Law School Public Interest Programs - Classes with a Public Service Component
Mediation Assistance Program - Mediation Assistance Program provides 25 hours of training equivalent to the NYS Unified Court System training program for community mediators. It prepares students to serve as court-affiliated mediators and to counsel clients more effectively.
American University Washington College of Law
Human Rights Impact Litigation - Students provide direct representation, including court appearances in complex federal cases dealing with international human rights.
Selected Issues in International Trade - Students write papers commissioned by the Internataional Lawyers and Economists Against Poverty (ILEAP). ILEAP uses the papers in their technical support to clients.
The Constitution and Public Education - "The Constitution and Public Education" is a seminar that is part of the Marshall-Brennan Fellows Program. Marshall-Brennan Fellows receive academic credit for the course and their work teaching a course on constitutional rights and responsibilities.
A number of our Practicum courses have included service components. For example, students have had the opportunity to take part in service components in Professor Sandra McGlothlin's Family Law & Mediation course.
Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law
Barry University School of Law
Many students develop faculty supervised independent studies in order to receive academic credit for doing public interest work. For example, every year students receive independent study credit for working on cases with the New England Innocence Project.
Additionally, some courses require students’ graded work to be useful for public interest organizations. For example, in Domestic Violence and the Law, taught by Mithra Merryman, a practicing attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services, students develop projects to be used by agencies working on domestic violence issues.
Boston University School of Law
During 2L and 3L years students choose their courses. Many students also decide to pursue a concentration in one of the five following areas: Health Law, Intellectual Property Law, International Law, Litigation and Dispute Resolution, and Business Organizations and Finance Law. Classes from the core curriculum (for example, corporations, taxation, federal courts, commercial code, administrative law and evidence) offer students a foundation essential for many public interest jobs. In addition, there are numerous courses that directly explore public interest law. Many students also supplement their law school classes by taking classes in other schools within the university. The following list, certainly not all of the electives, is an example of courses at BU Law that may be taught in any year. As you will see, many classes are seminars which offer students the opportunity to research and write about topics of interest:
Advanced Environmental Law (S)*,Affordable Housing Law (S), Bankruptcy and Creditor’s Rights, Biotechnology Law and Ethics (S), Civil Liberties & National Security (S), Constitutional Theory (S), Consumer Law, Criminal Procedure: Adjudication, Criminal Procedure: Advanced Readings, Criminal Procedure: Comprehensive, Criminal Procedure: The Investigatory Process, Current Issues in Employment Law (S), Democracy & Equality (S), Domestic Violence (S), Effective & Ethical Depositions (S), Employment Discrimination and Employment Law, Energy Law & Policy (S), Environmental Law, Family Law, Federal Habeas Corpus (S), Global Climate Change (S), Health, Bioethics & Human Rights (S), Homicide Investigations and Trials (S), Housing Law (S), Immigration Law and Policy (S), International Human Rights (S), Juvenile Court, Juvenile Delinquency, Labor Law, Law, Work and Poverty (S), Law and the Democratic Process, Non-Profit Organizations (S), Philosophical & Policy Perspectives on Tort Law (S), Public International Law (S), Trial Advocacy, Trial Advocacy; Advanced, War on Drugs: U.S. Drug Policy (S), Welfare and Poverty Law (S)
*(S) denotes a seminarBrigham Young University J. Reuben Clark Law School
- Community Lawyering course: Students are involved in community projects affecting youth in the juvenile justice system. Students help to advocate for and provide legal due process for youth in the system, and explore how the problem-solving talents of local youth and their parents can be better recognized and utilized for the benefit of other youth and their parents. Professor David Dominguez, dominguezd@lawgate.byu.edu (801) 422-3739.
- Youth in Mediation course: Students teach concepts of dispute resolution and skills to at-risk youth in the local juvenile detention center and in Provo School District, provide Victim-Offender and Parent-Teen mediation services, and do other related projects. Professor Tamara Fackrell, fackrellt@lawgate.byu.edu, (801) 422-9310.
