Community Legal Partnership for Health Clinic – 7750

Course Overview

Students in this clinic will work with various health service students at the Phillips Neighborhood Clinic to identify and resolve legal issues affecting patients care and wellbeing. Students will develop skills that can be used in any number of practice settings, including interviewing and counseling, case management, problem-solving, persuasive fact analysis, legal drafting, negotiation, effective oral communication, and interdisciplinary collaboration. 

Guest speakers from the legal profession will offer expertise in various areas of the law students may encounter and community leaders will provide important knowledge of the citizens of the Phillips neighborhood. Designated classes will be devoted to “case consultation” to solve client issues and learn from one another’s perspectives and experiences.

Through participation in this course, students will be given the opportunity to change clients’ lives by helping them assert their rights and obtain necessary benefits and services. Students will learn about legal issues that affect people with health issues, the complex intersection of law and health, the medical-legal partnership (MLP) model of legal services delivery, and client-centered and holistic approaches to the lawyer-client relationship.  Students will learn their own style of lawyering and ways to improve time management, client management, and communication and advocacy skills.

Phillips Neighborhood Clinic Partnership

Phillips Neighborhood Clinic (PNC) is a community health clinic run by University of Minnesota medical, nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy, public health, and dental students. The clinic provides a range of free services, and patients are accepted on a walk-in basis without residency, income, insurance, or immigration status requirements. Teams of students will be expected to attend at least one evening clinic per month and occasional Law Nights which are evenings devoted to providing pertinent legal information to the PNC patient community.  Additional cases may be assigned from PNC affiliated programs or Cancer Legal Line.

Classroom and Training

Students will receive an orientation to the clinic and will be trained in intake and referral procedures early in the fall semester. Subsequent classroom sessions will combine substantive legal topics and skills development. There will be the opportunity for a combined class with medical students. Class sessions are highly interactive and full participation is expected.