By Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio Network
LANSING, MI –
The Michigan Supreme Court is expected to vote Wednesday on a rule that would allow law students who work at legal clinics to argue appeals for clients. Paul Reingold is the director of the Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan.
"Normally, appearances are limited to people that have already passed the bar," he explains. "On the other hand, the same as in medical school, where you want to have residents and other advanced students learning before they're licensed and learning by practicing on real patients, the same is true in law school."
Reingold says clients are well-served because the students have already done the research and written the briefs. They are also supervised by a clinic director who is a licensed attorney.
Court rules already allow law students to argue in trial courts and in federal cases. Reingold says he hopes one day law students will be allowed to argue before the state Supreme Court.