Law center represents the under-represented

Name: Jenny Schulz

Title: Executive director

Company: Kids First Law Center

Address: 420 6th St. SE, Cedar Rapids

Phone: (319) 365-5437

Website: www.kidsfirstiowa.org

Elevator speech: Giving children a voice in divorce and custody conflicts

CEDAR RAPDIS - When Jenny Schulz first meets with her clients, she reminds them they are the boss.

“That's really appealing to them because they are never in charge,” she said.

Schulz is executive director of Kids First Law Center, a not-for-profit organization she started in Cedar Rapids in 2005, and her clients are between the ages of 6 and 17. The organization provides court-appointed legal representation to children in high-conflict custody cases.

Schulz explained that, in family law, children don't have the right to an attorney as they do in juvenile court.

“We are actually the only organization in the country whose sole purpose is to provide legal representation in family law cases versus juvenile court cases,” Schulz explained.

Schulz spends 60 percent of her work time talking with children.

“They get to pick where we go when we meet, and usually they pick Dairy Queen or the park or Chuck E Cheese,” she said.

During other meetings they draw, read books or just play games - all part of building relationships with her clients.

“You hear about their activities and get to show them you care about them as a person beyond the case,” she said.

Middle and high school are her favorite age groups.

“They are getting to be great advocates for themselves and learning skills to be assertive in raising issues with parents and others,” Schulz said. “I can give them skills to resolve conflict in healthy ways and show them the importance of making their feelings known.”

When Schulz isn't busy working on her 30 cases - the other members of the Kids First team take on 50 cases, for a total of about 150 children per year represented by Kids First - she is mentoring the other lawyers in her office. She also handles the fundraising and business aspects of running a not-for-profit organization, including working to expand their services.

In 2008, for example, Kids First started offering educational workshops for school-aged children whose parents are divorcing in Linn County - the only such program in the state. The workshops, offered free of charge, are court-mandated and include a curriculum developed by her staff, Schulz said.

About 400 Linn County children go through the program each year.

Schulz has a long history of charitable work as a lawyer. After receiving her law degree from the University of Iowa, she moved to Washington, D.C., and worked for a free clinic where she got her start representing children.

When she moved back to Iowa in 2000, she worked with Iowa Legal Aid for five years. It was during that time she realized children were highly under-represented in family law cases.

“I just got brave one day, quit my job and started this nonprofit,” she recalled. “In starting this, I realized that it's not easy, but people are generous.

“But if I had known how hard it was, I might not have jumped in with both feet. I might have dipped a toe in.”