CLINICS SPOTLIGHTS

Law students in the new clinics space.

New Clinical Facility Unveiled, Will Advance Already Top-Ranked, Robust Program

Miami Law recently inaugurated a new space to provide state-of-the-art practical training for law students while simultaneously offering direct legal services and other forms of advocacy to individuals and low-income clients. The 7,500 square feet houses the clinics that garnered a #26 ranking from U.S. News in 2022.

 

Gavel and world globe

$1 Million Cy Pres Award to Miami Law Will Support Environmental Law Efforts

The University of Miami School of Law recently received a $1 million cy pres award as part of the distribution of a settlement fund relating to fuel economy for gasoline-powered vehicles. The School of Law will use the funds to support the work of the Environmental Justice Clinic and the Environmental Law Program.

 

Members of the Human Rights clinic

Human Rights Clinic Hosts International Human Rights Clinicians Conference

Clinical faculty from around the world attended the annual gathering of international human rights clinicians. Topics covered art and human rights, community-centric clinics, cross-country collaborations, environmental justice, Indigenous rights, and more.

 

Immigration Clinic students (left to right) Ivan Rudd 2L, Alejandra Gonzales 2L, Daniel Valentin 2L, Christin Swanepoel 2L, Benjamin Brooks 2L, & Carolina Gonzalez 2L

Miami Law Starts New Immigration Legal Assistance Program

The Immigration Clinic and the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida joined with other universities to create a legal assistance program to serve individuals detained in ICE custody at the Baker County Detention Center in northern Florida.

 

PICTURED L TO R: Executive director of the Innocence Project of Florida, Seth Miller, with Dustin Duty, and Miami 
Law Innocence Clinic Director Craig Trocino at the City of Jacksonville Pre-Trial Detention Facility.

Innocence Clinic Celebrates One Year Since Dustin Duty’s Exoneration

October 27, 2022, marks the anniversary when prosecutors dropped all charges against Dustin Duty after five years of diligent work by the Miami Law Innocence Clinic and Florida Innocence Project. Wrongfully convicted of armed robbery in a court of law eight years ago, Dustin Duty is now a free man.

 

Alex Cinney, J.D. '22

Children and Youth Law Clinic Fellow Receives the NACC Award

The National Association of Counsel for Children named Alex Cinney their Outstanding Law Student for 2022. Alex Cinney, J.D. '22, came to Miami Law because of her interest in family law and dedication to underserved children and families.

 

BY THE NUMBERS

Clinic statistics

 

MORE CLINICS NEWS

BANKRUPTCY CLINIC
Courtroom Experience in Bankruptcy Clinic Affords Foreign Lawyer Invaluable Know-How

Patricia Redmond, Bankruptcy Clinic Director, Elected Chair of American College of Bankruptcy – First Woman to Hold Position

Bankruptcy Clinic Students Close Decade-Long Case


CENTER FOR ETHICS AND PUBLIC SERVICE

Professor Anthony Alfieri Publishes Article on Civil Rights Representation

Public Policy Attorney Joins Center for Ethics and Public Service


CHILDREN & YOUTH LAW CLINIC

Professor Bernard Perlmutter Writes Chapter in Book Justice Outsourced

Professor Kele Stewart Publishes Article on Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice

Children and Youth Law Clinic Team Wins CLEA Outstanding Clinical Award


ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE CLINIC

At the Forefront of the Movement: Environmental Justice Clinic Making an Impact Including in Recent Old Smokey Litigation

Clinic Tackles Equitable Weatherization and Climate Change in South Florida


HEALTH RIGHTS CLINIC

Fighting for the Afflicted and Underserved: Health Rights Clinic Secures Multiple Wins for Clients in 2022

Miami Law Professor JoNel Newman Elected Chair of UM Faculty Senate

Clinic Directors Obtain Victory in Criminal Court for Client


HUMAN RIGHTS CLINIC

Food, Housing, and Racial Justice Symposium at Miami Law

Human Rights Clinic Advocates for the Rights to Food, Health, and Housing at the U.N.

Miami Law’s Human Rights Clinic Partners to Publish Report on Cuba

Miami Law and Partners Host Symposium on Holistic Approaches to Gender Violence

Tamar Ezer Publishes Article on Localizing Human Rights in Cities in Law Review

Human Rights Clinic Contributes to Victory for Right to Food in West Virginia as City of Morgantown Adopts New Municipal Resolution


IMMIGRATION CLINIC

Immigration Clinic Wins in 11th Circuit

Immigration Intern Wins Clinical Training Award

Clinic Beats Odds to Win Asylum for Honduran Domestic Violence Survivor

Students Uncover Startling Inhumane Conditions at Florida Detention Center

Immigration Clinic Students Win Release of Mother Held in Shocking Jail Conditions


INNOCENCE CLINIC

Exonerees Inspire Innocence Clinic Students at Phoenix Innocence Network Conference

INVESTOR RIGHTS CLINIC
Investor Rights Clinic Returns Lost Retirement Savings to Senior Client

Alumna from Cuban Law School Now Excels at Investor Rights Clinic

Investor Rights Clinic Presents at 2022 SEC Investor Advocacy Clinic Summit

 

MIAMI LAW EXPLAINER PODCAST

Miami Explainer Podcast

In the weekly podcast from Miami Law, clinic faculty and clinician experts examined and explained the law, one headline at a time. Episodes included:

Foster Children’s Dilemma

Foster children often have little providence over decisions about their everyday lives. BERNARD PERLMUTTER looks at the alternatives, with CHARLTON COPELAND. Recorded on October 19, 2022.

