Litigation Section – Children’s Rights Litigation Committee
The Children’s Rights Litigation Committee (CRLC) focuses on
improving outcomes for all children who come into contact with the legal
system through increasing legal representation for children, improving the
quality of children’s legal representation, providing technical assistance to
individuals and groups desiring to start children’s law programs and engaging
with and training pro bono lawyers.
Your Gift Matters
Your gift supports the committee in ensuring that the expertise
of children and youth who have been involved in the legal system are
included in trainings that CRLC provides. There is a growing recognition
that youth with lived expertise are partners whose input is critical to
reforming systems and improving legal representation. For example, in a CRLC
training in Omaha, NE, on a panel that focused on the role of the lawyer, the
youth expert on the panel shared that had she understood lawyer-client
confidentiality she would have shared more with her lawyer, especially about
why she was running from placements which was to protect herself from abuse
within the placement. This comment helped highlight, in a way only a client
could do, how important it is for lawyers to ensure their child clients
understand confidentiality and privilege. Gifts to the CRLC are utilized to pay
youth experts so that they can participate in trainings and share what they
have learned to assist lawyers in improving their legal representation.
Our Impact
CRLC offers webinars and in-person trainings each year with a goal of improving the quality of lawyers who represent children and youth. Through these programs we are able to reach thousands of lawyers each year. For example, since 2019 CRLC has been conducting a Listening and Appreciation Tour with lawyers in mid-sized cities around the country. To date this tour has reached more than 800 lawyers. CRLC has also created many on-line resources like toolkits, practice points, past trainings and articles which are offered for free as a public service. One example is the award-winning training video - Interviewing the Child Client, narrated by actress Amy Brenneman which has received more than 172,000 views: