Great things are on the horizon for Southern University Law Center. Ground was recently broken for a new Clinical Legal Education Building, providing much needed resources to law students and local Baton Rouge community. To find the reasoning behind the project and its future, the Office of Student Media spoke with the Director of Clinical Legal Education, Ms. Virginia B. Listach.
“We’re housed in different places. It makes it difficult to meet and make sure everything is flowing as it should on a regular basis for clinical faculty. Our clients when they come up here for interviews to drop off things are torn between 2 offices. Not having one uniform office where our clients can come to presents a problem”, explained Listach.
“That’s part of the process behind it. The unification of our clinical programs so that we’re all housed together. The opportunities that it presents are that it opens a broader doorway for us to train our students. We have clients coming here, and then our students in the process are learning what an actual attorney does. The pressures they face and the commitments that they have to make in terms of the acts they have to perform as an attorney. We will be able to provide more research sources in that we can do training in our own facility”, further explained Listach.
According to the Law Center website, construction is set to begin immediately on the clinic building, with an expected completion date of Fall 2026. Several students also expressed their support and excitement for the new building.
It’s hard to think that students wouldn’t look forward to such a large addition to their campus. To explore their view, I spoke with Senior Autumn Jamison and Sophomore Terriya Williams.
“I think it’s actually a really good thing that they’re creating a building for us. It’s gonna allow us to expand the clinic and expand our services. Students not in the clinic who want to come and see what the clinic is or take advantage of our services would be benefitted. And of course, the public who would rent the services of the clinic”, expressed Senior Autumn Jamison.
Sophomore Terriya Williams also expressed similar sentiments saying, “I think that it’s gonna be a getaway from the law center, just another outside source to where students could probably go to learn more about the law and get more hands-on. I think it’s a good addition to campus. We’re in this building all day, from the library to classes. Just an outreach from just walking over to another building is good.”
With this project, students will now have much easier access to the vital resources they require to further their careers. A project such as this is a great example of a university not only building up its campus, but its strength as an educator as well.
