2024 WashU Law Clinic Newsletter

• Tokarz Joins Fellow Clinical Faculty Members Kuehn and Joy as Recipient of the William Pincus Award
• Clinical Offerings Expand with the Creation of a New Veterans Law Clinic
• New Faculty Members at WashU Law
• IEC Students Confront Vacancy and Achieve Legislative Reform
• Appellate Clinic Students Argue Four Federal Appeals and Draft Merits and Amicus Briefs
• IP Clinic Expands Certification and Community Assistance
• Wrongful Conviction Clinic Gains Parole for Juvenile Offender
• Entrepreneurship Clinic Students Partner with St. Louis County Library to Support Small Businesses
• GLE Offers Students Unique Insight into Federal Prosecution
• First Amendment Clinic Protects Client’s Right to Access Public Meetings
• Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic Focuses on Tax Justice and Increasing Accessibility
• Recent Faculty Publications
• Awards and Recognitions

Tokarz Joins Fellow Clinical Faculty Members Kuehn and Joy as Recipient of the William Pincus Award

Congratulations to Karen Tokarz on being named the 2024 AALS Clinical Section William Pincus Award winner alongside Jon Dubin of Rutgers! Karen, alongside fellow clinical faculty members Bob Kuehn and Peter Joy, is the third WashU Law faculty member to earn this prestigious honor. The Pincus Award recognizes individuals for their exceptional service, scholarship, program design and implementation, and other contributions to clinical education. Karen’s lifelong dedication to equal justice makes her an outstanding embodiment of these principles.

For over four decades, Karen has been a dedicated clinician and a steadfast member of the global clinical community. As the former director of the WashU Law Clinical Education Program and current director of the WashU Law Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Program, Karen is a consistent innovator and leader in the field of clinical legal education. She has served as a past chair of the AALS Clinical Section and past president of the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA). Today, she leads WashU Law’s Global Public Interest Law Fellowship Program and the International Justice and Conflict Resolution Externship, which have placed more than 200 student externs with international public interest organizations, legal services providers, and tribunals since 2002.

Karen is a tireless advocate for community lawyering and mediation clinics. For 15 years, her Civil Rights, Community Justice and Mediation Clinic students and volunteer mediators have provided free day-of-court mediations to pro se tenants in eviction courts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she intensified efforts to provide mediation in eviction matters, developing new partnerships and initiating pre-filing mediation in St. Louis. In 2023 alone, her Mediation Project assisted 1,500 tenant households with pre-filing eviction mediations and rental assistance counseling, eventually receiving a $1.4 million grant to expand its work.

Karen’s colleagues describe her as an influential mentor to junior clinicians. Despite her demanding workload, Karen prides herself on remaining accessible to new faculty and partnering in their success.

Congratulations to Karen on this well-deserved recognition of a lifetime of achievements in clinical education.

Clinical Offerings Expand with the Creation of a New Veterans Law Clinic

Under the direction of Professor Cormac Smith, the Clinical Education Program launched its Veterans Law Clinic in Fall 2024 and with an official launch on Veterans Day. The new clinic meets a critical need in the community by providing much-needed legal services to St. Louis’s veteran population. Initial efforts are focusing on discharge upgrades and military records correction—critical services that will clarify service characterization and separation status to improve benefits for veterans.

In its inaugural semester, six students formed three teams to serve five veteran clients. Their work centered on preparing submissions to Department of Defense Discharge Review Boards and Boards for Correction of Military/Naval Records. By semester’s end, the clinic expects to complete three requests for discharge upgrade and records correction.

The clinic is set for expansion in both enrollment and scope of services. Eight students have registered for the Spring semester, including three who completed WashU Law’s Veterans Affairs Law course. With Professor Smith’s Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) accreditation, the clinic may now provide comprehensive guidance on federal veterans benefits, including Character of Discharge Determinations through the VA.

New Faculty Members at WashU Law

IEC Students Confront Vacancy and Achieve Legislative Reform

Under the direction of Professor Elizabeth Hubertz, the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic has tackled significant urban and environmental challenges in the St. Louis region.

The clinic’s current focus is addressing the vacancy crisis in St. Louis by partnering with Legal Services of Eastern Missouri and neighborhood associations. Their most ambitious project involves the abandoned St. Alexius Hospital in south St. Louis. The century-old facility, which ceased operations in August 2023, now stands vacant with valuable medical equipment inside, attracting crime and community concerns. The clinic represents the Gravois Park Neighborhood Association in legal action aimed at property rehabilitation and responsible ownership transfer.

 

Appellate Clinic Students Argue Four Federal Appeals and Draft Merits and Amicus Briefs

Under the direction of Professor Steve Alagna, the Appellate Clinic has achieved significant success through oral arguments and brief writing across multiple federal circuits.

In 2024, five clinic students presented oral arguments in four federal appellate cases, engaging with 12 appellate judges. Their work spanned multiple circuits and issues: arguing a conditions-of-confinement case before the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, VA; securing a victory in a retaliatory-discipline appeal in the Eighth Circuit that resulted in vacated summary judgment; winning an excessive-force appeal in the Fourth Circuit that revived their client’s lawsuit; and presenting a deliberate-indifference appeal before the Tenth Circuit in Denver, CO.

