(a) General purpose. — The bench and the bar are primarily responsible for providing competent legal services for all persons, including those unable to pay for these services. As one means of providing assistance to lawyers who represent clients unable to pay for such services, and to encourage law schools and supervising attorneys to provide clinical instruction in trial work of varying kinds, the following rule is adopted.
(b) Scope of rule. — An eligible law student may appear, with a supervising attorney, in any court or before any administrative tribunal in this State on behalf of the State of West Virginia or any indigent person if, except as provided for in section (c) below, the person on whose behalf the student is appearing has indicated in writing his or her consent to that appearance and the supervising lawyer has also indicated in writing approval of that appearance, in the following matters:
(1) Civil matters. — In civil actions or cases, the supervising lawyer shall be required to be personally present.
(2) Criminal and other matters. — In all criminal and related matters, the supervising lawyer must be personally present throughout the proceedings and shall be fully responsible for the manner in which they are conducted. This provision shall apply to all matters in which the minimum due process requirements approximate the requirements of criminal cases. When a student represents the State, the supervising lawyer shall be the prosecuting attorney or his or her designated assistant prosecuting attorney.
(3) Abuse and neglect matters – In abuse and neglect cases on behalf of a non-offending parent or unknown father, the supervising lawyer shall be required to be personally present.
(c) Filing of written consent. — In each case the written consent and approval referred to above shall be filed in the record of the case and shall be brought to the attention of the judge of the court or the presiding officer of the administrative tribunal. If a law student represents an unknown father in an abuse and neglect case, the presiding judge may enter an order granting permission for the appearance unless and until the unknown father appears in the case and objects to continued representation by a law student.
[As amended by order entered November 21, 1997, effective January 1, 1998; by order entered and effective January 24, 2025]