The UT Legal Clinic was established in 1947, the second in the country (the first was at Duke and was established in 1931). The UT Legal Clinic had a much earlier forerunner, the Free Legal Aid Bureau, which was established in 1915–16 by the first-year law class with the assistance of Professor McDermott. Its members spent a certain amount of time each week in the assistance of the poor and needy citizens of Knoxville. In 1916 the bureau was reorganized and consisted of members of the Law Department, and on November 1, an office for the bureau was opened in the Hunter Settlement House.
With the establishment of the UT Legal Clinic, law students were allowed to plead cases before the justice of the peace courts of Knoxville, by agreement with the judges.