Realizing there are plenty of needy people outside of Chicago’s metropolitan area, Northern Illinois University College of Law has decided to head for northwest Rockford, where it will plant a new legal clinic. In addition to helping the community’s poor, the NIU initiative is also designed to give its students real-life experience handling both civil and criminal cases.
The program — to be named the Zeke Giorgi Legal Clinic, after the man credited with establishing NIU’s law school in 1979 — is scheduled to open sometime early next year. Although a site has yet-to-be determined, the clinic is expected to be located in the city’s downtown area.