- Computer-Based Practice Systems course: Students learn to design and author practice systems using an extensively used practice system authoring program called HotDocs Pro. Students work on an authoring project that requires a minimum of 50 hours to complete in collaboration with cooperating law firms, legal service offices, government law offices, courts, and corporate legal departments. Professor Larry Farmer, farmerl@lawgate.byu.edu, (801) 422-2423.
We currently have no classes with a public service component, and at least one is currently under consideration.
California Western School of Law
California Innocence Project I & II.
Campbell University, Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law
Case Western Reserve University Law School
Catholic University of America School of Law
Chapman University School of Law
A general survey course taught by adjunct professor but no service component is required. The adjunct professor is Joanna Joyce Weiss, Latham and Watkins, Costa Mesa, CA.
On occasion, students have been granted academic credit to assist professors engage in public interest research or to represent clients. This has included drafting estate plans and wills for tax clients, and researching legal issues regarding economic development and business opportunities for low income clients.
Access to Justice Courses: These one-credit courses are designed to educate students about the unmet legal needs in a particular area of the law and to train the students to provide the needed service. The opportunity for the service is either incorporated into the course (Unemployment Insurance Benefits) or follows the course as part of a pro bono clinic (Custody and Divorce).
Practicums: Practicums are offered based on faculty interest and, thus, vary from semester to semester. A traditional non-clinical course becomes a practicum when the professor partners with an outside organization and builds into the course required assignments that will benefit the outside organization. An example is the Education Law Practicum.
Capstone Courses: Like Practicums, Capstone Courses are offered based on faculty interest and, thus, vary from semester to semester. A Capstone Course gives a small group of students the opportunity to work closely with a faculty member on an intensive, real-world project that builds on previous study and integrates academic and practical learning. There is a classroom component designed to give students the needed foundation and to further the project. Through these courses, students have the opportunity to develop specialized knowledge and engage in advanced problem-solving with faculty, peers and others. Capstone Courses have included Parent Representation, Civil Rights, and Comparative Law: Tanzania.
Independent Projects (IP): Like in a Capstone Course, IP’s give students the opportunity to work closely on an intensive, real-world project that builds on previous study and integrates academic and practical learning. An IP is like Independent Research but with greater flexibility. The projects are supervised by a faculty member but may involve an attorney or judge who also supervises or advises the student. Projects must involve significant legal, social or empirical research or experiences. An IP proposal must be submitted to the Associate Dean of Academics for approval at least four weeks prior to the start of the semester in which the project will be done. The final product must be presented orally to the faculty and external advisor, or a panel of interested persons organized by the faculty or external advisor, or as part of a public discussion. Students can earn one or two credits, depending on the size and academic rigor of the IP.
City University of New York Law at Queens College
Our entire curriculum is designed to serve students who plan to do public interest practice. The mission of the CUNY School of Law is to educate students for the practice of law with special interest on public service and public interest law. Thus a law degree from the CUNY School of Law is a degree in public interest law. Moreover, students may choose to take specialize by taking sequences of course. The specialization may be in any one of the following areas of practice: immigration, labor law, international human rights, civil rights and equality, and health.
Cleveland State University, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
Columbia University School of Law
Drafting Relating to Wills and Trust - Students could opt to prepare simple wills, living wills and powers of attorney for low-income senior citizens at the JASA West Side Senior Citizen Center and elsewhere. (Professor Lawrence Newman)
Intenational Arbitration and Conflicts - Students intern at organizations doing international arbitrations.
