Students working in the Law Clinic gain essential practice skills across the legal spectrum. The most recent wins include tackling complex challenges in healthcare, representing clients in federal court, creating resources to drive social change, and helping individuals navigate the U.S. immigration system. These students are making a lasting impact in the community and nurturing a lifelong commitment to service.
( 1 ) Immigration Law Clinic
What they did:
Iowa Law students have helped a client and his family from halfway across the globe on an arduous journey through the United States immigration system, from winning a contested asylum claim in federal immigration court, to navigating with the immigration bureaucracy to obtain a green card, to working with the State Department to reunify the client’s family. Recent achievements include working with entities such as the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), U.S. Senators’ constituent services offices, and a U.S. Embassy abroad to coordinate the client’s long-fought naturalization process with his family’s entry to the United States—culminating in the client naturalizing as a U.S. citizen following his family’s arrival after more than a decade apart.
What they learned:
“Being on Mr. Mazibo’s case taught me how difficult and broken the immigration system is. Mr. Mazibo is a wonderful man who has built his life in the U.S. for over a decade, but he still had to jump through endless bureaucratic hoops to get his American citizenship. Fortunately, tireless advocacy by my colleagues helped Mr. Mazibo overcome these barriers and achieve his immigration goals. I learned how emotionally trying immigration representation can be, but also how crucial it is to be patient, empathic, and communicative with clients and legal adversaries.” — 3L Victor Brown-Rodriguez
“I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities I had to work alongside clients while working on substantive legal matters. Getting to the point where a person is naturalizing as a U.S. citizen is generally a very long, emotional, and taxing process with many barriers. Naturalization is the end of a long and arduous path through the U.S. immigration system, but it is also part of the process where there is a lot of hope. For years this client had shared with us their dreams of naturalizing, and it was incredibly moving to see them become a U.S. citizen.” — Emily Bushman (23JD)
( 2 ) Federal Defense Clinic
What they did:
Iowa Law students developed advocacy skills by presenting an argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago. The case entailed a collateral attack on a prior conviction and sentence, with the argument hinging on a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that altered the parameters for classifying “violent felonies” under the Armed Career Criminal Act. Third-year law student Paige Roff skillfully navigated this evolving legal landscape and exemplified her understanding of the law.
What they learned:
“Someone once told me appellate advocacy is the one opportunity an advocate has to speak about a case with others that care about it as much as they do. My experience arguing in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit was an amazing experience for this reason. And I learned that to be an effective advocate, I had to immerse myself in the complex and novel legal issues and meticulously review the record.” — Paige Roff (23JD)
( 3 ) Federal Defense Clinic
What they did:
During a supervised-release revocation hearing, Iowa Law students advocated for their client in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa. The students had the opportunity to conduct direct and cross examinations and navigate the complex terrain of both liability and disposition. The collaboration between third-year law students Sarah-Rose Ballard, Trevor Hurd, and A.J. Brantley culminated in a resounding victory, as their client’s release was not revoked and he returned home to his family and community.
What they learned:
“Having the chance to provide direct representation in law school was a truly unique opportunity. The three of us each had our own approaches to the work and the law, but that is what made our team so special and successful. We challenged each other to incorporate the statutes in creative ways and take risks for our client, which paid off. This experience taught me that in public
defense, we might have to reframe our ‘wins’ to include just showing up for our client, but securing the best outcome for them should always be the goal.” — Sarah-Rose Ballard (23JD)
“In law school, one of the first things we learn is that being an attorney is as simple as solving a client’s problem. The invaluable experience of representing our client in his revocation hearing this past semester taught me that one of most important components of solving a client’s problem is having a thorough understanding of the client’s goals. Our true understanding of our client’s goals facilitated the way we strategized and is what ultimately helped us come up with our winning arguments.” — A.J. Brantley (23JD)
“Much of law school trains you how to think like an attorney and, while this is certainty a valuable skill, it pales in comparison to the opportunity to actually be one. By working with a team of unique law students on an active case, I was able to learn that advocacy is much more of an art than a science. And, in order to improve your capacity as an advocate, it is important to constantly work to understand your team members, yourself, and most importantly, your client.” — Trevor Hurd (23JD)
( 4 ) Estate Planning Clinic
What they did:
Iowa Clinic Law students partnered with the University of Iowa’s Adult/Gerontological Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program to explore how their disciplines address and resolve complex healthcare challenges. Together, they engaged in insightful discussions, delving into the laws and real-world practices surrounding the preparation, acceptance, and implementation of patient healthcare directives. Focal points of the workshop included empowering patients through powers of attorney, living wills, and essential healthcare and financial directives.
What they learned:
“The workshop proved to be mutually beneficial. For law students, it was an invaluable experience to witness the application of legal forms and procedures in real-world scenarios. Equally significant, nursing students gained insight into the development, placement, and proper utilization of these legal forms. I learned how to skillfully draft documents to better assist clients facing challenging medical circumstances.” — Leighton Berridge (23JD)
“The workshop was invaluable. Learning about the graduate nursing students’ personal and professional experiences with these forms helped me realize just how important they are to clients’ future medical and financial decisions. It was a learning experience for both groups, and as a clinic, we left feeling more comfortable discussing advance directive documents with clients now that we’ve seen how they’re used in a medical setting.” — Rachel Zingg (23JD)
( 5 ) Community Empowerment Law Project
What they did:
As school shootings become more prevalent, numerous school districts have invited law enforcement into their buildings. However, police in schools have done little to decrease the severity of school shootings and their presence has negatively impacted students of color and those with disabilities. Iowa Law students collaborated with the Des Moines Black Liberation Project and the National Center for Youth Law to create an advocacy toolkit aimed at students, parents, and other organizers and activists working to remove police from Iowa schools.
What they learned:
“While working on the toolkit, I learned a lot about legal advocacy and the different forms it can take. As law students and lawyers, we often want to point to the specific law, rule, or principle that has been violated, but that’s not always possible. Here, we focused on creating a comprehensive resource that can be used by our clients and other activists to effectively initiate the change they want to see in the law—don’t underestimate the power of the people!” — Tia Smith (23JD)
“In creating the toolkit, I learned the value of a collaborative environment and how to use people’s strengths to produce a deliverable that is informative, useful for advocates, and easy to understand. Moreover, I think that creating this toolkit showed me the importance of being aware of
the issues that affect people in their everyday lives. It’s easy to focus on what is immediately around you but such a narrow focus doesn’t allow you to see the challenges people face, allowing unaddressed issues to continue to affect people, in this case, students.” — Sandra Morales (23JD)