UR plans satellite campus downtown

The University of Richmond plans to open a law office downtown this fall, but the project will be much more than that.

Think of it as a multijurisdictional task force of sorts -- one that not only will bring UR into collaboration with Virginia Commonwealth University but also will provide legal, psychological and a variety of other services to people in need.

UR Downtown will be a 4,500-squarefoot satellite campus housed in the former Franklin Federal Savings & Loan building at East Broad and Seventh streets, across from the new federal courthouse. "It's really quite an extensive program we're trying to put together," said Judy Mejia of UR's Bonner Center for Civic Engagement.

The satellite campus will bring programs of the university's law school and the Bonner Center into a central location close to the people it will serve.

The Wilton Companies is donating use of the building and the renovation work, which is expected to be completed in the fall. But UR Downtown will be launched at the start of the semester, eventually involving about 50 students.

Some students will participate for course credit, while others will volunteer their time.

"It's an opportunity for students to engage in the community and bring it back to classroom," said Mejia, program manager for the Richmond Families Initiative portion of the project.

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Bonner faculty and undergraduate students will work with local agencies to research programs that deal with such issues as domestic violence and child neglect, with a focus on finding ways to strengthen family relationships.

UR law students will be involved through the Family Law Clinic and the Harry L. Carrico Center for Pro Bono Services.

In the Carrico Center, students will be paired with local attorneys to help low-income clients obtain no-fault divorces or protective orders in domestic-violence cases.

"This is purely volunteer work," said Tara Casey, a law professor who directs the center. But it is volunteer work that comes with many benefits.

"You're able to have such an immediate and lasting impact on someone's life," she said.

Students receive training in the dynamics of domestic violence and how a protective order works.

The center will work with the YWCA of Greater Richmond and the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society to identify clients who can be helped by the UR Downtown project.

"There is a great need to assist victims of domestic violence," Casey said. And there's about a three-month wait for low-income people seeking no-fault divorces.

That wait "affects their ability to move on with their life," she said.

The Family Law Clinic will be set up as a for-credit practicum for third-year law students.

"It's our own law office," said John Douglass, the law school's dean.

The clinic will be directed by Dale Margolin, who will serve as both law professor and "the lawyer of record" for clients. Under Virginia law, third-year law students who haven't passed the bar must be supervised by a licensed attorney.

Margolin said she hopes the clinic will help as many as 15 to 20 families during the year with civil cases.

The clinic will have a double benefit, Douglass said. It will educate law students -- "the best way to learn a profession is to do it" -- while reaching out to an underserved community.

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While UR will offer legal expertise through its law school, VCU will bring doctoral-level psychological services to the Family Law Clinic.

VCU's Center for Psychological Services and Development is "already a fully functioning clinic," said Leticia Flores, a VCU assistant professor and director of the center.

The center is a training facility for advanced counseling and clinical psychology doctoral students, but it doesn't have legal resources readily available, she said.

The new collaboration "helps our students to have legal expertise they can rely on," she said.

VCU also will offer help through its School of Social Work. Those students will connect families in crisis with social services that can help.

UR and VCU have been looking for ways to collaborate, Flores said.

"This was a nice way to do it."
Contact Karin Kapsidelis at (804) 649-6119 or .