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IMMIGRATION CLINIC

Immigration issues made headlines throughout 2016 — border crackdowns, executive orders issued and challenged in court, sanctuary
cities, asylum reform and mass deportations.
The Immigration Clinic at the University of Houston Law Center rose to the occasion with faculty, staff and students providing
information to help allay fears and clear up confusion and by advocating on behalf of more than 1,600 people in the community.
The clinic sponsored more than 40 workshops, outreaches and CLE trainings attended by more than 2,300 participants.
The Immigration Clinic closed more than 320 cases, helping more than 650 people, including 48 victims of crime and domestic abuse.
Student attorneys racked up more than 2,200 hours representing clients.
“I am very proud of our law students’ work this past year,” said Clinical Associate Professor Geoffrey Hoffman, director of the clinic.
“Their perseverance, drive and compassion was evidenced by their representation in individual family-based cases, writing and researching
various amicus briefs, handling appeals and going to immigration court. We emphasized through our “Know Your Rights” outreach and
numerous other outreaches that immigrants rights are important and can be protected through education.”
In addition to helping immigrants obtain or maintain proper documentation, the clinic specializes in handling applications for asylum on
behalf of victims of torture and persecution, representing immigrants who have been the victims of domestic violence, human trafficking
and crime, as well as representing children and those fleeing civil war, genocide or political repression.

CLINIC SPACE

The University of Houston Law Center’s new and expanded clinical
office space is open for business.
The overhaul includes five interview rooms, two of which have
telephone and video capabilities to facilitate mediations and other
meetings outside of the Houston area and abroad; new offices for the
program’s nine faculty members as well as staff; and a new reception
area to give clients and students the feel of a real law office.
“Clinical legal education is so important because students want to be
practice-ready,” Dean Leonard M. Baynes said during a ribbon-cutting to the community,” said Associate Clinical Professor Janet Heppard,
ceremony for the new facilities. “It’s very important for us to have a director of the Clinical Legal Education Program as well as the Civil
space that represents the quality of our students and faculty. It also Practice Clinic.
provides the clinic’s clients a space that’s like any other law office, where
they have security and safety in terms of representation, and where they “The clinic allows students to work on the types of cases they would
feel welcome. handle in their first five years of practice.”
“I want to congratulate the Law Center,” added Provost Paula Myrick The Law Center’s clinical program gives students the opportunity for
Short. “The Law Center is one of the crown jewels of the University of hands-on practical experience by providing pro bono legal services in
Houston. The legal profession is so important, and this is a law school six practice areas: Civil Practice, Consumer Law, Criminal Defense,
that is moving forward and making decisions for the right reasons.” Entrepreneurship & Community Development, Immigration, and
Mediation.
The new facility, completed in the fall, brings previously scattered
offices together in one area and allows for further growth of the clinical In 2016, the clinic’s 95-plus students mediated more than 1,500 cases
program. in Justice of the Peace Courts and the Dispute Resolution Center and
worked more than 20,000 clinic hours helping immigrants, indigent
“The clinic space now reflects the professional setting that corresponds families, consumers, small businesses and non-profit organizations in
with the legal services our clinic students and talented faculty provide Harris County and surrounding areas.

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