About Our Work
In Medical-Legal Partnerships (MLP), poverty-focused legal services are embedded in health care settings, so that lawyers can meet clients where they are, in places they trust, and aim to address their civil legal needs across a spectrum of issues. MLPs center on health equity and embrace the importance of social determinants of health: that a person’s well-being is determined not only by one’s medical care, but also by access to critical services like housing, nutrition, education, federal benefits, protection from discrimination, and more. The legal services provided by MLP work to ensure those civil needs are met, alongside the medical needs serviced by the MLP’s physicians.
The MLP launched in 2012 and since then has expanded to eight diverse sites and populations in New Haven. The MLP serves 600+ client-patients a year, utilizes more than forty Yale Law students, and, in collaboration with Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) and Yale School of Medicine (YSM), dozens of Yale physicians, nurses, medical students, and social workers. YLS students who participate in an MLP are supervised by an MLP attorney and meet with patients at local health clinics to help address legal needs like access to government programs, housing, employment, immigration, and family law matters. Several of our MLPs partner with legal service organizations in the area, including New Haven Legal Assistance Association, the Center for Children’s Advocacy, and Connecticut Veterans Legal Center.
The Yale MLP was founded by Abbe R. Gluck ’00, the Alfred M. Rankin Professor of Law and Founding Faculty Director of the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School. Professor Gluck is also a Professor at Yale School of Medicine. The MLP Legal Director is James Bhandary-Alexander, who joined the program full-time in 2020 from New Haven Legal Assistance, where he had worked for 15 years. The program deeply values its partnership with Yale New Haven Hospital and the steadfast support provided by YNHH leadership and general counsel.
OUR MLPs:
Geriatric MLP is the first law school-based elder MLP which provides services addressing issues such as elder abuse, public benefits, housing conditions, and estate planning. Yale’s Geriatric MLP partners with the Dorothy Adler Geriatric Assessment Clinic at Yale New Haven Hospital and Yale School of Medicine.
Haven MLP is a free clinic operated by Yale Medical students every Saturday for uninsured, and often undocumented, immigrants. Yale Law students provide legal training to other Haven volunteers and collaborate with community organizations on campaigns for structural change. Services include: immigration, wage theft, landlord/tenant concerns, and domestic violence.
Oncology MLP partners with Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven Hospital to provide employment, public benefits, immigration, and housing services. Students work with social workers and nurses to screen breast cancer patients for legal needs.
Palliative Care MLP provides services like wills, power-of-attorney agreements, advanced healthcare directives, real estate transactions, and guardianship agreements. The Palliative Care MLP partners with Day Pitney LLP and Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven Hospital.
Pediatric MLP is a partnership between the Center for Children’s Advocacy, the Pediatric Primary Care Center at Yale New Haven Hospital, and Yale Law students. These partners work on legal issues, as well as policy and advocacy to address housing conditions/instability, education access, and trans youth identity documents.
Pediatric Gender MLP is one of the first gender MLPs in the country. It partners with the Yale Pediatric Gender Clinic and assists patients and families with consultations and trainings on name and gender marker change as well as education on gender expression. Pediatric Gender MLP also provides legal support for families and children receiving gender-based care at Yale New Haven Hospital.
Transitions MLP students work on legal issues, as well as research and advocacy, for patients returning home from prison on issues such as public benefits, housing, and employment. The Transitions MLP partners with the Transitions Clinic at Yale New Haven Hospital.
Veterans MLP partners with the Errera VA Clinic to provide services addressing issues such as debt, public benefits, eviction, unemployment, housing insecurity, and discharge upgrades.
Find out more about our work on Medical Legal Partnerships and Health Equity by following the links on the right.