Labor Rights in the Global Economy - Students worked with labor unions, and non-profit labor rights NGOs, some outside of New York. (Professor Mark Barenberg)
Law and Policy of Homelessness - Student papers often were on behalf of real organizations, rather than abstract issues. (Professor Kim Hopper)
Race and Poverty Law - Student papers often were on behalf of real organizations, rather that abstract issues and, were presented at a conference that was open to interested members of the public. (Professor Kim Crenshaw)
Stakeholder Environmental Decision-Making Project - Students participated in actual large scale, multiparty processes addressing important environmental and land-use issues in the NYC area. (Lecturer-in-Law Evan Van Hook)
255-1545
Course description, Spring 2002: This seminar would allow law students to lead weekly discussions at the Auburn Correctional Facility on contemporary legal topics. Although all students enrolled in the seminar will be expected to attend the weekly meeting, two students will be responsible for presenting a legal or policy issue at each meeting and then opening up the floor to questions and comments from the prisoners in attendance. Prison administrators will determine who will attend the legal seminar. The objective of this seminar is to facilitate the exchange of ideas and the discussion of current legal issues among law students and members of the Auburn prison population. It will give our students an additional opportunity to take law and legal education beyond the traditional classroom setting. The list below is a sampling of topics that hopefully will spark the kind of spirited intellectual debate this seminar envisions:
- Reparations for African Americans: legal and Policy Issues
- Racial Profiling
- Family Law and the Rights of Fathers
- Term Limits on Elected Officials
- Pornography as Discrimination Against Women
- The Relevance of Race, Ethnicity, and Sex to Judicial Appointments
- Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Shaming Penalties
- Fourth Amendment and Other Limits on Policing Schools for Drugs and Guns
Creighton University School of Law
DePaul University College of Law
A few courses have experiential public interest components. Such courses include Mediation, Chiapas Human Rights Practicum, ( http://www.law.depaul.edu/programs/study%5Fabroad/chiapas.asp), Economic Justice, Domestic Violence.
Drake University School of Law
- First-year Trial Practicum
- Environmental Litigation.
Drexel University Earle Mack School of Law
The Marshall-Brennan Seminar: This is the required companion course for students participating in the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project. It is designed to prepare law students to teach constitutional law in local high schools and to supervise these high school students as they compete in regional and national constitutional moot court competitions.
Justice Lawyering Seminar: This course, which is a co-requisite of the field clinics, is a critical look at law and social justice. In that context, students will develop individual research and writing projects inspired by their clinical experience.
International Human Rights Advocacy: This is the required companion course for students participating in our Alternative Spring Break Service Learning Trip to Haiti. While a pre-requisite for students travelling to Haiti, it is open to the entire student body, as well. This course will introduce students to the development of human rights law and provide the fundamentals of modern human rights practice through real-world application to current human rights issues. Using Haiti as a model, each student will be assigned another specific country with a grave human rights issue. Students will address their country-specific issue as an advocate -- from factual investigation and research to production of advocacy materials.
Poverty Law
Wrongful Convictions: Causes and Remedies - See http://www.law.duke.edu/curriculum/descriptions/316_01.html
Duquesne University School of Law
Public Law and Leadership
Capstone Leadership Experiences
Service Externship
Street Law
Emory University School of Law
Federal Housing Policies and Homelessness
Faulkner University Thomas Goode Jones School of Law
Florida A&M University College of Law
- Children & The Law
- Civil Rights Litigation
- Domestic Violence
- Education Law
- Elder Law
- Employment Discrimination
- Employment Law
- Environmental Law & Toxic Tort Law
- Family Law
- Gender, Sexuality & the Law
- Immigration Law
- International Health & Human Rights of Children Seminar
- International Human Rights
- Juvenile Justice
- Poverty Law
- Race, Identity, & Public Policy
- and Worker's Compensation
Florida International University College of Law
Florida State University College of Law
Public Interest Law Center
Clinical Externship Program
Fordham University School of Law
Professional Responsibility: Advanced Public Interest Seminar
http://law.fordham.edu/syllabus/syl5424.pdf
George Mason University School of Law
George Washington University Law School
Georgetown University Law Center
Deliberative Democracy and Civic Organizing: Theory and Practice – www.law.georgetown.edu/curriculum
Legal Research & Writing(1L, Section 3) – www.law.georgetown.edu/curriculum
Social Welfare Law and Policy Seminar – www.law.georgetown.edu/curriculum
Georgia State University College of Law
Golden Gate University School of Law
Honors Lawyering Program Skills Lab- Students in the Honors Lawyering Program work with supervising faculty to provide direct legal representation over the summer as part of their program requirement. Students work with clients through the Tenderloin Housing Clinic and the Homeless Advocacy Project of the Bar Association of San Francisco.
