Community Development Clinic Students Obtain Property Tax Exemption for Nonprofit that Assists Women with Recovery from Addiction

Three students and their professor in front of Gund Hall Case Western Reserve School of Law sign
From left: Yang Gu, Patrick Conroy, Alexa Shook and Matthew Rossman, director of the Community Development Clinic

Patrick Conroy, Yang Gu and Alexa Shook, 2022 graduates of the School of Law at Case Western Reserve University, successfully persuaded the State of Ohio to grant property tax exemption to The Edna House for Women for its newly expanded campus in Cleveland’s Detroit Shoreway neighborhood. The students consulted with The Edna House under the direction of Matthew Rossman, director of the law school’s Community Development Clinic. 

The Edna House is a nonprofit organization that helps women seeking recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. This year’s Clinic team completed the work started by Divyang Patel (LAW ‘21) and Audrey Quinn (LAW ‘21). As reported in The Edna House’s newsletter, the students were thrilled to take part in such an important project. “Collectively, we found delivering the news that Edna House’s property tax exemption had been approved to be one of our most satisfying experiences in the Clinic,” they said.

The Community Development Clinic is one of nine clinics under the umbrella of the School of Law’s Milton and Charlotte Kramer Law Clinic. Every law student undertakes a 3L capstone in one of the clinics or a semester-long externship. Based on the work of the Community Development Clinic and the other clinics, preLaw magazine (Spring 2022) ranked Case Western Reserve University School of Law 5th best law school in the nation in practical training.