Miscellaneous

Miner Issues

By Anne Skove, Esq.

Because getting stuck is only one way to die in a mine, students in the Washington & Lee School of Law's Black Lung Clinic work with ailing miners and the families they leave behind.

An offshoot of professor Uncas McThenia's Lawyering for Social Change class, the clinic replaces the former mental health law clinic (the state hospital work is now covered 100% by UVA's program).

Professor Mary Natkin (we love this picture of her on the phone!) guides the day-to-day work of students from the clinic's basement headquarters. Dedicated students (it's not like they have nothing else to occupy their time) [assist] coal miners and their survivors who are pursuing federal black lung benefits for the years the miners worked breathing in coal mine dust. The get first-hand exposure to the labyrinth that is administrative law.

Are we biased? Hell yeah! Full disclosure -- we were part of the mental health law clinic, Uncas is our former boss, Mary is the guardian angel of law students, and Sheryl runs the whole shebang without breaking a sweat. But we're also right to admire the project -- this is a kickass legal clinic, with students doing the work that the rest of the legal community won't do.

With the recent mining disasters in China and West Virginia, it's good to know that someone out there is keeping track of the issues, conducting research, and (most of all) is on the side of the miners.

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on April 06, 2010 (boomark / email).