Street Law- Students enrolled in this course teach law to students at high schools throughout the Bay Area. Contact: Professor Thomas Nazario, 415/422-6832 or nazario@beta.usfca.edu.
Gonzaga University School of Law
Women and the Law (Professor Mary Pat Truethart)
Hamline University School of Law
In addition to the Clinics and Practicums offered at Hamline: students may participate in Equal Justice -- Applied Research” a seminar offered jointly by the four Minnesota Law schools. The class meets at a different law school each year (Hamline in 2009) and is open to students from all four schools. This class is not an internship, but rather a three-credit research course.
During the class, students choose research topics from the LSEJ research topic list and work singly or in small groups to produce research papers that advance equal justice. Classroom sessions focus on the development of project topics, research skills needed for equal justice issues, policy analysis and problem solving, working collaboratively, the role of the public interest lawyer, and additional topics of interest to the seminar participants. Class members are linked with the attorneys whose legal issues generated their projects. These attorneys serve as ”field contacts” to help supervise the project.
In addition, students spend approximately twenty hours on field work (either with their field contacts or other local public interest practitioners) to gain an understanding of public interest practice in general, the legal issues involved in their individual projects, and the real world implications of their topics.
Students' completed works are presented before a CLE audience of lawyers and are made available to practitioners, students, faculty and others on the LSEJ website.
Hofstra University School of Law
Domestic Violence Seminar - This course examines the problem of domestic violence between adult intimate partners (not as against aged parents or regarding direct child abuse, although the course will look at the effects upon children exposed to domestic violence and the law's response). The course considers problems of domestic violence starting with psychological origins of violence. It focuses on domestic violence and its consequences in the legal system in a number of arenas, including family law, civil litigation in various forms (from restraining orders to tort recovery), criminal law response, federal law response, race issues, immigration, and legal responses to same sex or other forms of non-marital intimate domestic violence.
In addition to the classroom component, there is an externship component that will be available to a limited number of students. This will involve one day a week spent in the domestic violence division of the Suffolk County court system, representing abused complainants who are seeking orders of protection. Under the Suffolk Student Practice Order, students can appear in court, can argue before the bench and can examine witnesses. One additional credit will be given for the externship experience. The one-credit externship may not be taken apart from the course, and is not a requirement of the three-credit course.
Howard University School of Law
Howard Law's Labor Law and Equal Employment Opportunity Classes, both taught by Professor Christi Cunningham, have public service extra credit options. Students may volunteer service to the D.C. Workers' Rights Clinic for extra credit. For more information, contact Professor Cunningham, 202/806-8034 or ccunningham@law.howard.edu.
Illinois Institute of Technology: Chicago-Kent College of Law
- Public Interest Law and Policy (3 credit hours)
- Legal Writing IV - Public Interest Law (3 credit hours)
- Over 40 other courses with a public interest component
- Legal externships with public interest and government agencies
Indiana University Maurer School of Law (Bloomington)
Immigration Law: This course examines the rights of aliens to enter the United States, to remain in the United States after arrival, and to secure or retain citizenship. It includes special restrictions imposed on aliens that restrict their opportunity to secure employment, welfare benefits, or other entitlements, and the judicial response to those restrictions. The course explores a significant number of Supreme Court decisions that have addressed the many important constitutional issues lurking in immigration law.
