TRIBUTE TO PROFESSOR JUDITH LIPTON.

• Author: Joy, Peter A.

I first met Judy Lipton in the early 1980s. I was working in the Case Western Reserve Law Clinic, and Mary Jo Long, who was the director of the Clinic at the time, introduced us. Judy was coordinating the law and social-work program, working primarily out of the School of Social Work. Later, in 1983, Judy joined the Law School's faculty to work in the Clinic. That same year, Mary Jo left the Clinic to move to Albany, New York, and I became the director of the Clinic.

What struck me first about Judy was how passionate she was in working with students representing our clients, and how compassionate she was with our clients. Judy was also very effective in helping law-student interns become able advocates for their clinic clients. Judy modeled the type of effective, ethical lawyer that law students wish to become.

In addition to Judy's legal experience, she also brought with her a background in social work. This proved to be an invaluable asset for clients. In addition to handling clients' legal issues, Judy's approach with students was also to see if there were social services that could also assist clients. I am not sure if there was a name to this approach at the time, but today it is known as providing holistic services to clients, focusing on the whole person and the whole problem.

Judy had a background in family law, and a large part of our caseload involved representing women seeking protective orders or who were involved in problematic divorces. Judy often ended up with some of the more difficult cases. There are several cases that involved Judy and her students taking extraordinary actions to guarantee their clients' safety, and to obtain a measure of justice for them. I remember one case in particular where the client was from another country where the court system treated women unequally and gave them very few rights. Judy spent a great deal of time with her client both reassuring her that the court system in the U.S. would be fairer as well as helping her find a safe place to live.

Judy handled a large share of the family law cases, and she eventually co-taught the Family Law course with Ken Margolis. Judy also started taking on other types of cases from the first day she started in the Clinic. She inherited many of Mary Jo's cases, including one case involving the failure of a federal prison to provide adequate medical treatment for a diabetic inmate. Judy and two students worked tirelessly on the case, and eventually had a...