University of Colorado Law School’s Community Collaboration Law Lab’s students have been working on a project to establish a no-cost food pantry in the law school.
Spearheaded by students JJ Carl ‘25, Aidan Stearns ‘25 and Charlotte Goodenow ‘24, the project was inspired by no-cost community grocery stores operated by a local nonprofit, Boulder Food Rescue, and by efforts from the University of Colorado’s School of Education to offer a small, no-cost food pantry to its campus community.
The process has spanned across two semesters so far.
In the fall, students focused on gathering information from the law school community about food needs, as well as investigating best practices about operating a no-cost food pantry.
The students created an online survey open to all students and staff asking best location and what items should be offered. They interviewed administrators at other law schools that had established similar pantries, received helpful guidance from the local nonprofit staff, and sought input from the Student Bar Association and key law school administrators.
In the spring, the students created and presented a proposal to the law school administration with estimates of the food pantry cost and recommendations for how the pantry should be run.
Based on feedback from the presentation, the students have determined that the best path forward will be for incoming students to take the lead on operating the no-cost pantry.
Deborah Cantrell, professor at Colorado Law, said the lab relies on areas of law including land use and ownership, for profit and nonprofit entity formation and operation, food access and safety, contract drafting and negotiation.
“The legal services include traditional legal work like document drafting and less traditional work including community facilitation and design-center problem solving,” Cantrell said.
Since 1948, Colorado Law has provided legal clinics as an experiential learning opportunity to students as a chance to serve the community. By handling actual cases, students make the transition from legal theory to legal practice.