The clinic also expanded its impact through influential amicus briefs, filing a merits-stage brief for Equal Justice USA in the U.S. Supreme Court capital case Thornell v. Jones, and supporting the Human Rights Campaign Foundation in an en banc Eighth Circuit case that challenged Arkansas’s restrictions on healthcare for transgender adolescents.

For detailed coverage of the clinic’s recent successes, see: Appellate Clinic Wins First Amendment Retaliation Appeal in Eighth Circuit (August 14, 2024), Appellate Clinic Wins Fourth Circuit Appeal in Excessive-Force Case (July 10, 2024) and Students Argue Federal Appeals Involving Civil Rights Violations (June 13, 2024).

IP Clinic Expands Certification and Community Assistance

Under the directorship of Visiting Clinical Professor Michelle Gross, the Intellectual Property Clinic (IP), was accepted into the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO)’s Certification Program for Law School Clinics for Trademarks. The clinic remains a member of the USPTO’s Certification Program for Patent Clinics and has increased the breadth of its representative capabilities. The IP Clinic has focused on expanding its community outreach efforts in the surrounding communities of greater Missouri and Illinois. Students and faculty recently attended the 10th Anniversary celebration of the BALSA Foundation, a volunteer-led organization of entrepreneurs, scientists, community leaders, and young professionals, where the latest cohort of entrepreneurial grant recipients was announced. The clinic continues to provide current and former recipients with IP education, mentorship, and guidance through the Foundation’s Learning Series. Consistent with its goal of assisting traditionally underrepresented populations in the entrepreneurial community, the IP Clinic has also forged a relationship with the Urban League of Metropolitan Saint Louis Women’s Business Center whereby clinic students provide educational workshops and drop-in office hours to promote sound intellectual property protection strategies for early-stage businesses.

Wrongful Conviction Clinic Gains Parole for Juvenile Offender

The Wrongful Conviction Clinic, under the direction of Professors Megan Crane and Tricia Rojo Bushnell, and attorney Shubra Ohri, secured a significant victory in advocating for Roderick Forest’s release from a juvenile life-without-parole sentence.

Forest’s case exemplified the issues addressed by the Supreme Court’s landmark 2012 ruling in Miller v. Alabama, which held mandatory life sentences without parole unconstitutional for juvenile offenders. His crime reflected classic adolescent impulsivity and peer pressure, while his subsequent rehabilitation demonstrated remarkable personal growth. During his incarceration, Forest became a poet, library worker, and devoted reader who maintained strong family connections.

Following Missouri’s implementation of Miller, Forest became eligible for parole after serving 25 years. Clinic students Ellie Richmond, Brooke Behler, and Raquel Whiting (all JD ’23) built a compelling case for his release through comprehensive advocacy. They conducted extensive interviews about his childhood challenges and personal development, drafted his parole petition, gathered family support letters, and prepared him for parole board testimony. Even after their graduation, the students continued to support Forest through the hearing process.

Their dedication ensured Forest received the “meaningful opportunity for release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation” required by the Supreme Court. The Board granted parole, with release scheduled for 2025, when Forest will rejoin his extended family, including his wife.

Entrepreneurship Clinic Students Partner with St. Louis County Library to Support Small Businesses

The Entrepreneurship Clinic, under Professor Jonathan Smith’s direction, has expanded its community outreach through collaboration with the St. Louis County Library’s new Small Business Center at the Clark Family Branch. Clinic students now provide drop-in legal office hours for local entrepreneurs.

The Small Business Center offers dedicated meeting spaces, business database access, educational programs and networking events, and one-on-one librarian consultations. The Center recently co-hosted the Small Business and Nonprofit Conference and the Small Business Launchpad, an eight-week program designed for individuals with prior state or federal convictions.

Through one-on-one consultations at the Small Business Center, clinic students gained valuable experience in rapid legal assessment and client counseling. The fast-paced environment challenged them to provide immediate guidance without the usual preparation time, demonstrating how transactional attorneys can deliver effective pro bono services under time constraints.

This immersion in the Small Business Center also offered students insight into St. Louis’ economic development landscape, highlighting the social, cultural, and policy challenges of promoting equitable entrepreneurship in the region.

GLE Offers Students Unique Insight into Federal Prosecution

Under the direction of Professor Merce’de Savala, the Government Lawyering Externship (GLE) program offers students firsthand experience in federal prosecution at U.S. Attorney’s Offices (USAO) in the Eastern District of Missouri and the Southern District of Illinois. Working alongside Assistant U.S. Attorneys (AUSAs), externs participate in case development through research, memo drafting, and court observation. They join interagency collaborations, participating in roundtable discussions with the FBI, DEA, and other federal agencies.

Students with Rule 13 (Missouri) or Rule 711 (Illinois) certification can take on enhanced roles, including conducting preliminary hearings, representing the government at arraignments and initial appearances, and assisting in trials under AUSA supervision.

