In 2019-2020, School of Law students enrolled in clinical and field placement programs provided more than 80,000 uncompensated service hours. More than 24,000 of those hours occurred under the direct supervision of law school faculty members directing in-house clinical programs - all of which provide access to justice services for underrepresented communities and individuals.
A record number of University of Georgia School of Law students are participating in the Atlanta Semester in Practice program this semester with full-time externships in judicial, government and corporate counsel offices. The Atlanta program immerses students in real-world law practice while they take other law classes at the school's facility in the state's capital or online. This semester, 21 students will work at 16 offices including for U.S. District Court Judge William M. Ray II, Georgia Business Court Judge Walter W. Davis and Georgia Senator Bo Hatchett and at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney's Office, among other locations.
A free virtual legal clinic for Georgia veterans will be held Saturday, Jan. 23, from 9 to 11 a.m. Veterans in the Columbus and Macon areas will be able to access the clinic through physical locations in each city, while veterans from across the state can connect for services via webcam or telephone. The Georgia Veterans Outreach Project provides quick advice and brief service on issues with special relevance to former military members. Interested veterans need to register in advance for an appointment.
January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, but the School of Law's Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic works year-round to fight for survivors through scholarship, training and service on area task forces.
To help with the reimagination of local, national and international structures used to respond to global public health emergencies such as the emergence and spread of COVID-19, the School of Law will host a daylong, virtual conference titled "The Future of Global Health Governance" starting at 10 a.m. on January 25. Organized by the Dean Rusk International Law Center and the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, the conference will address three crucial questions: whether and how the ailing global public health infrastructure might be reinvigorated; how the pandemic has threatened and exposed limitations of the social safety net in the United States and other economies around the world; and the phenomenon of vaccine refusal and what national and international legal institutions might do to curb it.