The Schiller DuCanto & Fleck Family Law Center focuses on teaching, research, law reform and community service in all areas of child and family law. A large and distinguished faculty provides expertise on a broad range of legal issues affecting families throughout their life cycle, including:

• Adoption
• Child Abuse and Neglect
• Juvenile Justice
• Disability
• Divorce
• Domestic Violence
• Education
• Elder Law
• LGBTQ Family Issues
• Sexual Exploitation

The center shares the university's dedication to serving diverse populations and varied families, and strives to:

• Teach future generations the skills needed to enhance the practice of child and family law
• Work with lawyers, judges and legislators to discover and promulgate best practices
• Evaluate existing law
• Partner with the community to serve diverse families

Practical Experience & Financial Awards

The center offers 35 to 40 financial awards annually through two distinct programs that provide students an opportunity to work directly with the center as well as with a variety of public service agencies that focus on child and family law. We also connect our students with private firm positions. These opportunities provide child and family law students with valuable work experience that will help them find permanent employment upon graduation.

$5,000 Child & Family Law Summer Service Awards

Our selective Summer Service Award program attracts some of the country's best students, who are drawn to DePaul by the prestige and quality of our program. Students chosen for these awards have LSAT scores as high as 168 and their median GPA is 3.5.

First-year, full-time students who apply to the special section of Child & Family Law Legal Analysis, Research & Communication (LARC), as well as those who generally express an interest in child and family law in their application or by contacting center Executive Director Barbara Hausman, are considered for the 15 to 20 service awards granted each academic year.

Selected students are enrolled in the child and family law legal writing section and, upon completion of their first year of law school, are awarded $5,000 each and placed in summer internships at public service agencies that focus on child and family law.

Child & Family Law Fellowships

The center's prestigious Child & Family Law Fellows program provides students with opportunities to participate in the substantive work of the center, with approximately 20 fellows receiving $1,750 for part-time (10 hours per week), semester-long internships at public service agencies that focus on child and family law.

All DePaul law students are eligible to become fellows, and all fellows participate in a variety of center activities, including, but not limited to:

• Assisting with colloquia, symposia and monthly speakers series
• Engaging in substantive research
• Editing newsletters and other center materials
• Networking with attorneys and judges
• Attending social events
• Participating in field trips