Clinics at William Mitchell College of law
Clinics at William Mitchell College of law
Brad Colbert:
brad.colbert@wmitchell.edu
Phone: (651) 290-8651
Fax: (651) 290-6406
Office: Rm 254
The LAMP clinic is hosted by William Mitchell College of Law and is staffed by law students who are supervised by Professor Brad Colbert. When Professor Colbert is not supervising the LAMP clinic he works as a state public defender.
Description: This clinic provides civil representation to indigent persons incarcerated in Minnesota. Students represent clients from interview through any trial. Cases include domestic relations, imprisonment-related matters (institutional grievances, parole, and detainers), and the full range of other civil problems including debtor-creditor, wills, contracts, torts, and civil rights issues.
Prerequisites: Pre- or Co-requisites: Advocacy, Professional Responsibility. LAMP may be taken for the first time by students who are in their last semester of law school ONLY with the permission of the instructors.
Grading: Letter graded
Credits: 2 (with permission of faculty, students may take either 1 or 2 additional credits in the following semester)
Offered: Fall/Spring
Category: Skills: Clinics and Externships
LAMP students not only have access to the clinic directors and their fellow students for guidance, but can also contact Mitchell's reference librarians who are always happy to help students find a form or learn more about Minnesota federal law.
The LAMP clinic maintains a variety of resources and forms for students on its Blackboard site which is available to all enrolled students.
LAMP students spend much of their time researching the law, drafting pleadings, and negotiating settlements. Because LAMP students represent their clients in a wide variety of legal matters, they are exposed to a wide breadth of legal topics and many different causes of action.
Cases in the clinic deal with common law, case law, and statutory law, as well as administrative law, contract law, family law, and much more. This gives students the opportunity to expand their horizons and learn about new areas of law with the support of clinic staff. These skills will serve them well in practice.
Because of the practical nature of the clinic, students graduate with a knowledge of the day-to-day work of attorneys and a collection of skills (and forms!) that will make them employable in a range of legal contexts.