Veterans Clinic

Under the supervision of experienced attorneys, law students at the Mizzou Law Veterans Clinic help veterans – free of charge – with discharge upgrades and Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation claims. In addition to directly representing veterans with their disability claims, the Clinic also participates in high level amicus brief writing, training and education for practicing attorneys, rural veteran outreach through Tigers for Troops, and more.

Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic

The law school’s Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic (ELC) provides clinical opportunities for students to work with small and start-up business clients. The clinic assists members of the university and Mid-Missouri communities seeking to start businesses by providing supervised legal services involving entity planning and formation, governance issues, employee issues, intellectual property analysis, governmental regulations and contract drafting.

Child and Family Justice Clinic

The Child and Family Justice Clinic (CFJC) is a newly reinstated clinic at the University of Missouri School of Law that provides free legal assistance in matters involving domestic relations. The CFJC assists individuals in the legal services of: obtaining orders of protection, child custody matters, divorce proceedings, adoption proceedings, and other services related to domestic relations and family violence.

The Clinic is directed by faculty attorney Professor Danielle Dodd, who supervises Rule 13 certified 2nd and 3rd year law students. Under Professor Dodd’s supervision, students engage  and assist in all aspects of a client’s representation, from providing advice and counseling, to appearing in court on the client’s behalf.

Pro Bono Program

A formal pro bono program was established in 2013 to encourage students to engage in pro bono and civic activity while also being able to gain practical lawyering skills and serve persons with limited means.

The Mizzou Law Pro Bono Program does not provide any direct legal assistance.  Law students are not permitted to represent individuals in legal matters unless they are working under the supervision of a licensed attorney.  For this reason, we do not refer individuals or organizations seeking assistance to private attorneys. If you believe you need a lawyer, please contact the state bar association at https://mobar.org/. You may also find information regarding legal aid programs providing free legal help to low income and disadvantaged people in Missouri at https://www.lsmo.org/.

Any first-year student who completes 10 pro bono hours, and any second- or third-year student who completes 20 pro bono hours will receive a pro bono certificate at the end of the year recognizing their contribution. Special recognition may also be given to a limited number of students whose commitment to pro bono work was exceptional.

In accordance with ABA standards, the program defines pro bono broadly to include activities for the benefit of persons of limited means, whether or not law-related. In addition, work done for a non-profit with 501(c)(3) status and some governmental entities will also qualify. Participation in activities that grant school credit (such as an externship or clinic) will not qualify, but if the student completes hours above and beyond those required to receive credit, those hours may qualify.

Judge Lawrence G. Crahan Judicial Fellowship

Each year, one or more first-year law students from the School of Law are awarded the Judge Lawrence G. Crahan Judicial Fellowship, to serve for eight weeks as a judicial clerk for one or more judges. The awardees have demonstrated academic excellence, leadership and an interest in a judicial clerkship upon graduation. The fellowship is named in honor of Lawrence G. Crahan, ’77, who was appointed to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, serving as a chief judge in 1997 and 1998. He was a judge on this court at the time of his death in 2005. Crahan’s widow, attorney Linda S. Legg, oversees the program each year, getting to know the Crahan Fellows personally to tell them the story of the man for whom the award is named, and to make sure that the fellowship is serving its purpose.

Shook Hardy & Bacon Foundation Summer Judicial Intern

Each year, a University of Missouri law student from a demographic group underrepresented in the legal profession is selected to be a judicial intern during their first-year summer with one of the judges on the Missouri Supreme Court. Through this experience, the selected student is able to view the workings of the court from behind the scenes and develop meaningful relationships with judges and court staff. Student interns also gain an understanding of the processes utilized by the judges to reach unbiased and fair decisions and solve legal conundrums. It is the goal of this program that the students grow more comfortable in a courtroom setting, develop their legal research and writing skills, and gain confidence in law school and as they move into their own practice.

Students are selected by a competitive application process. Through the generosity of the Shook Hardy & Bacon Foundation, the selected student receives a stipend of $5,000.

ACC-St. Louis Diversity Summer Internship Program

The ACC-St. Louis Diversity Summer Internship Program is designed to provide first-year law students with exposure to and experience in an in-house practice. It is also designed to be a “diversity pipeline,” opening up opportunities for law students that may lack access to or knowledge of an in-house legal practice, including students from demographic groups who are under-represented in the legal profession and students whose family backgrounds lack in professional careers, college degrees or exposure to the law. Interns are matched with a member corporation, where they will work during the summer. The program is designed to expose interns to the various areas of legal advocacy and general corporate practice that in-house counsel handle, as well as the relationship between providing business and legal advice to clients in a variety of substantive areas.

The program accepts applications from law students at the University of Missouri, Saint Louis University and Washington University, with the goal of selecting two students from each school. Students selected for the program are paid a total of $6,000 for ten weeks of work.