Global Lawyering Skills in a real-world context to prepare the client’s legal argument, and research the relevant case law to do so. The Clinic has also provided me with the skills to meet with clients to discuss their cases and competently evaluate whether they qualify for some form of immigration relief.

The Immigration Clinic has been a wonderful experience, and it has solidified my desire to continue in immigration law after law school. I am passionate about immigration law because being first-generation of Mexican ancestry, immigration issues loom large in my family’s history. Most recently, a close relative is currently in removal proceedings. This knowledge guides me to do my utmost to advocate for my clients.

A central reason I came to McGeorge School of Law was because of the Immigration Law Clinic. The ability to gain immediate practice experience while in law school has been eye-opening. Classes are often very theoretical and focused on the doctrines you need to be an attorney. The Clinic, however, allows you to apply everything you learn in classes in a real-world setting. For example, the research and legal writing skills from Global Lawyering Skills were very appreciated when I was busy writing a brief for my client’s asylum case. Being in the clinic has been the highlight of my law school career, and I’m always recommending it to other students. It has been an experience that has given me the confidence to go out and continue advocating on behalf of this community.

By Andy Marin, a second-year law student at McGeorge School of Law.

During a summer internship in the State Senate, I caught the political bug and haven’t looked back. When I first joined the Legislature, I briefly worked with a McGeorge School of Law alumnus that connected me with the McGeorge Rugby Team. Full of other alumni and current students, the team really got the ball rolling for my consideration of attending McGeorge. Sacramento is my hometown, so I was eager to come back to work in the Capitol and play rugby. Without question, McGeorge fit the bill as my next step.

It came as no surprise to me that many professionals in the Capitol community attended McGeorge, and I was pleased to learn about the Capital Lawyering Concentration. Through the Concentration, I’ve had great access to career advice, course scheduling assistance, job postings, and the curriculum has been more than I could have hoped for.

Despite working in the Senate and Assembly, I chose McGeorge and the Capital Lawyering Concentration to become a better advocate and legislative staffer. One of the first things that hooked me on working in public policy was the opportunity to learn about countless issues and challenges, and also getting to craft solutions that help countless people. So, I jumped at the chance to learn how to become a more effective policy staffer. Courses centered around policy analysis, negotiations, and the legislative process are front and center in the Concentration to develop the next generation of policymakers coming into the Capitol.

The Concentration is a great complement to the JD program in general. The courses offer insight into how the laws we study in other courses are made, and the Legislative & Public Policy Clinic puts students into the Capitol as they develop, draft, and staff legislation. Early experience with the legislative process is a fantastic opportunity for aspiring policy staffers, lobbyists, and advocates. A legal education is a huge asset in policy development, and the Concentration offers a distinct blend of the two fields. Advocacy, conflict resolution, and the interest in learning about a diversity of issues drive many of us in the Capitol community, and are important tenets of working in policy that are stressed in the Concentration.

McGeorge is also tremendously well-positioned in the political community with a strong alumni network that is excited to help recent and soon-to-be graduates. Relationships are critical in politics and policy. When it comes to career development or working a bill through the Legislature, it goes a long way to know the right people. There is always a need for smart and passionate people in public policy.

The JD program and rugby team have been central parts of my life for the last few years keeping me busy and preparing me for what’s next. With another year to go until graduation, I feel very prepared and excited to continue my career in public policy.

When I first heard of the Prisoner Civil Rights Mediation Clinic, I knew that I wanted to join the Clinic. My interest in joining the Prisoner Civil Rights Mediation Clinic stemmed from my research and work on the criminal justice system prior to law school. I had heard of prison conditions and knew plenty about collateral consequence, but the Clinic provided a different experience.

Firstly, the Clinic provided practical legal experience in interviewing, mediation work, and legal writing. As students, we had the opportunity to work with magistrate judges in the United States District Court, Eastern District of California and observe mediations between prisoners and the Attorney General.

