Wisconsin Law School Program To Match Law Students with Veterans in Need of Legal Help
The Law School at University of Wisconsin-Madison has created a unique program that will match law students with veterans in need of legal help.
The new Veterans Law Center (VLC) aims to lead the way in assisting veterans with legal advice, legal help, and a brilliant array of committed law students, attorneys, and paralegals. Volunteer attorneys, paralegals and UW Law students will staff the center.
Legal assistance for Dane County veterans will be available starting Nov. 8 when the University of Wisconsin Law School launches its new Veterans Law Center. The first clinic will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the City-County Building, located at 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Madison, WI.
The center will help veterans with civil legal services and information. The first clinic comes just before Veterans Day, observed Nov. 12, and will continue to operate from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. the second Thursday of every month at the City-County Building and from 4 to 6 p.m. the fourth Thursday of every month at Porchlight, Inc., 306 N. Brooks St., in Madison.
Two attorneys and two law students are scheduled for each clinic and will work as partners, with the practicing attorney taking the lead during client interviews. Forty students were also trained to work with practicing attorneys and paralegals.
Some of the legal issues facing veterans include:
- foreclosure;
- other housing issues;
- divorce;
- child custody;
- unemployment benefits.
The center will provides basic legal information and guidance for civil, not criminal, cases.
The free legal center is funded by a Pro Bono Initiative grant for $5,000 from the State Bar Legal Assistance Committee. The project is administered by the UW Law School’s Pro Bono Program and is a collaborative effort with support from the Dane County Veterans Service Office, the Dane County Bar Association, Porchlight, Inc. and representatives from the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Madison. HabushHabush & Rottier SC recently contributed an additional $5,000 to fund the center.