Lynn Shepherd, JD ’25, exemplifies these expanded opportunities. Working in the Southern District of Illinois, Shepherd immediately engaged in hearings and jury trials, including participation in voir dire. “I recommend the externship for all students, even if you don’t want to go into government work,” he notes. “It is great litigation experience.”

The program offers valuable experience even without certification. Second-year student Matt Kim, working in the Eastern District of Missouri, contributes through comprehensive legal research across diverse cases—from civil slip-and-fall suits to criminal felon-in-possession matters. His research has identified new legal issues while supporting AUSA case development. Kim particularly values observing how his behind-the-scenes work translates into courtroom proceedings.

First Amendment Clinic Protects Client’s Right to Access Public Meetings

The First Amendment Clinic, directed by Professor Lisa Hoppenjans, secured a significant victory in a case defending public forum access and due process rights.

The case began in January 2023 when Dr. Jason Vollmecke, a frequent critic of his local school superintendent, attempted to address the board of education about a proposed four-day school week. Following a dispute over his late arrival to the public comment period, Dr. Vollmecke was removed and arrested. The district subsequently banned him from all school property, including board meetings, for one year—without providing any opportunity for appeal.

The clinic took up Dr. Vollmecke’s case in Fall 2023, arguing that the ban violated both his First Amendment right to speak in a public forum and his due process rights. The clinic successfully obtained a preliminary injunction allowing Dr. Vollmecke to attend public forums while litigation proceeded.

In October 2024, the court granted summary judgment in Dr. Vollmecke’s favor on all claims. The ruling emphasized that Dr. Vollmecke’s conduct caused only “very minimal disruption” and involved no threatening speech, making the year-long ban an unreasonable response. The court found both the school district and superintendent liable, noting the superintendent’s actions violated clearly established law. Additionally, the court ruled that denying Dr. Vollmecke access to public forums without a meaningful hearing violated his due process rights.

Two teams of students contributed to this victory. In Fall 2023, Max Comer, Ariana Katz, and Emma Kenny-Pessia (all JD ’24) drafted the successful preliminary injunction reply and written discovery requests. The Spring 2024 team of Matthew Blaney, Alissa Gilmer, and Lauryn Masters (all JD ’24) handled discovery responses, conducted depositions, and authored the winning summary judgment motion.

Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic Focuses on Tax Justice and Increasing Accessibility

Under Professor Sarah Narkiewicz’s direction, the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) advances tax justice by providing free legal representation for tax matters including innocent spouse relief, worker status reclassification, audit responses and reconsiderations, and collection issues.

The clinic has enhanced accessibility by establishing community consultation days at a local nonprofit incubator in St. Louis. This strategic location, which houses multiple social services, allows face-to-face interactions with clients that overcome digital barriers and streamline information gathering.

Building on these direct services, the clinic conducts targeted educational outreach, with current outreach focused on young taxpayers to foster early understanding of tax rights and responsibilities.

Recent Faculty Publications

Peter Joy, Director of the Criminal Justice Clinic:

Improving the Signal Quality of Grades, J. L., Econ. & Org. (forthcoming 2024) (co-author)
May a Defense Lawyer Cross-Examine a Former Client?, 39 Crim. Just. 48 (Fall 2024) (co-author)
Ethics Complaint Against Judge Howell, 39 Crim. Just. 46 (Summer 2024) (co-author)

Bob Kuehn, Director of the Public Defender Externship:

Whither Coursework and NextGen Bar Exam Success?, 7 Raising the Bar 2 (Fall 2024)
The Fallacy of “We Can’t Afford More Clinical Legal Education for Our Students”, 32 Clinical Legal Ass’n Newsletter 4 (Spring 2024)
Who’s Minding the Clinical Legal Education Store?, 32 Clinical Legal Ass’n Newsletter 6 (Winter 2023–2024)

Elizabeth Hubertz, Director of the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic:

The “Dirty Secret” of Lowndes County, Alabama, 32 J. Affordable Hous. & Cmty. Dev. L. 319 (2024)

Steve Alagna, Director of the Appellate Clinic:

The Pedagogical Value of Clinical Amicus Advocacy, 75 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol’y 47 (2024)

Awards and Recognitions

Professors Tara Rocque and Elizabeth Hubertz of the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic were named finalists for the William H. Danforth St. Louis Confluence Award in April 2024, recognizing their leadership in environmental justice advocacy. The clinic’s groundbreaking 2019 report, “Environmental Racism in St. Louis,” catalyzed collaboration with community partners to address environmental burdens disproportionately affecting Black residents. The clinic is now developing a follow-up assessment to track changes in environmental justice indicators and to propose strategies for creating a cleaner, healthier, and more equitable St. Louis.

In addition to her Pincus Award, Professor Karen Tokarz, Charles Nagel Professor of Public Interest Law & Policy and Director of the Civil Rights, Community Justice and Mediation Clinic, and the International Justice and Conflict Resolution Externship earned two prestigious recognitions in 2024:

• The Missouri Lawyers Media ICON Award for sustained legal excellence and leadership
• The Association of Missouri Mediators President’s Appreciation Award for advancing court mediation statewide

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