Legal Eagles
Alumnae in action
by Joni Moths Mueller
It’s a typical Tuesday afternoon at the House of Peace where attorneys and law students are huddled together, working to help some of the city’s poorest people resolve legal problems. A woman whose husband violated a restraining order wants to know how the court will protect her. A middle-age man, who drove heavy machinery for a living but had to quit after a grand mal seizure, needs help assembling documentation for a Social Security claim. A father hopes an attorney can explain his visitation rights.
The problems aren’t unique, but the conditions under which many of these clients live are unusual, concede the attorneys at the Marquette Volunteer Legal Clinic, a free legal information and referral service. Clients seen here may be homeless, they may not have a telephone or a car, and most are unaware of services that are available to them. They do, however, know that they have a problem they need help solving.
The idea of a clinic to help bridge the gap in legal services for the poor arose in 1999, and the Marquette Volunteer Legal Clinic opened in January 2002. People with limited or no financial means can come here to get legal information, to talk to attorneys who understand the laws that seem puzzling if not downright capricious. They learn what form is required to prove eligibility for services. They have bills or other paperwork explained. They get information about representation they can afford. Here in the lower level of the House of Peace, where the surroundings are utilitarian not glamorous — tables and chairs arranged around the room to provide some privacy — clients find something precious, someone who is willing to listen to them and explain their rights under the law.
“People get to sit with an attorney and two law students. We try to help solve their issue right here. Those who come in with a more-involved legal matter, we refer to other agencies in the community — if they exist,” says Tanner Kilander, Arts ’97 and Law ’02, who doubles her “day job” as a guardian ad litem for children with her work at the clinic. She co-manages the clinic with Julie Darnieder, Law ’78.
 “We’re using lawyering at the grass-roots level to provide a gateway to the legal system for people who can’t afford attorneys.”
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It was Marquette law students who came up with the idea for this legal clinic. One group graduated from the Law School before the clinic could be fully realized. That wasn’t a problem because two other students, Kilander and Bridget Kenney, Law ’02, made it happen. They shared a commitment to bring legal information to people in need while giving law students hands-on experience.
In 2001, the Association for Women Lawyers began working with the law students on the clinic’s development as a pro bono project. In the five years since, the clinic has recorded more than 2,500 client visits. Issues run the gamut from custody/visitation to denied medical claims, and a consultation may take three minutes or an hour. The need for this service is hard to overstate; more than 800 people have sought help in the past year.
Eight to 10 attorneys plus Kilander or Darnieder work every Tuesday. Forty attorneys, a majority are Marquette law alumni, volunteer throughout the year. Approximately 15 law students assist each week. The attorneys and students function only as information and referral sources; they do not provide continuing legal representation.
“This clinic is beneficial all around,” says Darnieder, who retired her worker’s compensation practice in 2001. “We’re using lawyering at the grass-roots level to provide a gateway to the legal system for people who can’t afford attorneys. The students meet clients with real life issues, learn how to conduct interviews, and work with practicing attorneys as they determine the issue and develop a solution or strategy. For the attorneys, the student component makes the experience more interesting and provides opportunities to mentor law students.”
The law students say lessons learned here are eye-opening. “It can be surprising. Some of the legal cases we see, we couldn’t dream up,” says Anissa Boeckman, Law ’06, who worked at the clinic throughout Law School.
Emily Menn, Law ’06 agrees. “What students learn here,” she says, “they won’t learn in law school. And if they grew up in a middle class family, they won’t learn it there either.”
The clinic has been so successful in reaching people who need legal services that in 2006 it expanded hours. Kilander and Darnieder couldn’t be more pleased. “Thanks to Brother Mark Carrico, the director of the House of Peace, the clinic has a real home, with ample space to set up our resources and provide service,” Kilander says. “It’s important to us to stay in this neighborhood. We’re surrounded by abject poverty and by people who’ve been turned away by everyone else in society. But these people are familiar with the House of Peace because of the food and clothing bank and the medical clinic; they trust the House of Peace.”
Marquette Law Dean Joseph Kearney wholeheartedly supports the clinic and regards it as an important part of the education available to Marquette law students. He has assisted by allocating certain alumni donations to the clinic to ensure that it has funds to buy computers, Internet access and current legal resources. He also put the Law School’s Webmaster to work helping the clinic establish and maintain an online listing of agencies, including days and hours of operation. And the new Assistant Dean for Public Service in the Law School, Daniel Idzikowski, Law ’90, is working with the clinic’s leadership to enlarge services and build more opportunities for student learning.
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