Two BU Law Clinics Partner with Graduate School of Social Work
BU social work students provide support services for clients represented by the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic and the Criminal Defender Clinic.
The clients served by students in Boston University School of Law’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic (IRC) and Criminal Defender Clinic (CDC) often bring to their cases a variety of serious non-legal issues that demand immediate attention. When these issues extend beyond a lawyer’s capacity to help, troubled clients are left to deal with them alone, lacking proper resources to resolve their circumstances. Both the client’s legal case and personal life are negatively affected without the support of social services.
When faculty members from BU Law’s IRC and CDC noticed the frequency of clients struggling with issues like housing, education, unemployment, and mental health, they recognized the need for collaboration between lawyers and social workers to best serve such clients. Clinical Associate Professors of Law Wendy Kaplan of the CDC and Laila Hlass of the IRC, along with IRC Clinical Instructor Sarah Sherman-Stokes, reached out to Assistant Dean for Field Education Trudy Zimmerman and Associate Director of Field Education Judith Perlstein of the School of Social Work to explore a partnership. Cheryl Azza, a social work professional who has experience working with criminal and juvenile defenders, stepped in to serve as the program’s social work supervisor. She oversees the program for the School of Social Work, and serves as a liaison between the law and social work departments.
“Law students weren’t always sure where to turn when a client needed ongoing therapy or case management, and they didn’t always know how to enroll a client in school or health insurance or help a client who had survived childhood trauma,” says Sherman-Stokes. “We knew we could provide more comprehensive services to our clients if we worked in collaboration with the School of Social Work.”
Benefits for Clients and Students Alike
The partnership between the Schools allows IRC and CDC clients—often minors and adults who have suffered from abuse, abandonment, substance abuse, or mental health issues—to receive the care and support they need during and even after their legal cases. Clients benefit from the connections they make with newly available community services, and the assistance they receive in sentencing advocacy and understanding family dynamics, Zimmerman notes.
Students at the School of Law and the School of Social Work benefit from the program by working on multifaceted cases that span disciplines. The program teaches students from both Schools useful techniques for dealing with cases where legal and social matters affect each other. In the CDC, says Kaplan, the goal is to “teach future advocates that the representation of juvenile and criminal defendants goes beyond the strictly legal elements of any case.” Law students learn about “holistic representation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and strategies for working with traumatized clients,” says Hlass. For social work students, the program provides comprehensive experience for those “who are interested in the intersection of social and legal services, in working with urban clients with complex needs, and in learning the social work role on a multidisciplinary team,” says Zimmerman.
The collaboration requires the efforts of both law and social work students and faculty. BU Law students meet weekly with faculty supervisors to identify ongoing issues in a case that require a social worker’s assistance. Social Work Supervisor Cheryl Azza meets with social work students—Scott Clark (SSW’17), working with the IRC, and Andrea Conway (SSW’17), working with the CDC—to help plan how best to address the need. Students in both schools meet with faculty supervisors to discuss issues and solutions, and eventually meet with the client to suggest ways of moving forward.
Stories of Success
After just one semester, the partnership has successfully aided several legal clients who have reacted positively to the presence of a social worker. Law students have seen firsthand the difference that social services can make within their cases and their clients’ lives.
Noel Chavez (’17), a student in the IRC, was assigned to a case representing “Lucy,” a 13-year-old girl who travelled from El Salvador to the United States with her older brother but was detained and put into removal proceedings. “As a 13 year old who has experienced certain hardships, we are seeking Special Immigrant Juvenile Status for Lucy so that she may remain in Boston with her mother and older sister,” Chavez says. At the beginning of the case, however, he and his partner experienced difficulty in extracting information from Lucy for their legal theory. “We decided to utilize Scott Clark (SSW’17), from the School of Social Work, in order to help [her] open up more,” says Chavez.
Clark, a Master’s candidate with the School of Social Work, has helped Lucy become comfortable explaining the abuse she endured in El Salvador to the student attorneys. “Before I joined the case, Lucy struggled to get through interviews without breaking down,” Clark says. “By establishing a therapeutic relationship with her, and helping her to explore coping strategies including body awareness, I helped Lucy become able to describe her trauma and how it affects her.”
In the Criminal Defenders Clinic, Mark Rapisarda (’16) and Masha Zilberman (’17) worked together on a juvenile defense in which their client had several open cases for distinct offenses. “Our client also had been diagnosed with learning and mental health disabilities and was not getting help from home, school, or elsewhere,” Rapisarda says. Many children the CDC defends, Kaplan notes, fall into trouble and are inappropriately suspended or excluded from school when there are learning disability and behavioral issues involved. Rapisarda and Zilberman enlisted Andrea Conway, the School of Social Work student assigned to the CDC, for her help connecting the client with the services he needed. “Andrea worked zealously to find appropriate programs and the right school placement for our client,” Zilberman says. “She took the time to ensure his re-enrollment in the Boston Public School system, meet with school administrators, work with him on applications, attend interviews, and so much more.” In addition to helping the client on a personal level, Conway provided testimony to the court concerning the client’s progress that may have contributed to the judge’s decision to release the client from pretrial detention.
The addition of a social worker in law students’ cases has proved effective and rewarding for students of both schools. “As social workers, we bring a different perspective to each client’s case, and engage them in a different way,” Conway says. “We can introduce new insights to their case, and explore some of the larger reasons behind alleged criminal behavior. I have been able to connect many of my clients with enrichment programs, re-engage them in the school system, and set them up with job programs, among other things. These plans will show real progress to the court. I’ve also worked with clients on skills and coping mechanisms going forward, to lessen the possibility of re-offense.”
“This partnership…makes a lot of sense,” Chavez says. “Our clients have experienced things in their lives that are unimaginable. To have a resource available to us where we can air out concerns for our clients and to get meaningful and helpful suggestions and feedback is great.” Clark believes that the partnership has been mutually beneficial. “A social worker who is competent in the procedures and language of law is better prepared to support clients who are legally involved,” he says. “Likewise, I would offer that as an attorney, knowing how to interpret a client’s biopsychosocial assessment or knowing the basics of best practices for working with clients with mental health needs is essential for effective advocacy.”
After the success of the past semester, BU Law and School of Social Work students and faculty are excited about the future of the partnership. The collaborative efforts of each department will continue to provide legal clients facing hardships with the support and services they need.
Reported by Johanna Gruber (CAS’16).