Secondly, we were connected to pro se prisoner litigants and assisted them in understanding the mediation process. We also learned about prison conditions and legal resources available to prisoners in cases of abuse. Although we worked closely with the magistrate judges and were neutral to the proceeding, I felt that we made an impact on the prisoner. We were there to hear and understand their side to the proceeding and relay it to the mediator. As such, it was important to recognize the power dynamics between the pro se prisoner litigant and the Attorney General. We were not advocates, but we facilitated and contributed to a fair proceeding on both sides.

I appreciate working on the cases I was assigned to in the Clinic because I felt that I supported the entire process while gaining significant experience. I learned the importance of creating rapport with the interviewee to gain important information and help with mediation.  The criminal justice system can be a means of injustice, especially to communities of color.  However, education about criminal justice issues and creating safeguards to people impacted by the system may combat some of these injustices.

The Prisoner Civil Rights Mediation Clinic is a unique experience to legal studies that I am glad had been a part of my law school experience.

By Julienne Correa, a third-year law student at McGeorge School of Law.

I first became involved with the Elder and Health Law Clinic at McGeorge School of Law after taking a class on Elder and Health Law by Professor Melissa Brown. I wanted to get real-world experience assisting clients with estate planning, accessing health care, and any other legal matters that they sought out the clinic for help with.

I assumed that I would be handling things like the drafting of estate planning documents or assisting people with accessing their healthcare. However, there has been a greater variety of legal matters than I had anticipated, especially those involving litigation. At the Clinic, I have assisted seniors in asserting their own autonomy in situations where their right to manage their own affairs was being challenged by representing clients at hearings, taking and defending depositions, and preparing a probate case for trial.

My experiences at the Elder and Health Law Clinic made me passionate about estate planning as a way to avoid terrible family disputes over the property in probate court. My exposure to these issues at the Clinic led me to reflect on my own family history.

My paternal grandparents had four children that they raised in a four-bedroom house in Rosemead, California. One of them, my aunt, is developmentally disabled. Eventually, all of the children grew up and moved out of the house except, for my aunt.

Just as my grandparents were beginning to enjoy retirement, my grandmother died in an accident. My grandfather remarried and added onto the back of the house to make a new living space for him and his new wife with a separate entrance. My aunt occupied the original part of the house. Later, my grandpa and step-grandma decided to move into a smaller place of their own.

Out of concern for his adult daughter, my grandpa asked his oldest son to move into the addition that he was vacating and to look after the property as well as his developmentally-delayed sister. To facilitate having his oldest son look after the property for his sister, my grandpa transferred ownership of the house to his oldest son.

The son – my uncle – moved into the house with his new wife. They soon began having conflicts with my aunt over the shared parts of the property, such as the yard and driveway. Sometime after that, my uncle acquired second and third mortgages on the house that he eventually stopped paying. He moved out of the family’s house and into a new one with his wife, leaving behind his developmentally-delayed sister to face eviction. These events occurred more than a decade ago and caused in a big rift in the family, as well as the loss of the family home. However, none of his siblings, including my dad, took any action against my uncle.

Through my experience at the Elder and Health Law Clinic, I realized that a special needs trust would have been a better mechanism for my grandpa to use to preserve the family home for his disabled daughter’s benefit. Also, my father or one of his siblings could have challenged the transfer of the family home to my uncle before the statute of limitations ran out.

Recently, I received word that my uncle passed away. He leaves behind his second wife and his two adult daughters from his first marriage. In the months before his death, one of his two daughters drove across the country to visit him only to be turned away by his wife. I intend to write to my two cousins informing them of their right to discover any wills or trusts that their father may have, as well as provide information regarding the law on intestate succession in regards to their father’s separate property – separate property that might be traceable back to my grandfather’s ill-advised transfer of the family home to my uncle.

My volunteer work at the Elder and Health Law Clinic has taught me the value of competent estate planning and how to access justice and equity in probate court when a lack of estate planning causes harm.

By Marianne Sanchez, a third-year law student at McGeorge School of Law.