Intellectual Property Practicum: This quasi-clinical course allows students the opportunity both to learn about the substantive law and business underlying independent filmmaking and to gain invaluable experience in researching and drafting related work product. A set of local independent filmmaker "clients" meets with the class periodically throughout the semester, and students participate in a series of workshops with motion picture professionals (in 2005, guests included writer/producer Angelo Pizzo, producer Michael Uslan and film festival producer Jeff Sparks, among others). The course includes assigned readings from Gregory Goodell's "Independent Feature Film Production" and other sources.
Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis
Inter American University of Puerto Rico: Inter American University of Puerto Rico School of Law
Workshop on Registry of Property - students work with legal justice department unit for 2 credits.
John Marshall Law School – Atlanta
ACLU Civil Liberties Seminar
Lewis & Clark College School of Law
service component. In addition, some of the Professional Responsibility courses (a mandatory course for graduation) include a required pro bono component. Professor Steve Johansen has such a requirement when he teaches Professional Responsibility. His phone number is 503/768-6637 and his email is tvj@lclark.edu.
Liberty University School of Law
None at this time.
Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center
Loyola Law School: Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
Civil Rights Litigation Seminar
Housing Law
Public Interest Law Seminar
Loyola University Chicago: Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Advanced Appellate Advocacy/Moot Court - Some of the moot court teams have a public service project component as part of their participation requirements.
Child Law Legislation Seminar - Students work on projects being considered by legislators and/or advocacy groups.
Consumer Antitrust Studies - Students do field work in the antitrust or consumer protection fields with government or public interest organizations.
Domestic Violence Seminar - For a final exam, students can choose to develop a project that can be used in the field such as a manual for attorneys or a seminar on teen dating violence.
Street Law - Students teach legal issues to students in local high schools.
Loyola University New Orleans: Loyola University New Orleans School of Law
Law & Poverty Course
Law & Poverty Seminar
Street Law
Marquette University Law School
While Marquette has not currently developed a “track” for public interest law, all of its courses will include components addressing impact upon and service to disadvantaged populations.
Some classes such as Community and Economic Development Law and Nonprofit Law also have a service-learning component.
Under the direction of former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske, Distinguished Professor of Law, the Restorative Justice Initiative serves as a resource for victims, communities, and restorative justice organizations; as a restorative justice clinical experience for law students; and as a program promoting scholarship, research, and dialogue on restorative justice. This initiative is committed to supporting victims and communities in the healing process by providing information and training resources, and by facilitating communication. The Law School offers classes in restorative justice and peacemaking and hosts an annual restorative justice conference at the university. Visit www.law.marquette.edu/jw/rji
In addition, Adjunct Professors of Law Deanna Singh and Notesong Thompson direct the Street Law program at Marquette, supervising law students who teach a legal education course culminating in a mock trial at four MPS high schools.
Mercer University School of Law
Michigan State University College of Law
- Tax Clinic Class
- Rental Housing Class
Mississippi College: Mississippi College School of Law
Child Advocacy
This three-hour course allows students to represent children in court. For more information, contact Prof. Shirley Kennedy or Jamie McBride at 601/925-7143.
New England School of Law: New England School of Law
Public Interest Law
Several courses have practicum components through which students and their professor take on actual public service work as part of the course activities. These have included: Environmental Advocacy, Domestic Violence and Mental Health Issues in Criminal Proceedings.
New York Law School: New York Law School
Center for Professional Values and Practice Capstone – the CPVP Capstone is a required course for CPVP Harlan Scholars and may be completed with a public service opportunity accompanied by a report on the student’s experience.
Justice Action Center Capstone – the JAC Capstone is a required course for JAC Harlan Scholars. JAC students participate in projects with practicing attorneys in their area of concentration.
New York University: New York University School of Law
In addition to our extensive clinics, http://www.law.nyu.edu/academics/clinics/, many NYU Law courses focus on public interest issues, allowing students to concentrate on the study of the various facets of public interest law. While courses vary from year to year, please see http://www.law.nyu.edu/academics/areasoffocus/publicInterest/curriculum for a sampling of courses offered in the past few years that would be relevant to students concerned with public interest law.
