Legal Clinic Student Onboarding Agreements and Disclosures

Below are guidelines that clinic faculty, staff, and students must follow when working with clinic and client data and communicating with clinic clients.

These policies are our core policies governing the security of each clinic’s legal practice and clients’ information, but they are not meant to be exhaustive or cover every situation. They are meant to provide a set of security protocols to ensure we are meeting our obligation to protect clinic and client confidentiality, information, and data as much as possible, as well as provide consistency across all clinics regarding security.

I. Email Communications

1. Students are allowed to use only their UALR email address for clinic work.
2. Students should never forward UALR emails containing confidential client/clinic information to any other email account or text number, as doing so will expose that email and its contents to further distribution or hacking. This can also open up a personal email account to future discovery in litigation.
3. Students may use their mobile phone to check clinic email, but only if that device is PIN or password protected.
4. At the end of the semester, students must delete all emails with confidential clinic/client information from their phones and all other personal electronic devices. If a document attached to an email has been opened or viewed on a mobile device or other personal electronic device, there may be remnants of that document on the device that must be removed at the end of the semester.
5. Engagement letters should include language stating whether clients grant permission for clinic faculty, staff, and students to communicate with them via email or text message. If such permission is granted, the engagement letter should include the client’s email address and/or mobile phone number to which messages should be sent.
6. When transmitting confidential client/clinic information via email, clinic faculty, staff, and students should include a confidentiality notice with instructions for deleting or returning the information if it is received in error. Students should use the confidentiality notice provided by the director of the clinic in which they are enrolled.

II. Student Use of Personal Computers and Mobile Devices

1. Students may use a personal laptop or desktop for clinic work provided this device is password protected and has anti-virus software enabled. If the student’s laptop or desktop computer is shared with another person, the other user must have a separate desktop and shall not have administrative privileges on the computer.
2. Students should never perform any clinic work on any electronic device associated with or provided by their outside employment.
3. All documents should always be saved directly to CLIO or to Google Docs and not saved to a student’s personal device. If the work is saved on a personal device, it should be deleted upon saving it properly to the designated destination.
4. Any files stored on a student’s personal computer must be kept in a single folder, preferably as a clinic-specific folder in the main Documents folder, and in no other location on the computer’s storage.
5. At the end of the semester, students must work with Larry Rhodes to ensure the clinic-specific folder has been deleted.
6. Students should never use a public computer to conduct any clinic work.
7. If a student uses a personal cell phone for any clinic work, the phone must be password protected and the auto-lock feature should be enabled and set to automatically lock at one minute or less of inactivity.
8. Students may use the Clinic printer in the student work area from their personal laptop. Larry Rhodes must install the printer, and it can only be used for official Clinic business during students’ time within the Clinic. Larry must be the one to delete the printer from student computers at the end of the semester.

III. Case Files

1. Any clinic using paper files also must have a complete electronic file in CLIO as a backup.
2. Students should not remove physical files from the clinic without express permission from their clinic director.
3. Clinic files should be kept in the clinic file room or in the student’s clinic mailbox when not in use. Students should never leave files on desks or tables when they are not in use, nor should loose documents associated with a file be left out on desks or tables.
4. Only students enrolled in a clinical course should be present in the clinic area. Students should not bring non-clinic friends or colleagues into the clinic space. This will help ensure a safe and confidential environment.

By signing below, I attest that I have carefully and fully read and that I understand the above security protocols and agree to be bound by them while enrolled in a clinical course.

By signing below, I acknowledge that I understand that the Legal Clinic at the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law is a law office and that all of the client and case strategy information within the Legal Clinic is confidential. I further understand that I am being granted limited access to the facilities of the Legal Clinic solely for purposes of my position as a clinic student during the semester when I am enrolled in the clinic. I agree to keep strictly confidential any and all information that I may hear or see when I am in all areas of the Legal Clinic. I further agree that I am not authorized to copy, reproduce, or share outside of the clinic any materials contained in client files without the express consent of the client and supervising attorney responsible for such files. I understand that this agreement pertains to all matters in the clinic, not solely those in the class to which I am assigned.

