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When a family becomes a client of Duke Law School’s Children’s Law Clinic, they get more than just legal counsel. They also receive help in resolving other needs — such as childcare, housing, food, or job training — that may be destabilizing their lives and contributing to the immediate legal matter. 

With a background in both law and social work, Clinic Director Crystal Grant has centered its work around a holistic, interprofessional model of legal representation for low-income children and their families in issues related to special education, school discipline, and Social Security disability appeals for those with complex medical needs. 

Under the guidance of Grant and supervising attorney Peggy Nicholson, Duke Law student-attorneys collaborate with social workers, medical providers, and other professionals to build cases that win benefits for children with diagnosed learning and behavioral disorders, and occupational therapy and speech/language services for public school students legally entitled to them.  

“Our students have been able to take a family’s story and translate their experience into a state complaint that’s going to get some type of relief for them, whereas before the parent felt like they were going to meeting after meeting, making the same complaints, and hitting a brick wall,” Grant said.  

“But when a lawyer or law students are involved, you can start using those legal mechanisms to actually get relief and justice.”  

That can mean thousands of dollars in back payments and services for families in need. In a recent case, the clinic won relief of up to $20,000 in compensatory education for a student with autism and ADHD after a week-long due process hearing before an administrative judge. 

“It was a ton of work but it was incredibly rewarding and provided the most valuable education I’ve had at Duke so far,” said Will Knight JD ’25, whose work including writing a motion for summary judgment, prepping expert witnesses, conducting direct examination, and responding to objections in court. Knight is pursuing a career in public interest work at a North Carolina law firm. 

“There are many things from working in the clinic that I'll bring to my future career. I think the most important one is knowing what the place and role of an advocate is in their relationship with their clients,” he said. “Most of the clinic’s clients face deep personal struggles that the legal system is not always equipped to resolve.” 

Grace Shearman JD ’25, who taught for eight years before entering law school, gained skills in oral advocacy, establishing client rapport, and collaborating with other decision makers and stakeholders while helping clients including a mother whose application for Social Security benefits for her child had been denied. Shearman and clinic partner Emily Fung JD ’25 interviewed medical professionals, requested additional records, and established a level of trust and comfort that helped the mother provide information that strengthened the appeal.  

“These are really personal details that we’re asking for, but we prepared all our facts and drafted a memo,” Shearman said. “It’s all part of helping build the case and advocating for the child. When we got to the hearing the judge had already read our brief and mentioned he was really impressed with it and approved her on the spot.” 

“We were able to get monthly benefits for our client, and it was really great to see how happy she was,” Fung added. “I feel like she really opened up over the course of us working with her and really advocated strongly for herself in front of the judge.”  

A holistic approach to serving clients 

The clinic team includes an intern each year from a social work graduate program who helps assess families’ needs and connect them with community resources for non-legal issues. If a child is missing appointments, it may indicate that the family doesn’t have stable housing or reliable transportation, or needs help finding healthcare providers who accept Medicaid, Grant points out.   

“If it’s a family in crisis and they’re dealing with education issues and work, it’s really helpful to have that other person on the team who is attuned to those needs,” Grant said.  

The clinic also advocates for changes to North Carolina education law and policy; Fung helped produce a report, in partnership with the Education Justice Alliance, that urges the state and school districts to prohibit suspensions of children from pre-kindergarten to second grade. And the clinic is working in partnership with the Exceptional Children’s Assistance Center and Legal Aid of North Carolina to develop a website where parents of special needs children can file complaints with the state themselves if legal representation isn’t available.  

Some case outcomes bring about broader change. While representing one child whose class lacked a certified special education teacher, the clinic filed a systemic claim for other children. That resulted in a state audit of all the students in the classroom, who were offered compensatory education services, as well as training for schools on how to have the necessary coverage for future staffing vacancies.  

For Jennifer Heck JD ’25, a former teacher, the chance to improve students’ lives through the clinic was one of the reasons she chose to attend Duke Law. 

“After being a volunteer court-appointed special advocate for children in the child welfare system, I really wanted to make a shift and be part of the solution, so I decided to go to law school,” Heck said. 

“The Children’s Law Clinic specializes in working with children who have special education needs, and even though I felt like I knew part of that situation, having been a teacher, I’ve learned so much just working in the clinic. It was a perfect fit. It exceeded my expectations.”