Facing Eviction in an Impossible Market

For better outcomes, tenants need representation in eviction proceedings. Miami Law's Tenants' Rights Clinic Director JEFFREY HEARNE unpacks the process and the need for more attorneys. Recorded August 18, 2022.

Two Trials: Parkland and Alex Jones

Two cases in the courts have been closely watched recently -- the Parkland massacre and the Alex Jones/Infowars defamation case brought by two Sandy Hook massacre parents. Miami Law's innocence clinic director CRAIG TROCINO unpacks them both. Recorded on August 11, 2022.

The Execution Conundrum

Innocence Clinic Director CRAIG TROCINO looks at the state of punishment in a partisan world with the recent SCOTUS ruler on the Boston Bomber death sentence and new Oklahoma laws. Recorded March 24, 2022.

See All Past Podcasts

 
 

FACULTY SCHOLARSHIP & HIGHLIGHTS

Racial Trauma in Civil Rights Representation, 120 MICH. L. REV. 1701 (2022) (with Angela Onwuachi-Willig).

Race, Legal Representation, and Lawyer Ethics, in THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF RACE AND LAW IN THE UNITED STATES (Devon Carbado, Emily Houh, & Khiara Bridges eds., 2022).

Caroline S. Bettinger-Lopez
The Duty to Protect Survivors of Gender-Based Violence in the Age of Covid-19 an Expanded Human Rights Framework, 29 U. MIA. INT'L & COMP. L. REV. 235 (2022) (with R. Denisse Cordova Montes & Maxwell Zoberman).

Improving Law Enforcement Responses to Gender-Based Violence: Domestic and International Perspectives, in HANDBOOK OF POLICING, COMMUNICATION, AND SOCIETY 297 (with Tamar Ezer) (Howard Giles, Edward R. Maguire & Shawn L. Hill, eds. 2021).

Senior Advisor on Gender and Equality, U.S. Department of Justice

R. Denisse Cordova Montes
The Duty to Protect Survivors of Gender-Based Violence in the Age of Covid-19 an Expanded Human Rights Framework, 29 U. MIA. INT'L & COMP. L. REV. 235 (2022) (with Caroline S. Bettinger-Lopez & Maxwell Zoberman).

Member, International Board, FIAN International

Recipient, Native American and Global Indigenous Studies Grant to develop and teach a course on Indigenous Women’s Rights in fall 2022.

Melanie Cherdack
Trading in the Time of COVID: A Robinhood Bromance, 28 PIABA B.J. 159 (2021).

Recent Arbitration Awards, 29 No. 3 PIABA B.J. 389 (2022) (with Sara Hanley);
Recent Arbitration Awards, 29 No. 2 PIABA B.J. 265 (2022) (with Sara Hanley);
Recent Arbitration Awards, 29 No. 1 PIABA B.J. 129 (2022) (with Sara Hanley);
Recent Arbitration Awards, 28 No. 3 PIABA B.J. 451 (2021) (with Sara Hanley);
Recent Arbitration Awards, 28 No. 2 PIABA B.J. 309 (2021) (with Sara Hanley);
Recent Arbitration Awards, 28 No. 1 PIABA B.J. 83 (2021) (with Sara Hanley).

Co-chair, with Scott Eichhon, Securities Law Day, Annual Meeting of the Public Investors Advocate Bar Association.

Tamar Ezer
International Law & COVID-19 Symposium, 29 U. MIA. INT'L & COMP. L. REV. 141 (2022) (with Joseph Candelaria & Gita Howard).

Localizing Human Rights in Cities, 31 S. CAL. REV. L. & SOC. JUST. 67 (2022).

Improving Law Enforcement Responses to Gender-Based Violence: Domestic and International Perspectives, in HANDBOOK OF POLICING, COMMUNICATION, AND SOCIETY 297 (with Caroline S. Bettinger-Lopez, Howard Giles, Edward R. Maguire & Shawn L. Hill, eds. 2021).

Presenter, “Lessons for Clinicians from the Art of Gathering and Beyond,” AALS Clinical Conference 2022.

Recipient, Native American and Global Indigenous Studies Grant to develop and teach a course on Indigenous Women’s Rights in fall 2022.

