The Education and Health Law Clinic (EHLC) provides free legal representation to low-income parents of children with disabilities in special education, early intervention, and school discipline matters. H.E.A.L. Collaborative, a joint project of the EHLC and Rutgers-N.J. Medical School’s outpatient Pediatric Primary Care Clinic, is a medical-legal-social work partnership in which graduate students in law, social work and medicine partner to address the adverse effects of social determinants on the health and well-being of children with disabilities and their families.
Call the clinic at (973) 353-3218

Meet the Faculty
Professor Esther Canty-Barnes, Clinic Director
Esther Canty-Barnes is the Director of the Education and Health Law Clinic and represents indigent parents and caregivers of disabled children in need of educational services; teaches law students in this area of the law; and provides educational programs for parents and caregivers. She also served on the Supreme Court committee on Women in the Courts for 10 years.

Professor Jennifer Rosen Valverde
Jennifer Rosen Valverde, Clinical Professor of Law and Professor Nadine Taub Scholar, is the Legal Director of H.E.A.L. Collaborative, a joint project of the law school's Education and Health Law Clinic and Rutgers-NJ Medical Schools' Pediatric Primary Care Clinic. Professor Valverde educates graduate students in law, social work, medicine, and public health to address the non-medical causes of poor health using an interprofessional, preventive law approach. She is an expert special education law; the intersection of poverty, health and law; and interdisciplinary education. She also has a Master Degree in Social Work and holds a dual appointment as Professor in the Rutgers School of Public Health.
READ MORE ABOUT THE EDUCATION AND HEALTH LAW CLINIC Law students in the EHLC and H.E.A.L. are exposed to special education and other areas of substantive law, and learn a wide range of lawyering skills "by doing." These skills include interviewing clients; engaging in fact investigation and document review; counseling clients; developing case theory and strategy; researching and drafting legal documents; negotiating with opposing counsel; advocating for clients in less formal settings such as meetings with school personnel and mediation; and representing clients in emergent and due process administrative hearings and federal court proceedings. In addition to the above, law students in H.E.A.L. learn interdisciplinary collaboration skills and experience first-hand the benefits and challenges of partnering with other disciplines on behalf of clients. Both the EHLC and H.E.A.L. provide opportunities for students to participate in community and statewide education and training projects as well as policy advocacy initiatives. All students in the EHLC and H.E.A.L. must be enrolled concurrently in or have previously taken the Special Education Law Seminar, which educates students in substantive special education law through the study and analysis of case law, simulation exercises, and guest lectures. Students also participate in weekly case rounds, which provides an opportunity for students to present, discuss, brainstorm, and reflect upon their cases and projects with their peers. "My time in the Education and Health Law Clinic was hands down my favorite experience in law school. As a law student, I partnered with social work students and pediatric residents to address children's special education issues, as well as any other issues impacting the child and family's well-being that were within our power to address. I felt as if I was more than just a lawyer to my clients, which I've found to be rare in my post-law school legal career. I am extremely grateful to have had such a once-in-a-lifetime experience." —Latiqua Liles RLAW '18 |
Of all my law school experiences, I am most proud of the work I did in the clinic. Not only did I benefit educationally from real-world practice working with clients, opposing counsel and before judges, but I was personally rewarded by the change we made in our community. The clinic is where I honed my skills as an aspiring attorney and put to work the education I received. Through it all, I was carefully guided by leaders in the field who have become my dearest mentors.
- Example Cases
- The Case of Ms. A and Her Son Y
- The Case of Mr. Z and His Son, M
- The Window Guard Project
- Advocacy Spotlight
Deanna Christian RLAW'17 provided direct representation, impact advocacy and community education around the rights of children with disabilities in charter schools during her year-long Maida Post-Graduate Public Interest Fellowship. She worked with the H.E.A.L. Collaborative, a medical-legal-social work partnership with Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences Outpatient Pediatrics Department and Rutgers Law School’s Education and Health Law Clinic. Read her story.