Since 1948, Colorado Law has provided legal clinics as an experiential learning opportunity to students as a chance to serve the community. By handling actual cases, students make the transition from legal theory to legal practice. We take pride in the fact that our clinics provide free legal services to many community members who could not otherwise hire an attorney, and this program plays a large role in achieving our values of civic engagement and social responsibility.听
The Community Collaboration Law Lab (CCLL) is Colorado Law's newest legal clinic, formed in the fall of 2016. Led By Prof. Deborah Cantrell, The CCLL provides valuable services to the community, often in ways that are not currently provided by other legal practitioners.听听
听鈥淭he Lab harnesses the law to help communities build their own power and solve challenges that have been ignored by the status quo,鈥� Cantrell said.听 鈥淲e rely on many different substantive areas of law including land use and ownership, for profit and nonprofit entity formation and operation, food access and safety, contract drafting and negotiation. Our legal services include traditional legal work like document drafting and less traditional work including community facilitation and design-center problem solving.鈥澨�
Most recently, student attorneys in the CCLL have been working on a project to establish a no-cost food pantry in the law school. Spearheaded by students JJ Carl 鈥�25, Aidan Stearns 鈥�25, and Charlotte Goodenow 鈥�24, the project was inspired by no-cost community grocery stores operated by a local nonprofit, Boulder Food Rescue, and by efforts across the way from the Law School at CU鈥檚 School of Education.听听
听"CCLL has collaborated on several food access projects in the past with Boulder Food Rescue (BFR),鈥� Prof. Cantrell explained. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been terrific to watch how impactful BFR鈥�'s community-based, no-cost grocery stores have been. I thought our Law School community might similarly benefit. I was even more inspired to move forward on this project when I learned that our campus neighbors at the School of Education were offering a very small no-cost food pantry to their community.鈥澨�
The process has spanned across two semesters so far. In the fall, the students first focused on gathering information from the Law School community about food needs, as well as investigating best practices about operating a no-cost food pantry. The students created an online survey open to all students and staff. They interviewed administrators at other law schools that had established similar pantries, received helpful guidance from BFR staff, and sought input from the Student Bar Association and key Law School administrators.听
As JJ Carl shared, the survey results were critical as it 鈥済athered information on various aspects of the food pantry such as where it should be located and what items should be offered.鈥� Carl further described: 鈥淒uring the second semester, we focused on creating a detailed proposal to submit to the Law School administration, which involved more research and collaboration among all the members of the clinic group.听 We took a lot of the research we gathered as well as estimates of the cost of the food pantry and provided recommendations for how the pantry should be run.鈥澨�
The student attorneys presented their proposal to senior administrators during the spring semester, and it was warmly received. Based on feedback from the presentation, the student attorneys have determined that the best path forward will be to organize a new student group that can take the lead on operating the no-cost pantry. Those organizing efforts will be picked up by the incoming CCLL student attorneys.听听
鈥淭his project was not within the typical boundaries of what many probably consider to be legal work,鈥� Stearns said. 鈥淭he project allowed me to learn and apply many skills that will be useful in my legal career, particularly in the ability to assess needs and develop creative solutions to address those needs. It was听very rewarding to be part of a project focused on serving the needs of our Law School community.鈥澨�
Overall, the student attorneys shared that they valued their time in the CCLL, and particularly, the community-centered framework of the clinic.听
鈥淭he Community Collaboration Law Lab allowed us to work with organizations that are having a direct impact on the communities around us,鈥� Stearns said. 鈥淚t was an incredible experience learning to navigate the needs of various organizations and how we could offer support from a legal standpoint. I was also able to grow my practical legal skills in contract drafting and legal research, as well as develop my personal approach to legal practice.鈥澨�
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