Abigail Fleming
Armoring the Just Transition Activist, 25 RICH. PUB. INT. L. REV. 172 (2022) (with Catherine Dremluk).

Resilience Challenge Project Member, “Climate Gentrification: Designing A Comprehensive Assessment Tool of Historical, Social, and Geographic Factors to Guide Actionable and Equitable Neighborhood Resilience,” U-Link Laboratory for Integrative Knowledge, University of Miami.

Robert Latham
Child Maltreatment in the Time of COVID-19: Changes in the Florida Foster Care System Surrounding the COVID-19 Safer-at-Home Order, 116 CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT 104945 (2021) (with Erica Musser & Cameron Riopelle).

Awarded 2022 Florida’s Children First Outstanding Child Advocate.

JoNel Newman
Creating Blueprints for Law School Responses to Natural Disasters, with Jeffrey R. Baker, et al., in The Cambridge Handbook of Disaster Law: Risk, Recovery, and Redevelopment (Susan Kuo, John Travis Marshall & Ryan M. Rowberry eds.) (2022).

Chair, University of Miami Faculty Senate, 2022-23.

Bernard P. Perlmutter
"Give Me My Allowance or I’ll Run!” Everyday Resistance by Foster Youth and Justice Outsourced, in JUSTICE OUTSOURCED: THE THERAPEUTIC JURISPRUDENCE IMPLICATIONS OF JUDICIAL DECISION-MAKING BY NON-JUDICIAL OFFICERS (MICHAEL PERLIN & KELLY FRAILING, EDS.) (Temple Univ. Press) (2022).

Law Professor Amicus Curiae in Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools, SC 21-887 (cert. petition & merits amicus briefs).

Presenter, Communities that Care: Incorporating Socially Engaged Artistic Practices into Clinical Legal Education (with Xavier Cortada), Clinical Law Review Writers’ Workshop, NYU School of Law, Oct. 2022.

Presenter, Justice Outsourced: Advocacy for Foster Children in Court, Administrative Hearings, and Child Welfare Bureaucracy, International Academy of Law, and Mental Health, XXXVIIth International Congress on Law and Mental Health, Therapeutic Jurisprudence Panel, Innovative TJ Applications in Theory and Practice, Université de Jean Moulin Lyon 3, July 2022.

Presenter, Clinics Telling Client Stories (With Pictures), (with Xavier Cortada), AALS Clinical Conference, Discussion, May 2022.

Presenter, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status: The Role of the State Court Judge. Presenter and moderator of Continuing Judicial Education seminar for Circuit Judges in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit (Miami-Dade) Family, Unified Children’s, and Probate Divisions, Nov. 2021.

Presenter, (After Babel) Stories of State Regulation of Immigrant Parent-Child Conversations: A Comparative Study, Clinical Law Review Writers’ Workshop, NYU School of Law, Oct. 2021.

Plenary Presenter, (After Babel) Stories of State Regulation of Immigrant Parent-Child Conversations: A Comparative Study, The State’s Power to Intervene in Family Life, International Research Project, Europa Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, Sept. 2021


Rebecca A. Sharpless
Virus As Foreign Invader: U.S. Voters & the Immigration Debate, 75 U. MIA. L. REV. 547 (2021).

Presenter, “Inadmissibility,” American Immigration Lawyers Association, Immigration 101 Conference, South Florida Chapter, April 13, 2022.

Presenter, “Criminal Issues in Naturalization,” Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Miami-Dade Public Library, April 7, 2022.

Presenter, “Movement Lawyering In Direct Services,” University of California Irvine, April 5, 2022.

Presenter, “A Tale of Three Cities, Migration and Urbanization in Three Continents,” Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas, University of Miami, March 24, 2022.

Presenter, “Waive Goodbye to Inadmissibility Issues,” American Immigration Lawyers Association, Annual Conference, South Florida Chapter, April 15, 2022.

Appointed University of Miami School of Law’s Associate Dean for Experiential Learning in 2022.

Kele M. Stewart
Re-Envisioning Child Well-Being: Dismantling the Inequitable Intersections Among Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice, and Education, 12 COLUM. J. RACE & L. 1 (2022).

Member, Executive Committee of the AALS Section on Clinical Legal Education and Planning Committee, 2022 AALS Annual Conference on Clinical Legal Education.

Member, Editorial Board, Clinical Law Review.

Recipient, Spencer Foundation Grant for Building Social Capital and Social Networks for Marginalized Youth.

Craig Trocino
Presenter, “Participation in Litigation as Situated Learning of Procedure,” AALS Clinical Conference, May 10, 2022.

Served as legal expert for the Nikolas Cruz, Parkland trial and has appeared in Newsweek, WLRN/NPR, Associated Press, Miami Herald, Washington Times, Telemundo47, Daily Mail, the Washington Post and on-air at WPLG, Voice of America, and FOX13.