Dedication: A Tribute to Professor Mary Therese Wolf Law Clinic Director

Abstract

clinical legal education was in its infancy. By 1987, while continuing to teach in the Civil Practice Clinic, Professor Wolf was appointed Director of Clinical Programs. Over her tenure as Director, Professor Wolf oversaw expansion of the Law Clinic to include creation of the Disability, Criminal Defense, and Wrongful Conviction Clinics. Professor Wolf was the law school’s first full-time, real-client, clinician. She came to the school well-equipped for the task. Awarded the Juris Doctorate in 1974 from the University of Iowa College of Law, with distinction, Mary Wolf served as a law clerk to the Honorable Robert Downing of the Illinois Appellate Court immediately after law school. Her professional career thereafter included work with the Federal Disaster Assistance Administration. When she applied for the newly-created visiting faculty position at the law school, Mary Wolf was working as a managing attorney of a local legal service office covering six counties in northern Illinois and representing low-income clients with a range of civil problems. Mary Wolf led the efforts at the law school to expand clinical opportunities to better serve our students, our state, and the concept of equal access to justice for all. This focus resulted in the creation of a number of new course offerings, including Law and Poverty, multiple health law externship placements, and the Advanced Clinical Experience course. One of Professor Wolf’s long-held goals—that of crafting a multi-disciplinary approach to client representation— resulted in the approval of a JD/MSW: Doctor of Jurisprudence/Master of Social Work dual degree in 2007. In addition to teaching and advocating in the Civil Practice Clinic, Mary Wolf’s course load regularly included Interviewing and Counseling, Law and Poverty, and Professional Responsibility. She also supervised numerous externships and is credited with elevating the externship opportunities as a whole. In 2010, she was appointed the Director of Externships. Professor Wolf created the Desk Book for the Civil Practice Clinic, numerous simulated materials teaching lawyering skills, and The Jay Jones Case video, which became the basis