Family Violence Clinic

A few blocks north of Disneyland in Anaheim, California, is an area very different than the idyllic Magic Kingdom. Here, you will find a lower income neighborhood with a high population of immigrants from Mexico, Central America, South America, Asia and the Middle East. Life is not easy or safe, and when domestic violence enters the picture, even the home is no sanctuary. When such victims are undocumented immigrants, options are few.

In 2007, Chapman University School of Law created the Family Violence Clinic to address the unique challenges faced by survivors of domestic violence. Located at the secure new Anaheim Family Justice Center, the clinic is directed by Chapman professor Marisa Cianciarulo, a veteran immigration lawyer and legal clinician. The clinic offers free immigration and family law assistance for those clients who are undocumented immigrants.

The program follows a unique model that Professor Cianciarulo learned as a student at the American University Washington College of Law and honed over nearly three years as a Clinical Teaching Fellow at Villanova University School of Law. Unlike externships, where student work supports a program director, the Chapman Family Violence Clinic gives students primary responsibility for cases and direct interaction with clients. This model is facilitated by special immigration regulations that allow students enrolled in clinical courses to do anything a lawyer can do, as long as there is supervision by a licensed attorney.

“I feel it is crucial to the learning process to allow students to run the show, with my supervision,” said Professor Cianciarulo. The clinic offers 3 units for the semester program, with 10 hours of combined classroom and field work. "The amount of student effort is actually dictated by the needs of the client, not a per-week hourly requirement,” noted the professor, who added, “Students become very attached to the clients and their cases, and they are struck at how much of role they can play in a person’s life.”

The Family Violence Clinic course provides an amazing opportunity to begin counseling clients within weeks of the start of the new semester. Participating law students will engage in the following activities: client counseling and interviews, fact investigation, legal research, preparation of affidavits, writing legal arguments, and submitting applications for domestic violence-related immigration benefits. Each of these areas will be covered extensively in classroom components taught by Professor Cianciarulo that will include interview simulations, student peer review, and case rounds.

Space is limited in the Fall 2007 inaugural semester, with plans to expand in the future to allow for more participation. For information on the clinic, please contact Professor Cianciarulo at cianciar@chapman.edu.