‘Where the Rubber Meets the Road’

 

Law clinics draw students to UW and provide invaluable hands-on preparation for their legal careers.

 

By Tamara Linse 

 

First and foremost, students come to the University of Wyoming College of Law to earn their degrees, but they overwhelmingly choose the law school for two reasons — affordable tuition and the experience offered by the college’s law clinics. 

 

Not coincidentally, it is the College of Law’s mission to prepare students for the experience of real-world lawyering after graduation — and the law clinics do just that with actual cases and real clients, not just simulations. In fact, since 2013, the college has proudly offered a “clinic guarantee,” which ensures that every student has the opportunity to participate in a legal clinic. 

 

The clinics also address critical access-to-justice gaps in Wyoming by providing free legal services to low-income residents, veterans and other vulnerable populations who otherwise could not afford representation. Under Wyoming law, clinic students can brief and argue cases before the Wyoming Supreme Court, a rare opportunity for law students.

 

The Defender Aid Clinic — the oldest clinic — was founded in 1965, followed by Prosecution Assistance and Civil Legal Services. More clinics have been established since then.

 

Real-world experiences translate into real-world results. UW graduates go  on to work in law firms; in academia; in business and industry; in government; as public defenders; and in judicial clerkships. 

 

Third-year law student Mason Teague of Casper serves as student director of the Civil Legal Services Clinic. He is interested in corporate law, but his experiences in the clinic gave him “a love for helping the Wyoming community and representing people who cannot afford legal representation.” 

 

“The clinics play a pivotal role in sharpening legal education,” Teague says. “The clinics in some ways are more important than traditional classroom learning because they allow the students to dive in and get hands-on experience with the practice of law.” 

 

Third-year law student Tori Dunivan is student director of the Estate Planning and Probate Clinic. She is earning a dual degree — her law degree and a master’s in environment and natural resources. She wants to bridge the gap between agriculturists and environmentalists with a focus on justice in rural areas. 

 

“Our clinic directors describe the clinic experience as ‘where the rubber meets the road,’” Dunivan says. “The clinics have transformed my idea of what being a lawyer is. It’s not adversarial all the time, and it’s not courtrooms all the time. We are ‘counselors’ in so many senses of the word. We are problem solvers who counsel people on the law and their best options given the facts.” 

 

Donors have provided vital support to the clinics through endowments such as the John Burman Fund, the Kepler Fund for Professional Education, the John P. Ellbogen Foundation Endowment to Support the Center for International Human Rights Law, and the Robert J. Golten Memorial Fellowship. In 2024, the donor-supported Alan K. Simpson Center for Clinical and Experiential Learning opened, providing a safe and professional space to house all the college’s clinics in one building.

 

The Clinics

The Civil Legal Services Clinic represents low-income Wyoming residents in a wide range of civil matters, including housing, property and name changes.

 

The Defender Aid Clinic — UW’s first clinic, founded in 1965 — represents people unable to afford counsel at all stages of criminal defense practice across Wyoming, including sentence reduction, parole proceedings and federal compassionate release cases.

 

The Energy, Environmental and Natural Resources Clinic, in partnership with the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office, works on energy, environmental and natural resources law. It remains the only clinic of its kind in the U.S. 

The Estate Planning and Probate Clinic helps Wyoming’s low-income population with estate planning, including wills, powers of attorney and advance health care directives.

In the Family and Child Legal Advocacy Clinic, students form direct lawyer-client relationships to handle civil legal matters including divorce, child custody and domestic violence protection orders.

The International Human Rights Clinic has litigated cases before constitutional courts in Uganda, investigated trafficking in Southeast Asia, provided country conditions reports for immigration judges and successfully represented asylum seekers. 

The Prosecution Assistance Program assists Wyoming county and prosecuting attorneys, the Wyoming attorney general and the U.S. attorney for the District of Wyoming in criminal and selected civil cases. 

The Business Planning Practicum provides legal services in partnership with the UW Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, which nurtures an entrepreneurial mindset.