Recent Mitchell Hamline graduate Claire Beyer ‘21 has won an Outstanding Clinic Student award from the Clinical Legal Education Association.
Beyer worked for 18 months in the school’s Reentry and LAMP: Legal Assistance for Minnesota Prisoners clinics. During that time, she filed, argued, and won three criminal record expungements.
“Claire represented several clients in expungement cases where she was able to expunge her clients’ criminal records, enabling them to better reenter the community,” noted Brad Colbert, director of Mitchell Hamline’s LAMP clinic. “Through her incredible hard work and diligence, the County agreed to every single one of our requests.”
Beyer also worked in the clinics to secure conditional medical release for inmates at high risk during COVID; helped draft an amicus brief in support of felon voting rights; and challenged pay-for-stay jail fees on behalf of indigent clients.
“It’s one thing to learn about what it takes to file a lawsuit or argue a motion in front of a judge, but actually doing these things with the knowledge that your decisions will have a real impact on a real client’s life is another thing entirely,” said Beyer. “I am so grateful Mitchell gave me the opportunity to gain practical experience while advocating for Minnesotans whose legal needs are frequently overlooked.”
After taking the bar exam, Beyer will clerk for Minnesota Supreme Court justice Gordon Moore before joining Fredrikson and Byron.