TRIBUTE TO JUDITH LIPTON.

• Author: Adamson, Bryan L.

In her remarks at the Milton A. Kramer Law Clinic Center's dedication ceremony in 2000, Judy Lipton opened by stressing that, for clinicians, pedagogy and lawyering center the client narrative, the client story in our legal representation. Then, in her measured, natural, and captivating style, she proceeded to tell the story of the Clinic's beginnings and its centrality to both the educational mission of Case Western Reserve Law and the School's service to the surrounding community. It was a thoughtful, inspiring presentation that I have not forgotten.

So, as Judy would counsel, I will start by telling a story. I joined the Case Western Reserve Law faculty as a clinician in 1995, and, for a time, I co-taught with Judy in the Criminal Law Clinic. There is one particular client that she and her clinic students represented who I still remember today. That client was an African-American lesbian woman who was in distress after a particularly intense argument with her live-in partner. At some time during or shortly after the quarrel, the client began to have suicidal thoughts and called the local suicide hotline. The social worker on the other end engaged the client for some time, but became so concerned about the client actually inflicting self-harm that he (secretly) called 911 (calling in secret is routine when, in the social worker's judgment, real harm is likely to ensue).

Police officers arrived at the client's home and knocked on her front door. The client answered. By the time they arrived, however, the client had concluded her conversation with the hotline social worker and was feeling better; she told the officers as much. The police officers asked to enter her home. The client--who had a discomfiting history with the local police that left her wary and distrustful--reiterated that she and her partner were fine, and refused (as was her right). The officers then issued her a citation ... for inciting panic.

Even though it was not my case, and the clinic workers were not my students, I recall it because the faculty discussed it in our weekly case rounds. It sticks with me to this day because it was beset with so many of the issues that--beyond the importance of client stories to competent representation--we and our students often had to unpack, including professional-ethics issues and the deeply troubling experiences of the marginalized in our law enforcement and legal institutions.

The absurd, disturbing outcome of that client's experience, viz., that a citizen--once suicidal, now fine--would be criminally charged for causing two law enforcement officers to check on her well-being, was fundamentally unfathomable. Judy's intelligent and holistic approach to the case was something to emulate. She was intent on ensuring that her students used that as a point to...