Clinic will focus on gun violence

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Gun violence and the ongoing swirl of controversy around the Second Amendment are in the news almost every day. But lawyers and law students are often notably deficient in skills to help them navigate that landscape.

A clinic due to start in January seeks to help fix that.

The University of Minnesota Law School will launch a Gun Violence Prevention Clinic, a three-year pilot projects that it believes to be the first in-house law school clinic in the nation with a focus on promoting gun violence prevention through strategic litigation, and by keeping a close eye on a rapidly changing area of law.

The clinic will use student pro bono legal work to support and litigate cases that help reduce injuries, deaths and trauma resulting from gun violence.

The director of the clinic, visiting clinical professor Megan Walsh, has been working in the area of gun violence prevention for several years. She said she hopes to bring elements of that background into legal clinical education.

“One of the things we identified was that there really wasn’t enough happening in law schools,” she said. “The law has changed the way government can regulate firearms. We need more people talking about the law and working with the law, including filing litigation.

A three-year pilot project, the clinic seeks to spur law school and law student engagement in firearms law and the Second Amendment; establish a home for gun violence prevention litigation in the Great Lakes area; and grow the pool of litigation expertise and legal resources available for Second Amendment and gun violence prevention matters.

“With gun-related deaths at record highs, preventing gun violence is a critically important issue in Minnesota and the nation,” said Garry W. Jenkins, dean and William S. Pattee Professor of Law, in a statement. “This clinic will allow students to have a real-world impact on addressing the epidemic of gun violence, while honing their practical skills and developing a deep reservoir of knowledge on Second Amendment jurisprudence.”

The recent U.S. Supreme Court case of New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen overturned a New York gun safety law. The court ruled that New York’s law requiring a license to carry concealed weapons in public places is unconstitutional.

That case, to Walsh, is an example of why it’s critical for law students to stay on top of gun-related legal developments. The pace of change has meant that law professors, and therefore their students, have catching up to do when it comes to understanding guns, gun violence and related laws.

“Firearms law is currently one of the most dynamic and rapidly changing areas in the law,” she said. “Yet there are not enough litigators with expertise in the field, and law schools and legal scholars are under engaged in Second Amendment issues.”

The clinic will partner with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office on Second Amendment cases and on affirmative litigation brought by the Attorney General to reduce gun violence in Minnesota. That will give students a chance to work toward the goal of safer communities via litigation. Under the clinic’s supervision, the students will serve as special assistant attorneys general.

“We’ll work directly with the AG’s office on Second Amendment cases and on affirmative cases that Attorney General [Keith] Ellison’s office brings to try to reduce gun violence,” said Walsh.

Walsh will work with and supervise law students in providing pro bono legal services through the clinic. She formerly served as a consulting attorney with Everytown Law, the largest gun violence prevention litigation team in the country.

About 110 people die from gun violence every day in the United States, with a disproportionate number of victims being people of color. Walsh hopes to use the clinic to help build a “counterweight” to the powerful gun lobby.

The clinic is being partially underwritten by The Joyce Foundation, McKnight Foundation and other funders.

“It’s an important opportunity right now,” said Walsh. “The generation that’s going into the law grew up with active-shooter drills. They have passionate views on gun violence, because it’s something that affects us on an everyday level.”