The DIAL Clinic remains committed to providing guardian advocacy services to parents with adult children with developmental and intellectual disabilities. These types of cases are an essential and excellent pedagogical tool for educating law students on the skills and professional values needed for the successful practice of law. Representing families in Guardian Advocacy cases exposes students to critical interviewing and counseling skills and requires them to carefully describe the ramifications of guardianship and offer other lesser restrictive alternatives to families.
In the Summer of 2023, the DIAL Clinic held a workshop at the law school where over fifty volunteer lawyers and law students worked to prepare 45 families on how to determine whether guardian advocacy is the appropriate option for their family member with a disability or if some less restrictive (or more restrictive) option is appropriate. On this day, Professor Talhia Rangel conducted three one-hour lectures for participants and pro-bono attorneys and with military precision, Jennifer Gordon ensured that the volunteers and the participants were assigned to rooms, trained, and received services.
