Michael Krauss, a law professor at George Mason University, reports:
I am proud and pleased to announce that the Clinic for Legal Assistance to Servicemembers (CLAS) has now been organized and is operating. The executive director, Joseph Zengerle, is a West Point grad and Viet Nam vet, as well as being a tremendous guy (and, yes, a lawyer).
I encourage you to spread the news of the creation of this clinic to all those you think might be interested. An account has been set up for CLAS at the GMU Foundation. If anyone wishes to contribute, checks should be made payable to the George Mason University Foundation, with the cover letter specifying that the donation is earmarked for CLAS.
You can reach Joe [at George Mason University School of Law, 3301 North Fairfax Drive, #404, Arlington, VA 22201] . . ., or by email at jzengerl [at] gmu.edu.
Joe Zengerle further reports (as you might gather, they don’t yet have a Web site, or I’d be linking to it):
George Mason law school has an unusually large number of students who have served in the military or have a strong patriotic interest in supporting the armed forces, and who are eager for a clinical experience. The school, whose faculty share their interest, has preliminarily confirmed with defenseofficials the existence of unmet legal needs among active duty members of the services and their families (including those who have been mobilized from the reserve forces). Seeking to match those interests with the need, the Clinic for Legal Assistance to Servicemembers (CLAS) began formative activities in January, 2004. Initial law student participants, who include a retired Navy captain, a retired Army lieutenant colonel with enlisted experience, a woman who spent seven enlisted years in the Air Force including the first Gulf war, and a former Senate staffer who hails from a devoted Marine family, will work with the clinic’s executive director, Professor Joseph Zengerle, a Vietnam veteran who instituted the seminar on Homeland Security and the War on Terror at the law school. The clinic is now conducting a needs assessment to determine the gaps students might help fill, which commenced with a meeting at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Studying substantive laws like the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, collaborating with bar and nonprofit service organizations, establishing compliance with applicable requirements under federal law and other authorities, and structuring the organizational and academic elements of a new clinic, are simultaneously ongoing. CLAS just received its initial donation, a private grant to match the first $25,000 in contributions.
I had the pleasure of visiting at George Mason in Fall 2001; it’s an excellent law school, and seems like a great home for this sort of project.
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