Giving Legal Help To AIDS Patients

From the time Professor of Law Gary R. Bellow started the Harvard Clinical Studies program in the 1970s, legal scholars have recognized it as at the vanguard of the development of practical legal education. The Harvard AIDS Law Clinic is a clear example of the Law School's adaptability to the community's changing legal needs.

Established in 1987 as the nation's first legal aid center for AIDS patients, the clinic deals with the sensitive legal issues surrounding the spread of the disease.

Most of the clinic's clients, says Director John H. Willoughby, are "gay men in their 20s," who have been diagnosed with the disease. The clients often request assistance in such areas as consumer law, estate law and housing discrimination.

Cases involving consumer law, including debt relief and bakruptcy, make up the largest percentage of the clinic's case load, the director says. "The majority of our clients had jobs and incurred the usual consumer debts, then suddenly found themselves with staggering medical costs and no income," says Willoughby.

The clinic helps patients in financial trouble by arranging low-rate debt payment schedules or, more often, declarations of bankruptcy.

Estate cases, which are new to Harvard legal service programs, are often the most delicate, says Willoughby. "If a gay man is estranged from his family, the law assumes his family is the closest [to him] and has the ultimate decision over his medical care, what happens to his body after his death and his estate," he says. "We try to make sure the people who the patients want to be making the decisions can do so."

Because of funding and staff limitations, the clinic may refer cases to a panel of low-fee lawyers. While it will help clients who are being evicted because they have AIDS, the clinic does not accept cases of AIDS patients who have trouble finding housing.

The clinic handled 130 cases in 1988 and will try to expand this year, according to Willoughby. He said the group will look for funding from sources outside the University.