Syracuse University College of Law added a housing clinic to its clinical legal education this year.

D’Andre Gordon and Connor Hamilton are in their final year of law school. They are excited to practice law at SU's new College of Law Housing Clinic.

“It’s been a really great and impactful experience thus far. We are a few weeks in and we represent primarily working class individuals or families, folks that live well below that poverty line,” said Gordon, a student attorney.

The students have a wide range of housing cases.

“Some of the cases we cover are like eviction defense – you’re getting evicted, you need legal counsel, for non-payment of rent. We work on conditions cases [like] you’re suing your landlord because there are code violations that are impacting your quality of life,” said Gordon.

They handle all aspects of the client’s case. Hamilton says being from Syracuse and representing people from his hometown has a new meaning for him.

“Kind of connecting more with my community and feeling like I’m actually being a part of something a little bit bigger than myself and making a difference in someone’s life that is from my area, that has a lot of special meaning to me personally,” said Hamilton.

Gordon has experience in housing advocacy, so being a part of this clinic aligns with the work he wants to do.

“I believe housing is a human right. With that, I think we should do everything possible to keep people housed because without stable housing you can’t really do anything else,” said Gordon.

Being that they are students, they are working under the supervision of the clinic director, professor Gary Pieples.

“I love the opportunity to be both an educator and help students hopefully develop the same desire to serve low income communities. I love the opportunity that the law school gives me to be out there representing low-income folks,” said Pieples.

The Housing Clinic operates in partnership with Legal Services of Central New York and the Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York.

“I realized that I really do have a duty to the clients that we serve and the people of this community,” said Hamilton.