Louisiana Legislation to Curb Scope of Law School Clinics Killed in Committee

Legislation, namely SB 549, has been introduced into the Louisiana legislature that would prohibit the four law school clinics operating at Loyola-New Orleans, Louisiana State University, Southern, and Tulane from filing suit against any governmental entity and from raising Louisiana state constitutional law claims. 

May 19, 2010: SB 549 killed in committee!  Click here to read more. 

On April 29th, SALT sent letters to members of the Louisiana Senate’s Commerce, Consumer Protection, and International Affairs Committee where hearings were scheduled to begin this week.  SALT’s letter expressed our “…opposition to SB 549, which undermines academic freedom and interferes with an essential public service provided by the clinical programs at the four Louisiana law schools.  SB 549 threatens to prevent law school clinics from meeting their professional obligation to expand access to justice for their clients by seriously limiting the types of representation they can undertake.”

“SALT is particularly concerned with Section 2 of SB 549.  Section 2 of the bill prohibits law clinics from filing any action against a government agency or filing a suit for monetary damages against any individual or business.  It also prohibits law clinics from raising challenges to the Louisiana constitution.”

Hearings before the Senate Commerce Committee postponed to Wednesday, May 12th, were again postponed.  Rumors have it that the next "scheduled" hearing is May 19th.  The Louisiana Bar Association met on May 5, 2010, and officially voted to oppose the bill.  The Bar Association: "opposes this bill because it would have a substantial deleterious effect on law school clinics around the state."

Click here to read May 12th op ed from The Times Picayune by James Gill.

Click here to read May 12 "Chemical association escalates attack on Tulane over law clinic," by Karen Sloan, The National Law Journal.

Click here to read a May 10th update from Associated Press.

Read a copy of the April 29, 2010 SALT lettersent to Senator Ann Duplessis, Chair of the Commerce, Consumer Protection and International Affairs Committee on April 29, 2010.  Additional letters of support were also sent to each of the Louisiana law school deans.  

Read the May 10, 2010 CLEA letter sent by Clinical Legal Education Association, CLEA, to Senator Ann Duplessis. 

Read the May 10, 2010 AALS letter sent by Susan Prager, Executive Director of the AALS, to Senator Ann Duplessis.

Read the May 12, 2010 ABA statement issued by ABA President Carolyn Lamm.