I further acknowledge that I understand that this confidentiality obligation exists both during and after my service as a clinic student. I further understand that violation of this agreement could result in the initiation of disciplinary action against me by the UA Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law, including but not limited to a negative character report to the Board of Bar Examiners in the state(s) in which I am seeking licensure.

When you undertake a course in the Bowen Clinical Program, the Arkansas Rules of Professional Conduct govern you and your work. Even before you enter the Clinical Program, you must think about the rules regarding conflicts of interest. You must avoid any conflicts between clients of the Clinic and any clients that you may represent in any externship, paid job, volunteer work, or internship.

The conflict rules regulate lawyers when they have confidential information about a client. Broadly, the rules prohibit lawyers and law firms from representing two clients whose interests may be in conflict. Because of the nature of our work, the Bowen Clinical Program is considered one law firm. Therefore, we have to make sure that all students in all the clinics do not create conflicts for any clinic client. To be fully informed, you should review the applicable rules yourself, including Rule 1.7 (Conflicts of Interest: Current Clients); Rule 1.8 (Conflicts of Interest: Current Clients: Specific Rules); Rule 1.9 (Duties to Former Clients); Rule 1.10 (Imputation of Conflicts of Interest: General Rule); and Rule 1.11 (Successive Government and Private Employment).

To ensure that you and the other members of the Clinical Program are abiding by our ethical obligations under the Rules, we need to obtain complete information about your work outside of the Clinical Program. For these purposes, work is defined broadly and includes all externships, internships, and paid and volunteer jobs in legal or government capacities, with all former, current, and future employers (during your term in a clinic).

When you register for a clinic within the Bowen Clinical Program, you are required to provide complete information about all former, current, and future employers related to the legal profession. To ensure that you do not violate your obligations under the Rules, you have a continuing duty to keep this information current throughout your work in the clinic and to inform the Clinical Program if your employment changes. You should also check with your employer to ensure that the employer does not perceive your work with the Clinical Program as presenting a conflict with your work for the employer.

The time when this could become most complicated is when you work, or volunteer, in two law offices at the same time. This situation would arise if you are working in a legal capacity during the same semester you are in a clinic. In the event that a conflict arises between the Clinic and a concurrent employer, you will NOT be able to drop the Clinic course. So please resolve all potential issues involving conflicts before registering for the Clinic.

Given the scope of work in the Bowen Clinical Program, potential conflicts of interest are most likely to arise with the following government offices and nonprofit organizations:

-Department of Veterans Affairs
-Department of Defense, Discharge Review Board, Board for Correction of Military Records or Board for Correction of Naval Records (for the various branches of service)
-Board of Veterans Appeals
-Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
-U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
-Internal Revenue Service
-Legal Aid of Arkansas
-Center for Arkansas Legal Services
-Arkansas Department of Education
-Judges in Pulaski County, Arkansas

This list is not intended to be exhaustive. Your duty to notify us of employment extends to all law-related employers, whether on this list or not.

If you work or plan to work (in any capacity) with any of these organizations while enrolled in the Clinic, the Rules may prohibit your concurrent involvement in the Clinic, so please bring this to our attention immediately.

Employment Questionnaire

You must complete the following questionnaire regarding your law-related work outside the Clinic. In addition, you have a continuing duty to update this information throughout your enrollment in any clinical course. The purpose of collecting this information is to determine whether any potential conflicts of interest are presented in connection with the acceptance of new matters by the Bowen Clinical Program. If necessary, please attach additional pages.

CURRENT (DURING CLINICAL SEMESTER[S]) OUTSIDE LEGAL-RELATED EMPLOYER* (IF NOT CURRENTLY EMPLOYED, WRITE “N/A”) * Employment includes unpaid intern/extern positions.

FUTURE LEGAL-RELATED EMPLOYMENT DURING THE CURRENT SEMESTER IN WHICH YOU ARE PARTICIPATING IN THE CLINIC (IF NONE, WRITE “N/A”) * Employment includes unpaid intern/extern positions.