AMVETS Legal Clinic

In January 2009, Chapman University School of Law launched the AMVETS Legal Clinic, a pro-bono legal clinic for military service personnel unlike any other on the West Coast. The new program provides invaluable experience to students and free legal representation to veterans, service members and their families.

Part of Chapman Law's new Military Personnel Law Center, the AMVETS Legal Clinic is housed in the first floor of the law school building. As the name implies, the AMVETS Legal Clinic is a cooperative effort with AMVETS Department of California, a non-profit organization that is committed to veterans and community service. Another key supporting partner is Brandman University, whose campuses provide satellite office space for clinic participants in the Western United States. Some campuses are on military bases, and many others are near to the law school. Eventually, the arrangement will allow the Chapman clinic to serve all of California and its 200,000 military families spread over 27 bases.

Second- and third-year students at Chapman handle all facets of cases, under the supervision of faculty members and private attorneys. “This is a great opportunity for Chapman students to practice a specialized kind of law as the clinic also meets a vital community need,” said Kyndra K. Rotunda, Director of the Military Personnel Law Center and Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at Chapman.  The Family Violence Clinic, the Alona Cortese Elder Law Center and the Tax Law Clinic are among the other opportunities for students to learn by doing while also serving those in need.

The AMVETS Legal Clinic augments representation provided by the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps, which doesn’t get involved in private disputes. A typical clinic case might involve a reservist whose landlord won't let him or her out of a lease during active duty, or perhaps a wounded service member who was denied disability benefits. "There are many pending cases with special circumstances related to multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan," noted Professor Rotunda. In many instances, cases are going unlitigated because service members can’t afford private representation. “There’s a big hole in the net that needs to be filled,” she said. 

Some cases involve video teleconferencing, which allows a Chapman Law student in Orange to perform an intake interview with a service member on a sister campus in another part of the state. The clinic's reach is enhanced by joint efforts with other universities, such as the recent collaboration with University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) known as the Chapman/Berkeley Soldiers Project. A reserve JAG officer herself, Professor Rotunda has served three tours in the war on terror. Previously, she directed a similar law clinic in the Washington, D.C. area. “We are all excited about this unique opportunity,” she said. “We hope the clinic will become a model for other schools to follow.”