KU News Release

Eunice Lee-Ahn

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• School of Law

LAWRENCE — A spring 2010 graduate of the University of Kansas School of Law has been selected as the newest fellow to the school’s Family Health Care Legal Services Clinic.

Eunice Lee-Ahn will serve in that capacity for 11 months through a postgraduate fellowship program established with a three-year grant from the Sunflower Foundation of Topeka. The program, entering its second year, enables the law school to expand and enhance the medical-legal partnership model in Kansas.

“We are thrilled to have Eunice as the second Medical-Legal Partnership Post-Graduate Fellow,” said Elizabeth Weeks Leonard, professor of law and director of the clinic. “Her joint degrees in law and social work make her perfect for the position. She has considerable law clinic experience working with Douglas County Legal Aid during law school. Her social work perspective and training will be invaluable assets working with clients, medical partners, attorneys and students.”

Lee-Ahn said she had aspired to the position since its creation last year.

“The fellowship is incredible in what it can offer in both learning and entrepreneurial opportunities, such as cultivating scholarship in the area, building community partnerships, shaping the program and its missions, working with student legal interns and practicing law with a diverse population,” she said.

Medical-legal partnerships aim to improve the health and well-being of individuals and families by integrating legal assistance into the medical setting. The law school launched its Family Health Care Legal Services Clinic in January 2008 in partnership with Southwest Boulevard Family Health Care in Kansas City, Kan. Working under faculty and clinic staff supervision, law students provide legal assistance to clients referred to them through the medical clinic, engaging in interviewing, counseling, negotiation and other aspects of the legal process. In summer 2009, the clinic expanded its model to create the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas in Pittsburg.

Lee-Ahn will represent clients and supervise students in the Family Health Care Legal Services Clinic. She will also assist Leonard in maintaining and developing relationships with other medical-legal partnerships, legal services providers, health care providers and funders.

A native of Seoul, South Korea, Lee-Ahn earned a bachelor’s in philosophy from the University of Michigan, a master’s in Korean studies form Yonsei University and a joint degree in social work and law from KU.

She follows in the footsteps of Trinia Arellano, a 2009 KU law school graduate who served as the program’s inaugural fellow. It proved to be an invaluable experience, helping her land a two-year, paid internship with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Emerging Leaders Program.

“In my new position, I will be using federal health care legislation to develop and implement public health policies and determine their effectiveness,” Arellano said. “It was as a student in the Family Health Care Legal Services Clinic that I became aware of the gaping health disparities among racial minorities and the poor and those living in isolated communities.

“As the MLP fellow, I have been able to use the law as a tool to help remedy social determinants that negatively impact my individual client's health. Now I will be able to use the law and health care policies to help remedy social determinants that negatively impact a community’s health.”

Leonard said the first year of the program was a tremendous success.

“We are so fortunate to have the Sunflower Foundation’s support for the fellowship, which allowed us to create a new position for KU law graduates committed to improving the health of underserved people through legal intervention,” she said. “The fellowship also allows us to launch our graduates into positions where they will impact society.”