Our Work and Impact
Direct Client Representation
Family Law Clinic students have an opportunity to fully engage in client representation under Pennsylvania's student practice rules in the Court of Common Pleas of Centre County. Students are held to high standards as they hone their written and oral advocacy skills, and as they analyze each client's options with an eye towards client empowerment and justice. Their casework before the Centre County Court of Common Pleas has included:
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Interviewing clients and developing case theories and strategies
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Assisting clients who seek Protection From Abuse orders in domestic abuse cases
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Helping clients draft and file divorce petitions
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Negotiating property settlement terms for divorces
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Advocating for parents and spouses at child and spousal support conferences and hearings
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Counseling clients about Centre County's group custody conference days and custody mediations
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Advising prospective adoptive grandparents and stepparents
Public Policy Projects
In addition to representing clients, clinic students work on various public policy projects. Examples include:
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Documenting changes to the Violence Against Women Act
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Freedom from domestic violence as a fundamental human right
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Developing a training program on child custody law
Faculty Supervision
Susan Bardo is an assistant clinical professor of law at Penn State Dickinson Law and the director of the Family Law Clinic. Prior to becoming its director, she was the staff attorney for the Family Law Clinic for two years.
Before joining Penn State Dickinson Law, she was in private practice for twelve years in Centre County where she routinely litigated cases throughout central Pennsylvania. Her work was focused on the areas of family law, real property, and wills and estates.
She is a proponent of service to the community and has regularly held positions on local commissions and the Centre County Bar Association Board of Governors. She is currently a board member at MidPenn Legal Services and was honored in 2024 with the MidPenn Donald F. Smith, Jr., Pro Bono Award for her years of support of MidPenn and her work with the Penn State Dickinson Law Family Law Clinic.
Clinic Partners
Over the years, the clinic has partnered with numerous organizations to support its work, including:
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American Bar Association
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MidPenn Legal Services
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Centre Safe
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Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence
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Penn State's Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness
Related Courses
Evidence
This course presents evidence in trials under the Federal Rules of Evidence, at common law and in equity and with reference to administrative bodies. The reasoning from which rules arise in areas including relevancy, competency, privilege, examination of witnesses, writing, the hearsay rule and its exceptions, burden of proof, presumptions, judicial notice, and constitutional evidence problems is also addressed.
Family Law
This course studies legal problems pertaining to the organization, operation, and dissolution of the family. It is divided into three parts: marriage and annulment; support, termination of parental rights, adoption, and care of the child; and divorce, alimony, property distribution at divorce, and custody of children.
Children and the Law
This course examines the legal position of the child in society and the extent to which the child may be legally controlled by parent(s) or state. Subject matters include the right of the child to control reproductive decision-making, child support and paternity issues, child pornography and minors' access to pornography, child abuse and neglect, foster care, termination of parental rights, adoption, medical treatment of juveniles, and medical experimentation on juveniles.
Wills, Trusts and Estates
This course examines the disposition of property at death by intestate succession and by will. The execution, revocation, construction, and contest of wills, as well as limits on the power to dispose of property by will, are studied. This course also examines the creation, purposes and termination of trusts, including informal trusts, and the interrelationship between trusts and wills.