Disability and Aging Justice Clinic (DAJC)

The Disability and Aging Justice Clinic (DAJC) advocates to enhance and promote the civil rights, autonomy, and self-determination of low-income individuals with disabilities, aging adults, and their families and support networks. The DAJC facilitates access to justice through direct legal representation, advocacy projects, and community outreach and education with the mission of empowering our clients as they navigate and challenge systems that seek to exclude, oppress, dehumanize, and disenfranchise. Students may represent clients in court and administrative proceedings in a variety of civil legal matters, including securing eligibility for government benefits and services, adult guardianships, prisoners’ rights, and discrimination in access to programs and services. Students may also work to assist parents and families who are vulnerable to arrest, detention, and removal due to immigration status in protecting their children through advance planning documents. Clinic students take the lead as the student-attorney in every aspect of their assigned cases and projects. Practice areas in the DAJC may include:-drafting an amicus or other appellate brief on issues that impact the disability and/or aging community,-representing clients to remove an adult guardianship, -a court-appointed role as guardian ad litem in Surrogate’s Court to ensure due process protections are strengthened for persons subject to indefinite adult guardianships, -engaging in advocacy for deaf and hard of hearing incarcerated individuals, -representing clients in filing civil rights complaints before the New York City Commission on Human Rights, -advocating for incarcerated individuals to ensure accessibility and access to programs and services,-representing clients in administrative hearings before the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities or other agencies, and -engaging in advance planning, including the drafting of wills, powers of attorneys, and health care proxies. Students in the DAJC are supervised by Law School faculty who are assisted by the support staff of Main Street Legal Services (the Law School’s clinical program). Students represent clients pursuant to the Student Practice Order authorized by the Supreme Court, Appellate Division for the Second Department, in effect for Main Street Legal Services. In addition to direct client representation, students may be assigned to work with a community-based organization on a policy or practice issue relevant to disability and/or aging justice. Students are also expected to research and write on an issue of significance to disability and aging justice advocacy. Presentations by guest speakers comprise part of the Clinic.