Discover How the Law Applies to Familial Issues through Clinical Experience
Lawyers play a pivotal role in deeply personal life events, requiring strong skills in client counseling, negotiation, mediation, and advocacy. Family Law lawyers help people deal with some of the most difficult issues in life. In this area attorneys handle divorce and child custody, child and spousal support, prenuptial agreements, guardianship, adoptions, surrogacy, and estate planning. Lawyers working on children’s law issues work in dependency (child abuse and neglect), education, juvenile delinquency or policy advocacy. Family law is also interdisciplinary as related issues arise in business law, criminal law (domestic violence), immigration law, international law, and juvenile justice (child abuse and juvenile delinquency).
Miami Law offers numerous clinical opportunities to gain these skills through hands-on experience with clients in our diverse, multicultural city. Our in-house Children and Youth Law Clinic allows students to represent children in foster care and former foster youth in dependency, health care, mental health, disability, independent living, education, immigration, and other civil legal matters. Whether your goal is to work in a government setting, at a non-profit organization, or in a law firm, nationally or globally, Miami Law will prepare you to help clients through life-changing experiences.
Some Facts about Miami and Miami Law:
“Cases come to life when you are in the Children & Youth Law Clinic. They become more than words or theories. Our clients were real young people, often the most forgotten in society, who need things that others take for granted. In the clinic, we learned to use our legal knowledge to innovate, we learned how to advocate, and we learned how to care.”
“I credit the Children & Youth Law Clinic tremendously because I was exposed to the substantive and procedural aspects of Chapter 39 which is the statute governing abuse and neglect proceedings. I was also able to gain litigation experience in administrative trials and court hearings, learn case management skills, and cultivate my ability to establish positive attorney client relationships.”
“Prosecutors hold significant power in the juvenile justice field, and the fact that they are seeking advice about how to implement diversion programs to reduce the incarceration rates of young people and to address racial and ethnic disparities is a hopeful development.”
“The best part of my job is seeing the impact it has on the families with whom I work.”
“All of our clinics are united by the belief that people on the margins of society have difficulty being heard and can benefit by what we do. But we’re also teaching students not to practice law in a cookie-cutter way.” 
"The Miami Scholars Program supported my interests and encouraged me to explore various opportunities in the public sector...this has led to an interest in family law and protecting the rights of children.”