Stanford Law School is launching a new program that brings graduate social work students to the Mills Legal Clinic (MLC) for interdisciplinary work with law students. This fall, licensed social worker Kiu “Kathy” Ho joined the MLC team to build the program. In her new role as clinical supervisor and lecturer in law, Ho will recruit social work student interns and supervise them in their work with MLC attorneys, students, and staff to deliver services to many of the pro bono clients served by the clinic.

“Not only will our clients benefit from this collaboration, our students will learn how to work with other professionals toward better outcomes for our clients,” says Bill Koski (PhD ’03), Eric and Nancy Wright Professor of Clinical Education and director of the Youth and Education Law Project.

Ho, who started in October, has already started reaching out to clinical social work programs at schools including UC Berkeley, San Francisco State, Columbia University, and Fordham to recruit social work students.

MLC clients—including people with disabilities and chronic illness, members of the LGBTQ community, undocumented immigrants and refugees, children and youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, and people involved with the criminal justice system—are often dealing with multiple life challenges in addition to their legal issues.

“Today’s legal practice demands that lawyers be able to analyze a client’s legal problems in the context of other social and economic factors. The social work collaboration will give SLS students a chance to practice that kind of analysis,” says Juliet Brodie, associate dean of clinical education and director of the MLC and Community Law Clinic. “We are excited to bring this innovative model of holistic representation into the clinic.”