Medical Legal Partnership

Medical Legal Partnership

• “Medical-legal partnerships integrate the unique expertise of lawyers into healthcare settings to help clinicians, case managers, and social workers address structural problems at the root of so many health inequities.” – National Center for Medical Legal Partnership
• The Medical Legal Partners are the DotHouse Health Center, the Volunteer Lawyers Project, and Ropes & Gray LLP.   

Requirements

• Intern positions are available to undergraduate and law school students.  No special background is required.

How it works

• All work is currently virtual and can be conducted from home or from VLP’s Main Office. Intern hours are flexible, and schedules can often be coordinated with academic, work, and/or personal schedules and availability.
• DotHouse patients are referred to VLP and are scheduled for a virtual Zoom clinic or contacted for individual consultation over the phone.
• VLP staff and interns gather documentation and detailed facts at the Clinic and in follow-up calls. Clients are screened for all eligible services and provided information, referrals, advice, brief service, and/or direct representation.
• Cases are discussed at a weekly VLP case review meeting and case summaries are presented to the Ropes staff at a weekly Thursday meeting and pro bono opportunities are circulated to Ropes Attorneys.

Benefits of volunteering

Interns gain the following experience:

• Exposure to a wide variety of law types including family, housing, public benefits, employment, and consumer.
• Direct client contact and communication skills including working with interpreters.
• Legal training and supervision
• Drafting and presenting case summaries, researching legal issues and resources,
• Participating in meetings with VLP staff and pro bono attorneys
• Engaging in special projects such as the development of client and training materials