Lawyers as Policy Advocates - Change at the Wholesale Level

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Here is my dear pal and visionary colleague Professor Elizabeth Cooper, who runs our Urban Policy Clinic. Toward the end of this clip Liz mentions, in passing, a legislative success from last spring. Her modesty is typical and becoming, but if you know anything about the New York State Legislature, you will appreciate how extraordinary an achievement it was for Liz, her students and her colleagues to shepherd a piece of legislation through Albany in about five months. 

The bill made it possible for young people between the ages of 18 and 21, who had been in foster care and whose legal guardians had died, to receive all the state benefits to which they were entitled while they remained in college. Until this legislative fix was enacted, those young people were denied benefits only because there was no adult through whom the benefits could flow. It was a wonderful piece of work by Liz, her students and the groups with which they worked.

-- Ian Weinstein 

Fordham, Law School, Clinical Legal Education, Law Clinic, Pro Bono Work, Legal Education, Legal Pedagogy, Teaching Law, Student Lawyers, Law Student, Urban Policy, New York State Legislature, Foster Care, Albany