June 01, 2008

Sage Teton

WilmerHale Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School, Jamaica Plain, MA
2008

WilmerHale Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School (Jamaica Plain, MA)

The Legal Services Center (LSC) is a unique law office in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood which services over 1,200 low and moderate income clients per year. It also serves as a teaching facility, and each summer law students from across the country come to the LSC to gain invaluable experience working directly with clients under the supervision of clinical instructors. The center is made up of 15 clinics that can assist clients with all sorts of civil legal issues, including housing, family law, predatory lending, and business law to name just a few. I had the opportunity to work within the LSC’s Health Law Clinic. I provided direct client representation in civil law cases involving public income and health care benefits, discrimination, insurance, family, estate planning and permanency planning. The Health Law Clinic works closely with many Boston-area community based organizations to ensure that the legal service needs of those living with serious medical conditions are met. I also worked with the Health Law Clinic on health care access law and policy development aimed at improving health care services provided through Medicaid, Medicare, Ryan White, and private insurance programs including “The Massachusetts HIV Stigma Project,” a Department of Public Health funded study to assess the effects of stigma and discrimination on the health-related behaviors of people living with HIV. Overall, my experience at the LSC provided me with an invaluable clinical experience during my first year summer and fulfilled my goal of working in the public interest field in a community setting.