Florida State / College of Law / Academic and International Programs / Juris Doctor Program / Public Interest Law Center

Public Interest Law Center

Founded in 1991, the Public Interest Law Center, formerly called the Children's Advocacy Center (CAC), trains second- and third-year law students in legal advocacy with an emphasis on intensive one-on-one and small group instruction. The Center, which has approximately 110 on-going cases, is unique among law school clinical programs for providing a broad range of legal services. It consists of two clinics: the Children's Advocacy Clinic and the Family Law Clinic.

Children's Advocacy Clinic

The Children’s Advocacy Clinic represents children in foster care, juvenile delinquency, health care, special education, disability, social security and criminal law cases. The Children’s Advocacy Clinic, directed by Clinical Professor Paolo Annino, is nationally and internationally recognized for its advocacy on behalf of children.

Family Law Clinic

The Family Law Clinic serves low income clients with a wide range of family law issues, including dissolution of marriage, custody, visitation, injunctions against violence, paternity, modifications and contempt of court.  Clinical Professor Ruth Stone directs the activities of the Family Law Clinic.



Our Program

Center students meet face to face with clients, learn the details of each case and develop strategies to the achieve the best possible legal outcomes.

 


Faculty & Staff

A distinctive element of the center's teaching is its emphasis on role-playing. Before students represent a client at trial or conduct a deposition, they go through a rigorous series of practices where, with the direction of clinical faculty, mistakes are corrected and presentations polished.

  • Paolo Annino, Clinical Professor in Children's Advocacy Clinic
  • Ruth Stone, Clinical Professor in Family Law Clinic
  • Syllabus
  • Public Interest Law Center Manual
  • Ideal Location
  • Contact Us
  • News and Faculty Articles
  • In the News

    The Center's work has been featured in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, on the CBS television news program 60 Minutes II, and on the National Public Radio program, This American Life. Internationally, magazines in Spain and Germany have chronicled the Center's cases.