The Youth Justice Clinic, previously known as the Juvenile Justice Clinic, offers a dynamic four- or six-credit course where students engage in direct representation of children, youth, and emerging adults—up to age 25—in various court proceedings. This course also provides opportunities for advocating systemic change. The Youth Justice Clinic is structured into two interconnected components. The first focuses on direct representation, equipping students with essential skills in client counseling, ethics, investigation, pre-trial practice, negotiation, document drafting, trial experience, and appeals. The second component is student-driven, emphasizing systemic change through policy work. Students collaborate with affected communities to reform system practices, shape legislative advocacy, and influence the court’s rulemaking process. The Youth Justice Clinic allows students to delve into practice and policy across criminal law, juvenile law, education law, and poverty law. Under the close supervision and mentorship of faculty supervisors and Sarah Branch, Director of the Youth Justice Clinic, students gain invaluable experience. In their first semester at the Clinics at Maine Law, students also participate in a two-credit course, Lawyering Skills for Clinical Practice. All clinic students engage in “case rounds,” where they and faculty exchange ideas and questions about current cases and policy objectives.
Center for Youth Policy &Law
In June 2017, the Center for Youth Policy & Law (CYP&L) was established with a grant from the John T. Gorman Foundation to support Clinic students and faculty in their policy work around justice-involved children, youth and emerging adults.
Meet the Professor
In the Media
Youth Justice Clinic Director Sarah Branch and Center for Youth Policy & Law Director Jill Ward featured in New York Times coverage of youth justice in rural Maine
Jenna Zawislak ’22, a Clinic alum, and Leslie Wilson ’22, a former Clinic volunteer, bring attention to access to justice concerns in Maine’s youth prison
Youth Justice Clinic Director Sarah Branch speaks to the New York Times about Maine’s youth justice system
Mark Peltier ’10, a Clinic alum, in the news advocating for his youth client’s privacy rights