The Child Advocacy Today Externship is a 2 credit hour pass/fail externship, requiring 100 hours of student work, that offers students the opportunity to develop their legal skills while providing free, quality representation to low-income pediatrics patients and their families. CAT is operated in partnership with the Equal Access to Justice Foundation and Kentucky Children’s Hospital and is located in General Pediatrics at Kentucky Clinic. CAT Externship students become part of the healthcare team at Kentucky Children’s Hospital in order to assess patients’ legal needs. The students engage in interviews with patients and their families, and identify legal issues that adversely affect the health of the patients. Students will then have the opportunity to assist these clients and prepare the matter for referral to outside counsel, where appropriate. Students will conduct legal research, write memos and prepare legal documents under the supervision of staff attorneys. Students will analyze and implement case strategies and prepare work plans for their cases. In addition, because the mission of the medical-legal partnership is to educate healthcare providers to recognize legal issues that are detrimental to their patients’ health, students will prepare a presentation on a topic of their choice to be presented to UK’s pediatrics residents.

This course is open only to third-year students. Completion of any of the following courses is helpful, but not required: Administrative Law, Constitutional Law II, Professional Responsibility, Healthcare Organizations and Finance, Children and the Law, and Education Law. This course is limited to three students.