The perils of state-funded public interest work?

Law school students nationwide are facing growing attacks in the courts and legislatures as legal clinics at the schools increasingly take on powerful interests that few other nonprofit groups have the resources to challenge.

On Friday, lawmakers here debated a measure to cut money for the University of Maryland’s law clinic if it does not provide details to the legislature about its clients, finances and cases.

The measure, which is likely to be sent to the governor this week, comes in response to a suit filed in March by students accusing one of the state’s largest employers, Perdue, of environmental violations — the first effort in the state to hold a poultry company accountable for the environmental impact of its chicken suppliers.

-- DevinMcDougall - 04 Apr 2010

Since Columbia, like most (if not all) private institutions receives some money from the government, I wonder how this issue will affect the issues our clinics take on. While I'm sure there's less pressure from outside sources at Columbia than at a public law school, there are pretty clear signs around campus of the government money CLS accepts. If we cannot keep military recruiters out of our buildings, how can the clinics maintain their autonomy?

-- NathanStopper - 07 Apr 2010

@Nathan - you raise a very interesting point. That said, I think we should look at this from another angle as well. The first picture in the NYTimes article that Devin posted is a picture of Jim Purdue. One of the reasons that the Maryland legislature is so active on this matter is that big industry in the state is pushing back and complaining to the legislature. As a school that accepts a large amount of money from the firms that represent many of the big corporations that the work of clinics affects (Skadden Stairs, Cravath Room, etc.) we should also consider how this affects clinic work. What will happen when a CLS clinic sues a big client of one of the firms that gives so much to the school? It will inevitably happen at some point (and I'm sure already has), but the implications may be different now that this issue has been brought into the spotlight. Just some food for thought...

-- DavidGoldin - 07 Apr 2010