In partnership with the Jewish Divorce Assistance Center of Los Angeles, Pepperdine is launching the Jewish Divorce Mediation Clinic.  According to Pepperdine’s Surf Report (best ever name for a law school news update) this description

The School of Law is launching the Jewish Divorce Mediation Clinic in Fall 2018. Open to JD and LL.M. students of all religions or with no religious faith, the Clinic will provide mediation services to families in civil and religious courts. For divorcing Jewish couples, parties often must receive a religious divorce in addition to a civil divorce. In collaboration with the Jewish Divorce Assistance Center of Los Angeles, clinic faculty and students will observe and participate in complex mediations in this context. Students will study divorce practices from multiple religions. The practice is at the intersection of California family law in civil courts, Jewish law in religious courts, and alternative dispute resolution in intercultural contexts.

This post on the Clinical Law Prof Blog goes into more detail and gives this tidbit.

The Clinic’s work lies at the intersection of two of our strongest commitments: conflict resolution and interfaith practice. It also fills an important curricular need for family law practice. Students will engage practice in California family law and divorce mediation, and students will study divorce practices from multiple religions, including Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Sikh traditions. 

Here’s wishing this clinic nothing but success.

Hat tip – Alyson Carrel

Update – Some might ask why not create a simple divorce clinic, instead of one favoring a particular religious/ethnic group?  That’s a good question.  While I have no information about Pepperdine’s decision to start this clinic, the creation of a new clinic is typically based on resources and relationships.  Is there a partner in the private / public sector willing to put significant work into the initiative?  In this case, there is one and it may be taking on all or most of the costs, as it looks like its Executive Director will be running the clinic.  So, maybe Pepperdine gets a new ADR clinic at minimal cost – dare I say a win-win?