January 27, 2022

Legal Clinic Leaders Series - 3L Mehek Khaira

Meet the students who work directly with and in the community to provide quality legal representation to underserved individuals through our Legal Clinic Leaders blog series. We're excited to spotlight these all-star advocates and showcase the many different fields of law you can explore through our legal clinics and the wide range of opportunities available at Southwestern to gain practical lawyering skills. We hope their experiences will inspire YOU to join a legal clinic.

Meet 3L Mehek Khaira

Community Lawyering Clinic, Spring 2021

Why did you decide to participate in a clinic?

In order to be an efficient and reliable advocate, I knew I'd benefit from a hybrid (practical and theoretical) learning experience.

What stands out about your clinic experience?

Our clinic works on various legal issues for undergraduate college students. I loved that we had the opportunity to learn a little of various legal issues.

What skills and knowledge did you learn from your clinic experience?

I learned how to ask questions that are pertinent to a matter. At the beginning of my clinic experience, I was so unsure on whether I'd be asking the necessary questions; however, I feel that my confidence as a future advocate grew.

What do you think helped take you from student to advocate?

I feel that being able to understand the client's legal issues and creating a legal empowerment plan helped transition me from a student to advocate.

What words of advice would you have for future clinic students?

I would tell anyone joining a clinic to be diligent and to appreciate the experience with each client. Each client is putting themselves in a vulnerable position to express their concerns from DACA renewal to domestic violence. These situations can be very difficult in general, so being attentive is vital.

Please provide an inspiring anecdote from your clinical work experience.

I was able to work with someone who had gone through some traumatic events in her past. Her story really illustrated to me the importance of the work the clinic does. It was difficult for me to hear her story at first, but the skills the clinic taught me when working with difficult topics really helped me provide help in a professional way.

Interested in learning more about the legal clinics? Visit our Clinics page here.