History

College Legal Clinic Inc. was founded in 1971 by a group of students and faculty at California State University, Fullerton. Its primary objective was to help procure the release of jailed student protestors of the Vietnam War. In 1973, it officially became certified by the California State Bar Association. Now, nearly forty years after its beginning, College Legal Clinic Inc. has three offices and has thousands of students in its service areas. The organization's panel of over thirty attorneys donates time for free weekly consultations at these offices.

In addition, some of the attorneys have agreed to reduce their fees for qualified students in need of legal services.

Mission Statement

It is the mission of College Legal Clinic, Inc. to provide students and low-income members of the public with an affordable means of obtaining quality legal services. College Legal Clinic, Inc. is a non-profit organization, which is run solely by student interns, thus providing internship opportunities for students who plan to either go to law school or pursue a career related to law. Additionally, our goal is to provide interns with leadership roles, develop their public and professional speaking skills, develop team cooperation skills, and allow first-hand job experience. This is achieved by having interns participate in our court shadowing program which assigns students to various judges/attorneys allowing them to spend a day in court, recruiting new attorneys, and fulfilling administrative, management, or clerical positions. Our goal is to address all legal matters and to provide students with immediate legal assistance in a friendly, efficient and structured manner.

College Legal Clinic, Inc. is the oldest college-based program in California which is State Bar certified as a lawyer referral service. In an effort to provide highly effective legal services, College Legal Clinic Inc. pre-screens all potential attorneys in order to determine their eligibility to participate in the organization. The Board of Trustees, which consists of professors, lawyers, judges, and community leaders, helps to oversee and maintain the quality of this professional legal service.

Services

Referrals

Students can receive the names of several attorneys who are members of the College Legal Clinic Inc. panel by simply calling or visiting our on-campus office (TSU 258 /657-278-5850). Interns carefully match up students to attorneys with the appropriate legal areas of practice. All referrals are free to ALL and limitless as needed. It is up to the students to contact these attorneys on their own and make independent arrangements to meet with the attorney. A number of College Legal Clinic Inc. attorneys take cases on a sliding scale or pro bono basis if the client is able to demonstrate financial need. In order to insure and confirm quality of panel, we usually ask for student feedback of how effective and help the attorney was in a survey call conducted a week later. This survey call doesn’t take place without prior permission from the student/client to be contacted.

Consultations

Consultations are held weekly at our Annex Office and bi-weekly at our Main office. Clients are given a twenty minute consultation with a practicing attorney. The consultation sessions allow the attorney and the client to discuss legal issues and procedures. The attorneys can only explain, evaluate and comment on information presented by the client. If representation is required the student/client has the option of hiring the attorney for such purposes independent of the College Legal Clinic. Consultations are free for students and faculty enrolled/working at Cal State Fullerton or other member schools. Non-students can purchase a one-year College Legal Clinic Inc. membership for $25; this membership permits them to use the consultation service as frequently as they desire during the one-year period at our off-campus location. Please feel free to call us for more information or to schedule an appointment for a consultation. For students and faculty legal needs please contact us via 657-278-5850; for non-students please utilize 714-870-5757.

Internship Opportunities

There are several internship opportunities with the College Legal Clinic, Inc. They range from administrative positions to clerical ones. An internship application and resume must be submitted by the deadline in order to be considered for the various roles in our organization. Furthermore, each intern will undergo the same ‘hiring’ process as a regular job, including interviews, orientation, training, and contract signing as all personnel. Below is a list of positions that may be available (Please refer to deadlines and availability list to apply for positions that are currently open.)

Leadership Roles in Our Internship Program

(All applicants must have completed a minimum of one session of the General Internship in order to be considered, except for the Associate Director position which requires a further completion of Associate Director Assistant position.)

Associate Director (One Year Commitment)

Assistant Director (Minimum 2 sessions Commitment)

- Two positions - Available

Office Manager (Minimum 2 sessions Commitment)

- Two positions – Unavailable

Assistant Managers (Minimum 2 sessions Commitment)

- Two positions – 1 out of 2 Available

Assistant Publicity Director (Minimum 2 sessions Commitment)

- One position - Available

General Internship

Clerical Staff (Minimum 1 session Commitment)

- 11 positions – 7 out of 11 Available

Shift/Team Leaders

Board of Trustees
Chair Dr. Bert Buzan Professor of Political Science California State University, Fullerton	Secretary/Treasurer Joseph Felz City Manager Fullerton, CA
Hon. Robert Hutson Judge, Superior Court (Retired) County of Orange	Brian Bayati, Esq. Attorney at Law Newport Beach, CA
Harmeet Chana, Esq. Attorney at Law Fullerton, CA	Lazaro Fernandez, Esq. Attorney at Law Riverside, CA
Rolf Rolnicki, Esq. Attorney at Law Santa Ana, CA	Dr. Stacy Mallicoat Professor of Criminal Justice California State University, Fullerton
Executive Director Nina N. Mohammed	Associate Director Carmen Reynolds

Administrative Staff
Annex Office Manager (On-Campus) Andrea Sanchez	Main Office Manager (Off-Campus) Yusuf Pirzada
Special Projects Manager TBA