Every Wednesday from now until December 17, 2014, as a project of the El Cajon City Council, the Thomas Jefferson School of Law Center for Solo Practitioners will offer a unique initiative designed to bring legal services to residents of the City of El Cajon.
On those days, alumni from Thomas Jefferson School of Law will be stationed at the El Cajon Branch of the San Diego Law Library. The lawyers will counsel individuals with diverse legal needs in the following practice areas: family law, small business law, wills and trusts, consumer law, housing, immigration, and employment law.
The legal advice is free to members of the public. The costs of the program are covered by a grant from the City of El Cajon.
“We feel incredibly fortunate to be working with the City Council of El Cajon and El Cajon’s City Manager,” said director of the TJSL Center for Solo Practitioners, Lilys McCoy. “Their desire to bring helpful and meaningful projects to their constituents is further proof of their steadfast commitment to public service.”
The Center for Solo Practitioners hopes that the new clinic will begin to help meet the legal needs of those residents of El Cajon who avail themselves of the service, including those who have previously felt excluded from the legal system or intimidated by the cost or inconvenience involved in getting legal advice.
The Free Legal Clinic is an outgrowth of the solo practitioner incubator launched by TJSL in November 2012. TJSL is one of a growing percentage of U.S. law schools to have started a post-graduate program for alumni who wish to start their own law practices. Modeled after the first-ever law school “incubator” in the nation at the City University of New York School of Law, the TJSL incubator exists to help alumni start law practices that are geared toward the delivery of legal services to populations who have traditionally not been able to afford legal representation.
The Free Legal Clinic runs from 1:00–4:00 p.m. and offers assistance to walk-ins or via appointments booked by calling (619) 550-4879 or e-mailing solocenter707@gmail.com. The clinic will be at the El Cajon Branch of the San Diego Law Library, which is located on the first floor of the El Cajon Courthouse. The address is 250 East Main Street, 1st Floor, El Cajon, California 92020.
