The Utah Crime Victims Legal Clinic (UCVLC) provides free legal representation to crime victims when victim’ rights issues are at stake. The Legal Clinic is available to serve victims of all types of crime and has a statewide focus. Our three main goals are: 1) to provide free legal services to crime victims in criminal district, justice, juvenile and appellate courts; 2) to recruit and train a roster of pro bono attorneys and law students to provide legal services to victims; and 3) to provide education to criminal justice professionals on victims’ rights.
As a non-profit we rely on assistance from law students to help us and our clients. Our law student volunteers are often the first contact a client has with our office and often becomes a resource for the client. Volunteer law students spend a lot of time in court, observing other cases, explaining the process to crime victims and offering support. Additionally, we include our law student volunteers in every possible meeting with clients and other agencies. Because we are a statewide organization, there are often times we travel to hearings and meetings and interns are always welcome to travel with us.
UCVLC has four staff attorneys to assist law student volunteers with questions and training. In addition to the criminal cases we work on, we represent victims in civil stalking injunction and protective order cases. We encourage our 3L volunteer law students to assist and appear on one of these cases under the 3L practice rule. We also appear on misdemeanor cases and encourage 3L interns to appear and represent our clients there. If you are interested in this project placement, please contact the PBI office or jolynn.spruance@law.utah.edu