UC Law launches new clinic to address justice gap for low-income communities

The University of Cincinnati College of Law today announced the launch the Legal Access Clinic (LAC), a new effort designed to address the access to justice gap for low- and-middle-income people in the tristate.

The clinic is scheduled to open Fall 2022, when it will serve its first clients.

Sarah Adkins, an attorney with extensive nonprofit and clinical legal experience, left private practice to serve as the Clinic’s inaugural director. Previously, she was the founder, executive director, and immigration attorney for Neighbors Immigration Clinic (NIC), an immigration legal nonprofit clinic in Lexington, KY. In addition to building the NIC from the ground up, Adkins worked directly with low-income immigrants on asylum, trafficking, DACA and employment-based immigration cases.

“We are thrilled that Sarah has joined the College to launch the LAC. Too many in our community confront serious legal issues but go to court unrepresented because they lack the resources to pay a private attorney and earn too much to qualify for Legal Aid,” said Dean Verna Williams. “This new Clinic will go far in helping us close the access to justice gap.

“Sarah, with her deep experience launching the successful Neighbors Immigration Clinic, is the right person to lead this initiative. We look forward to seeing the real-life impact of her work.”

LAC responds to two significant challenges facing the legal profession: the crisis of unmet legal needs among lower-to-middle income people and the shortage of practical experience among new law school graduates. The Clinic’s primary purpose is to provide real life client experiences to upper-level J.D. and LL.M. students while offering affordable legal services to people of modest means in southwestern Ohio.

LAC’s scope of services will be broad and may include landlord/tenant disputes; estate planning; debtor/creditor disputes; criminal defense work related to protection orders, expungements, and traffic/probation violations; serving as guardians ad litem for child victims of abuse, neglect, and dependency; and handling some civil cases in municipal and small-claims courts.

Founded in 1833, the University of Cincinnati College of Law has the distinction of being the first law school west of the Alleghenies. From humble beginnings in 1833 in a room above Timothy Walker’s law offices to its home today in Clifton (OH), Cincinnati Law has been on the leading edge of legal education. Thousands of lawyers have graduated from the law school, and about one-third practice in the Greater Cincinnati community, working in all areas of the law. For more information about the College of Law, visit www.law.uc.edu.