"It is the most meaningful, challenging, exciting part of my law school experience," says Sophie E. Bryan, a second-year student who works in the center's Family Law Unit.

Bryan is taking a "Lawyering Process" course offered for HLS credit by the clinic, in addition to spending 15 to 20 hours a week working on cases dealing with issues from divorce to paternity.

"I've appeared in court several times over the course of this year and have met a wonderful group of clients," says Bryan, who has been involved with the center since September.

The Hale and Dorr center is one of a growing group of law school clinical education groups in this country. Programs such as the Tulane University Environmental Law Clinic have gained national recognition for their success in the courtroom.

The Tulane Clinic, which has operated since January 1989, has represented low-income community organizations fighting neighborhood pollution in over 200 cases.

In 1997, the Tulane law students successfully represented a low-income organization, the St. James Parish Citizens for Jobs and the Environment, against a company called Shintech, Inc., which proposed to build a plant in their poor rural neighborhood.

Residents claimed the plant might have caused severe air pollution and explosions.

In June 1998, shortly after the students won the case, the state Supreme Court restricted the student practice rule of Louisiana, sharply curtailing the activities of organizations like the Tulane clinic.

According to Student Lawyer magazine, this ruling came at the urging of the New Orleans Business Council, the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, and the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry--all powerful business interests that were concerned by the success of the Tulane law students.

"I pray that no other court will be as politically manipulated as the Louisiana court was in this decision," Clinic Director Robert R. Kuehn says. The clinic, with the support of more than a dozen civil rights organizations, is appealing the ruling.

This decision has left many HLS students worried about the future of their own clinical education options.

"I would be heart-broken if the Center was forced to close," Bryan says.

As attorneys and law schools through the country react to the Louisiana decision with anger and concern, HLS students are also concerned about business interests affecting their profession.

"The "problem" was not that student representation was insufficient but rather that it was too good," says Rafael H. Mares, a third-year law student who has been involved with clinical practice work since 1997.

Charn says she is concerned about the Louisiana law, but not about its affect on the Hale and Dorr Clinic.

"I would be very surprised to see a Massachusetts court rule against a successful lawsuit," Charn says.

Charn says the clinic is also very careful about the cases it accepts. Unlike the Tulane clinic, Hale and Dorr tries to avoid high-profile cases.

"The best way for students to get clinical education is to avoid tackling controversial cases," Charn says.

Still, Charn does not ignore the powerful message the Louisiana ruling has sent out to law school clinics nationwide.

"When someone is slapped down for being successful, it's always a concern," Charn says. "But the real world is different, and sometimes people break the rules."