WILLS CLINIC (4) (CLC 760)

Professors Lawrence Grosberg and Peter Strauss

The goal of the Wills Clinic is to teach students how to represent clients with estate planning needs. The students will hone their interviewing, counseling and drafting skills and apply basic principles and drafting techniques of estate planning documents, including wills and trusts and their inter-relationship, health care advance directives (health care proxies and living wills), powers of attorney and other relevant instruments. Students will interview mock clients and videos of those interviews will be analyzed and discussed in class. Students will also provide basic estate planning to real clients referred to the Clinic by various not-for-profit organizations who otherwise could not afford a lawyer. The Clinic will be a four credit graded clinic, based on performance in fieldwork and in class participation. Student work typically will include screening inquiries, interviewing clients, preparing retainer agreements, investigating client’s circumstances, researching the applicable law, counseling clients and drafting appropriate estate planning documents and advance directives. Students will work with Professors Strauss and Grosberg on campus and with a mentor attorney in the field. Students should expect to spend 12-15 hours per week on Clinic work. Evening or part-time students are encouraged to apply but must have some flexibility to be available for Clinic work during daytime business hours and should discuss the need for flexibility with their employers. Wills, Trusts and Future Interests (EST 140) is a prerequisite.