Community Economic Development Clinic

The Community Economic Development Clinic trains law students to represent community-based organizations in projects designed to create jobs, build affordable housing, and provide critical services in low-income neighborhoods. Working under the supervision of attorneys from local legal services organizations, students provide transactional assistance in the areas of corporate, real estate, and tax law to a variety of nonprofit and for-profit entities. In addition to live-client representation, clinical students also engage in in-class exercises that focus on the unique aspects of counseling, drafting, and negotiation in the community development context.

Some examples of recent clinic projects include the following:

Under the supervision of Professor Scott Cummings, clinic students have advised the Association of Latin-American Gardeners of Los Angeles, a membership organization of immigrant workers, on structuring a cooperative business and have assisted Strategic Action for a Just Economy, a grassroots economic justice organizing group, in developing a strategy for addressing redevelopment pressures on low-income communities in the downtown area.
A number of students have worked with lawyers at Public Counsel's Community Development Project, to represent low-income entrepreneurs starting small businesses and structuring nonprofit organizations for community-based groups.
Student projects at the Neighborhood Legal Services in Pacoima have included researching remedies for tenants displaced by a North Hollywood redevelopment project, structuring a community education program to help day laborers become licensed contractors, and implementing a Targeted Neighborhood Initiative in Pacoima designed to promote a pedestrian-friendly commercial district.
At the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, clinic students have assisted non-profit affordable housing developers, drafted documents for New Markets Tax Credits projects, commented on environmental impact reports, and worked with organizing groups seeking to expand affordable housing opportunities through the redevelopment process.

For more information about the clinic, unit credit, enrollment and any prerequisites click HERE.

Community Economic Development is taught by Scott Cummings