Students in the Stanton Foundation First Amendment Clinic have responsibility for representing clients in civil litigation cases implicating First Amendment rights of persons and organizations otherwise unable to afford counsel for those matters. Casework focuses on freedom of speech, press, assembly, and petition issues.
Through representation of their clients, students display the foundational principles of current First Amendment doctrine, including prior restraint, time/place/manner restrictions, content and viewpoint discrimination, and the intersection of the rights protected by the Amendment. As part of that work, students engage in legal advocacy, including: client interviewing and counseling; research, writing, and drafting; discovery; oral and written advocacy; negotiation; and client-centered lawyering. Critical reflection, consistent engagement with ethical rules, and examination of the role of the lawyer in a legal system and the local community will assist students in developing a professional understanding of their work.
The Clinic represents individuals across the ideological spectrum and defends speech that may be considered controversial or unpopular. The Clinic does not select clients based on agreement with or opposition to the prospective client’s expression.
This clinic is made possible by a grant from the Stanton Foundation.
The Vanderbilt Law School Stanton Foundation First Amendment Clinic filed suit against Tennessee state representative Jeremy Faison on behalf of Tennessee citizen Dean Fox in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
The Stanton Foundation First Amendment Clinic at Vanderbilt Law School was successful in their motion on behalf of their client, Alexa Renehan, a records requester in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Vanderbilt Law students in the Clinic filed an amicus brief with the ACLU in the sixth circuit in support of their client to advocate for robust speech protections at the collegiate level.
The clinic has filed an amicus brief to advocate for the First Amendment rights to access the social media platforms of government officials and agencies.
The appeal related to a prosecutor’s attempts to press criminal charges and retaliate against Netflix’s exercise of its First Amendment rights.
The clinic has filed a second amicus brief advocating for the First Amendment right to access the social media platforms of government officials and agencies.
The clinic has joined an amicus brief arguing that the Ninth Circuit should reverse the District Court’s decision against protected speech.
The clinic has filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Clinic and the National Press Photographers Association in a First Circuit Court of Appeals case.
The Clinic and BALT are representing Open Justice Baltimore, an organization dedicated to increasing transparency in the Baltimore Police Department, in their efforts to access records related to police misconduct.
Sarah and Reagan jointly received Vanderbilt’s highest clinical honor. As third-year students about to enter practice, both conveyed deep appreciation for the skills and experiences mastered during Clinic.
Angela and Madeline were named co-recipients of the Carl J. Ruskowski Clinical Legal Education Award for their work on three amicus briefs — Singleton, McBreairty, and Diei.
Samantha was awarded the Clinical Legal Education Association’s (CLEA) Outstanding Clinic Student Award for Vanderbilt Law School in recognition of her work on the Renehan case.
Jennifer Safstrom, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, teaches the Stanton Foundation First Amendment Clinic. Before joining Vanderbilt's law faculty, Professor Safstrom worked as counsel at the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection and as supervising attorney and clinical teaching fellow with the Civil Rights Clinic at Georgetown Law.
The Clinic represents individuals across the ideological spectrum to defend speech, press, assembly, and petition freedoms.