The Jodi Marquette American Indian Wills Clinic at OCU LAW will begin accepting clients for estate planning services later this month. Through this new clinic, OCU LAW students working under the supervision of a licensed attorney will provide wills drafting services to American Indians who own an interest in Indian land in Oklahoma. These services will be provided free of charge, thanks to a generous anonymous donation of $250,000 to further the work of the Native American Legal Resource Center’s Wills Services Project, which received its initial funding from the Oklahoma Bar Foundation.

"The Wills Clinic will not only provide a needed service to tribal communities in Oklahoma, it also will provide OCU LAW students the opportunity to learn this complex area of the law while gaining experience in the practical skills of lawyering," said Casey Ross-Petherick, deputy director of OCU LAW’s Native American Legal Resource Center.

The American Indian Wills Clinic first began in January 2009 as part of the NALRC’s Native American Externship Program - with $20,000 in seed funds provided by the Oklahoma Bar Foundation. The program offers practical experience for students at OCU LAW who, under supervision of a licensed attorney, provide needed legal services while receiving instruction and training in client relations, as well as the complex area of American Indian estate planning. 

For more information on the clinic, or to apply for the services, contact the Native American Legal Resource Center at OCU LAW at (405) 208-5017. For information on Indian land in Oklahoma, contact the Office of Special Trustee for American Indians Beneficiary Call Center at (888) 678-6836.