Location: Sacramento, California
Founded: 1924
Joined AALS: 1974
Dean: Michael Hunter Schwartz
The University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law is a private legal institution that educates lawyers for large and small law firms, government agencies, and corporate legal departments in California, across the United States, and around the world. This has been McGeorge School of Law’s hallmark since 1924 and is truer today than ever before. As the world grows smaller yet more complex, McGeorge School of Law responds by rigorously training our 202 first-year JD students for leadership positions in the global economy of the 21st century. McGeorge School of Law’s success is built on a distinguished faculty, high-quality students, committed and involved alumni, and a beautiful, spacious campus. McGeorge School of Law is an institution on the move, a dynamic law school that is changing and growing to meet the challenges of the global economy and to educate the lawyers who will be tomorrow’s leaders.
A view of the beautiful University of Pacific, McGeorge School of Law campus.
The McGeorge Homeless Advocacy Clinic (HAC) provides legal services to unhoused people specifically focusing on formerly incarcerated people. Student attorneys in the Homeless Advocacy Clinic provide legal services that eliminate barriers to housing and employment for unhoused people who have had contact with the criminal legal system. Students represent clients in cases involving public benefits, expungement of criminal records, infraction defense and reduction of fines and fees, and child support. HAC student attorneys employ a barrier-free, holistic, and client-centered representation model designed to empower their clients. Interdisciplinary collaboration is central to HAC’s service model and student attorneys collaborate closely with social workers in our partner organizations.
In 2023, the Homeless Advocacy Clinic played a critical role in saving homeless and other low-income people across Sacramento. In 2024, the Homeless Advocacy Clinic submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in Grants Pass v. Johnson. Professor Ron Hochbaum, staff attorney Tori Larett, and third-year law student Rachel Alstrom co-authored the brief with a team of attorneys representing the Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP), a coalition of organizers dedicated to exposing and eliminating the root causes of homelessness and poverty while empowering communities to demand civil and human rights. In three years, the clinic assisted 227 unhoused neighbors, obtained over $1.1 million in public benefits, and secured over $162 million in criminal fines and fees relief with the hard work and dedication of 28 law students who have been involved in the clinic.
“McGeorge School of Law’s recent successes with the Homeless Advocacy Clinic – as well as all of our community legal services – reflects our commitment to providing students with opportunities to pursue their passion for the law while equipping them with the skills they need to become effective advocates,” said Michael Hunter Schwartz, Dean of the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law. “The student-centered, practice-focused legal education at McGeorge ensures our students are well-prepared for the practical challenges they will encounter in the legal profession.”
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