{"id":27292,"date":"2024-01-16T08:00:40","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T14:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/?p=27292"},"modified":"2024-01-26T13:13:34","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T19:13:34","slug":"student-helps-client-who-was-fired-win-unemployment-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/2024\/01\/16\/student-helps-client-who-was-fired-win-unemployment-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Student helps win unemployment benefits for client who was fired"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Student Kendra Luke<\/p><\/div>\n

Mitchell Hamline student Kendra Luke had observed and even sat second chair at several court hearings during her time in law school. But she recently took her first lead on a case and won.<\/p>\n

At issue was whether her client\u2014a 17-year warehouse employee at a major corporation in Minnesota\u2014had done anything to disqualify himself from receiving unemployment benefits after he was fired. After two hearings before an unemployment law judge at the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development\u2014including one that lasted four hours\u2014Luke\u2019s arguments that there had been no misconduct won the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was incredible to have the ability to take the lead on a case and even more gratifying to have helped my client,\u201d said Luke, a fourth-year part-time evening student who will graduate this spring.<\/p>\n

Luke came to the case through Mitchell Hamline\u2019s Civil Advocacy Clinic, taught by Professor Peter Knapp. Enrollment is kept small, which allows students to work closely with Knapp on the cases he assigns. Knapp is also with students during official proceedings, though only as an observer.<\/p>\n

In Luke\u2019s case, the client arrived at work one day and was escorted off the jobsite. He had never received a final warning or report for the incident that triggered his termination, according to Knapp. It later emerged there were complaints that he hadn\u2019t worn proper safety glasses. While the judge eventually agreed that was true, it wasn\u2019t enough to deny him unemployment benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cKendra did an excellent job representing her client,\u201d said Knapp.\u00a0\u201cEven though the employer and its representative didn\u2019t show up for the first hearing, Kendra still had to convince the judge that her client had been fired for reasons other than misconduct.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd she did exactly that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Professor Peter Knapp<\/p><\/div>\n

The employer later appealed, and a second hearing was scheduled. By then, the semester was over, and Luke was technically done with the clinic. But she insisted on continuing her representation. \u201cKendra\u2019s commitment to her client and her willingness to go the extra mile is exactly what has made clinical teaching so rewarding for me,\u201d added Knapp.<\/p>\n

Luke called the experience humanizing. In addition to all the work necessary to be the lead on a case, there was also a language barrier. Her client was a Somali immigrant who needed a translator for the hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we think about the ideal client, it\u2019s probably someone who can communicate easily with us and who shares many of the same life experiences,\u201d said Luke. \u201cBut lawyers must venture out of their comfort zone. We all have different lived experiences, and if you don\u2019t get those opportunities, you\u2019re never going to be a great attorney because you\u2019re not going to be able to relate to people who aren\u2019t like you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knapp added the case was bittersweet. While the client won benefits, the warehouse had been the only place he\u2019d worked since emigrating to the United States. It\u2019s where he learned English and made friends.<\/p>\n

Luke called the Civil Advocacy Clinic one of the most valuable law school courses she\u2019d taken. She differentiates between courses where students learn the law, and courses\u2014like clinics\u2014where students learn how to practice the law. \u201cYou can know all the law in the world, but if you don\u2019t know how to use it and implement it and how to relate to your client, it\u2019s meaningless,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that was one of the reasons I wanted to come here to Mitchell Hamline is because of the clinic program.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so valuable to me to get that hands-on legal education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell Hamline\u00a0houses one of the first\u00a0clinical programs to be established at any U.S. law school, and the program has been among the top-ranked in the nation. Learn more here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mitchell Hamline student Kendra Luke had observed and even sat second chair at several court hearings during her time in law school. But she recently took her first lead on a case and won. At issue was whether her client\u2014a 17-year warehouse employee at a major corporation in Minnesota\u2014had done anything to disqualify himself from … <\/p>\n

Student helps win unemployment benefits for client who was fired<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5668,"featured_media":27295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[681,682,245,483,680,52,685,683,684],"class_list":{"0":"post-27292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-features","8":"category-news","9":"tag-advocacy","10":"tag-civil-advocacy-clinic","11":"tag-clinical-education","12":"tag-clinics","13":"tag-kendra-luke","14":"tag-peter-knapp","15":"tag-student-experience","16":"tag-unemployment","17":"tag-unemployment-benefits","18":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5668"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}