Georgia State University College of Law’s Health Law Partnership Legal Services Clinic has been named among the most innovative law school clinics in the nation by National Jurist’s PreLaw Magazine. The clinic was one of 10 runners-up.
The program, created by Associate Clinical Professors Lisa Radtke Bliss and Sylvia Caley (J.D. ’89) partners with physicians and medical students from Morehouse School of Medicine, Emory School of Medicine, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University and Georgia State University.
The professionals work together to tackle legal matters for children that affect their health and well-being. HeLP is innovative because it’s the most robust medical-legal partnership clinic in the country in terms of inter-professional involvement of different disciplines and a variety of institutions, said Bliss, clinic co-director and director of experiential education.
“It is an honor to be recognized for innovation,” Bliss said. “When we began, our intention was to design an educational program that not only helped students become better lawyers, but that trained law students and health professionals to work together to improve health and collaboration among our professions.”
The HeLP Clinic opened in 2006 and is the result of a medical-legal collaboration, the Health Law Partnership (HeLP). What started with only two faculty members has turned into a classic example of teamwork. The clinic has handled more than 300 cases affecting the health and well-being of low-income children at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Law students get chance to work on these cases, under the guidance of their professors.
“We hope this type of recognition encourages students interested in law to seriously consider the College of Law at Georgia State as they make their school selection,” said Caley, clinic co-director. “We also hope that medical students and residents factor the existence of a strong medical-legal partnership into their decision-making when selecting their programs.”.
PreLaw Magazine will recognize 25 law school clinics in their winter issue, this includes 15 clinics and 10 runners-up. More than 76 law schools were nominated nationwide for clinics that are innovative in structure, subject matter and provide a service to the community.