Karen Tokarz is the Charles Nagel Professor of Public Interest Law & Policy and Director of the Civil Rights, Community Justice & Mediation Clinic at WashU’s School of Law. Professor Tokarz received a Course Development Grant through the Gephardt Institute’s Civic Engagement Fund to further develop, evaluate, and operate the St. Louis Mediation Project, a core component of the law school clinical course that trains students to mediate landlord-tenant cases in the St. Louis City and County pro se (without legal representation) housing courts.
“By settling cases through mediation,” she shared, “the Clinic-Mediation Project helps decrease the destructive impact evictions have on families and neighborhoods, reduce homelessness, increase housing stability, improve the health and welfare of the region, and contribute to public trust in the courts.”
The St. Louis Mediation Project is a joint endeavor of the Washington University School of Law Civil Rights & Community Justice Clinic, the St. Louis Equal Housing & Opportunity Council, and U.S. Arbitration & Mediation. Learn about the project and how it has significantly reduced forced evictions in St. Louis in a new press release.