Clinic Practice: Tenant Advocacy

4 Credit Hours

Students in the Tenant Advocacy Clinic will represent tenants facing evictions and grassroots tenant associations working to improve their communities. Much of the Clinic’s work focuses on litigation and, in some instances, how this litigation fits within broader grassroots organizing strategy. Students in the Clinic will likely lead multiple court hearings (with 711 licenses), draft and file pleadings and motions, engage in discovery and fact investigation, maintain contact with clients, participate in settlement negotiations, work with tenant organizers, contribute to tenant association meetings, survey residents about their living conditions and, overall, take the lead in formulating litigation and organizing strategy. Currently, the Clinic is representing tenants in eviction proceedings, a resident in chancery court facing deplorable living conditions, a tenant association in federal court advocating for systemic change, and a tenant union intervening in Municipal Buildings Court for tenants who have faced inconsistent water access. The Clinic also works with grassroots coalitions advocating for policy to enhance housing access for people with arrest and conviction histories. By the end of the semester, students will gain exposure to multiple facets of the rental crisis in America and advocate for low-income tenants across a myriad of contexts.