Nakia Davis is the Supervising Attorney

  Formed in 1996, the Family Law Clinic stresses the importance of a holistic approach to the practice of family law. Many times, clients face a multitude of problems and their legal issues may be the most minor of them all. As a result, students are trained to identify potential social or mental health issues and address them by referring clients to appropriate community resources. For example, the Clinic refers clients to the Center for Child and Family Health, which assists clients with a myriad of issues, including emergency shelter and treating and preventing child abuse.

  The Family Law Clinic is a one year program that combines the learning of practical skills, North Carolina family law, pretrial litigation skills, and practical civil procedure with supervised representation of live clients. Students may choose to intern in the clinic or extern with local agencies or family law attorneys. A variety of matters are handled by this clinic, including emergency custody orders, absolute divorces, name changes, separation agreements, competency proceedings, Legal Aid of North Carolina partners with this clinic.

Janet Pittman* was finally ready to purchase her first home.  The loan officer at her bank told her that she would probably qualify for the First Time Home Buyer’s Program, but she would need to divorce her husband, from whom she had been separated for several years, before her paper work could be completed.  The only problem was that Ms. Pittman’s husband was from Kenya and had returned there shortly after their separation.  Ms. Pittman had not heard from him since, and had no idea how to locate him.  She could not let this obstacle prevent her from purchasing her dream home! 

Ms. Pittman was referred to the Family Law Clinic.  The student attorney assigned to her case immediately began research on how to locate and serve Ms. Pittman’s husband in Kenya.  After several phone calls to Kenyan newspapers, relatives and friends of the couple, the husband was located and served in Kenya by certified mail.  Afterwards, the student attorney represented Ms. Pittman in an uncontested divorce hearing, and the client became a thankful first time home buyer.

Need Assistance?

Need help in a family matter?  Contact Legal Aid of NC- Durham at 919-688-6396  for a referral to our program.  Or contact  the NCCU Clinical Legal Education Program at 919-530-7166