The Family and Children’s Law Center provides a vital service to children involved in the legal system as well as practical training for MC Law students. The Family and Children’s Law Center is both a valuable resource for students and a ministry for children in Mississippi. The Center equips students and community volunteers with the skills required to shepherd children in need of an advocate through the court system.
The Family and Children’s Law Center includes substantive courses, clinical experiences, and a student run society. Annual Guardian ad Litem trainings offered through MC/Law CLE Department are also an integral part of the Center.
At the heart of the Family and Children’s Law Center is the Child Advocacy Program and its Clinics. Under faculty supervision, second and third year law students have the opportunity to participate in Youth Court and Chancery Court on child-related cases or serve as a court-appointed Guardian ad Litem
The center’s Adoption Legal Clinic provides free legal assistance to families who wish to adopt, and matches those families with law student attorneys who can help make the dream of a family come true. Second and third year law students can participate in the Adoption Legal Clinic and serve as counsel under the supervision of faculty professors.
Substantive courses include Domestic Relations, Civil Law of Family and Persons, Current Issues in Family Law, Children in the Legal System, Juvenile Legal Issues Seminar, Wills and Estates, Trusts, Estate and Gift Taxation, Civil Law of Successions and Donations, Elder Law, Gender and the Law, Immigration Law, and Education Law.
CLINICAL EXPERIENCES:
- The Adoption Legal Clinic
- Advanced Child Advocacy Clinic
- Mission First Legal Aid Clinic
- The Guardian ad Litem Clinic
- The Youth Court Clinic
Contact:
Shirley Kennedy
Director, Family and Children’s Law Center
Director, Child Advocacy Programs
skennedy@mc.edu
phone: 601.925.7180
fax: 601.925.7182