William Mitchell's clinic program started in a house on Grand Avenue in 1973.
The foundations for practical skills and service in our curriculum were set nearly a century ago. In 1921, students took it upon themselves to volunteer their skills to help indigent clients at Legal Aid.
In 1973, professors Robert Oliphant and Roger Haydock developed the innovative idea of formalizing this service into a clinic program, staffing it with full-time faculty members, and providing student participants with credit for their efforts. Then-Dean Douglas R. Heidenreich '61 agreed to the idea and hired Rosalie Wahl '67, now a retired Minnesota Supreme Court justice, to run the program along with Haydock. That autumn, an elderly neighbor of the college bequeathed his house on Grand Avenue to the law school, providing space for the new clinic program. Three years later, the clinic program moved into the college's main building on Summit Avenue.
By the 1980s students were designing their own independent clinics in such areas as hospital administration law, Indian rights, securities regulation, and real property matters. In 1999, the college doubled the size of the Legal Practice Center and added high-tech filing systems and video conferencing rooms. To date, William Mitchell's clinic program has enabled more than 5,500 students to serve more than 18,000 clients.
Stephen Doyle '74 was one of the first
student directors in the 1973-74 clinics.
While the clinic program continued to grow, several core courses were developed to expand on the college's mission of providing students with practice skills. In 1980, professors John Sonsteng and Haydock conceived of the Legal Practicum—a course simulating a law firm practice. In the mid-1980s several faculty members came together to develop a new kind of legal research and writing course. Over the following decade the legal writing program evolved into our current renowned Writing & Representation program, which spans three semesters and teaches students not only legal writing skills but also advice, persuasion, negotiation, and trial and appellate advocacy skills. The faculty also created five textbooks upon which the course is centered. Our required curriculum also now includes Professional Responsibility to prepare students for the ethical challenges of being a lawyer.
Outside of the classroom, the college also continued to expand its practical skills experience with the addition of moot court, client counseling, and trial advocacy competitions in the early 1980s. Today the college offers nine such competitions in which students can compete regionally, nationally and even internationally. Each year, our students take home top prizes for the demonstrations of their carefully honed skills.
Prof. Eric Janus (top right) and his
students discuss legal issues during
a class in his Law and Psychiatry Clinic.
Today, our skills curriculum continues to grow stronger and richer. In 1999, William Mitchell created the Law and Psychiatry Clinic, a joint project with the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota Medical School that provides forensic psychiatric evaluations for the clients of public service attorneys. In 2003, when the State of Minnesota cut the budget for the Legal Assistance to Minnesota Prisoners program, William Mitchell agreed to fund the program on campus with the addition of resident adjunct professor Brad Colbert to teach it.