North Carolina Central University School of Law
Street Law – Law students learn how to teach legal topics to middle and high school students. Methods of instruction include lectures, role-playing, guest speakers, and the development of lesson plans. Students are assigned to a Durham Public School location and teach a unit on law as part of a social studies course, in cooperation with the regular teacher.
Northeastern University: Northeastern University School of Law
Legal Skills in Social Context (LSSC) – LSSC is a required first year course, which delivers fundamental research and writing training while also challenging participants' values and sensitizing them to the formidable task the legal system faces in addressing societal difference. The course also provides students with the opportunity to develop team lawyering skills while assisting community organizations that are attempting to affect social change. During the second semester of the first year, all first year students are assigned to a "law office" and participate in a closely supervised clinical experience representing and assisting a non-profit community based organization in solving a societal problem involving issues of diversity and law. The participating organizations, primarily located in the Greater Boston area, compete for an opportunity to participate in the LSSC Program. Each law office team is responsible for producing a publishable report detailing its findings with extensive legal and anecdotal field research. In addition, each of the law offices presents a highly creative, often multi-media based, oral presentation to client organizations and the entire first year class.
Recent examples of LSSC social justice projects include the following:
- The Florida based, Southern Legal Counsel, Inc., for which students developed a report documenting the legal trend toward criminalizing homelessness,
- The Washington D.C. based, Public Education Network, a project focusing on the effects of the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act,
- The City of Chelsea, Massachusetts, in which students researched ways to deter illegal rooming houses through enforcement against landlords and tenants.
Public Interest Independent Study – Students can develop, in conjunction with faculty supervised, independent study projects with a public service component. During the last year, some of these projects included working with the Political Asylum and Immigration Representation (PAIR) Project on a complex appeal involving a motion to suppress evidence in a removal proceeding, the Immigration Unit at Greater Boston Legal Services on immigration relief for victims of domestic violence and Community Legal Services and Counseling Center on asylum cases.
Northern Illinois University: Northern Illinois University College of Law
None.
Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law
Northwestern University: Northwestern University School of Law
Notre Dame: Notre Dame Law School
Law and Poverty (Two credit hours)
This class examines the situation of the poor in the American legal system and includes fieldwork and clinical work with clients in northern Indiana and southern Michigan. For more information, contact Professor Tom Broden, 574/631-8737.
GALILEE (Group Alternative Live-In Legal Education Experience) (One credit hour)
Students live for a few days in the inner city to learn about the legal needs of the urban poor. For information, contact Professor Teresa Phelps, 574/631-5763.
Legal Aid I & II (classroom & clinic component)
This class introduces students to the substantive areas of law encountered in a poverty law clinic such as domestic violence and homelessness. For more information, contact Professor Judith Fox, 574/631-4864.
Nova Southeastern University: Shepard Broad Law Center
Street Law, Dependency Workshop
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Civil Rights Litigation, Consumer Protection
Domestic Violence Workshop
Elder Law
Employment Discrimination
International Protection of Human Rights
Post-Conviction Relief Workshop
Nonprofit Organizations
Ohio Northern Claude W. Pettit College of Law
Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law
Children’s Law
Civil Rights
Disability Law
Immigration and Asylum Law
Non-Profit Organizations
Racial Justice/Race Theory
Women’s Rights/ Gender and the Law
Oklahoma City University: Oklahoma City University School of Law
Several of the Legal Research and Writing classes engage in a public service exercise in connection with a writing assignment. These have included researching and drafting briefs to be used in a brief bank for Legal Aid and assisting in child support and paternity determination court dockets.
Pennsylvania State University The Dickinson School of Law
The Legal Problems of Indigents course serves as a complement to one of our larger summer public interest employment programs. Students who receive funding through the summer fellowship program are required to participate in this poverty law course in preparation for their service in non-profit legal offices.
Pepperdine University: Odell McConnell Law Center
None
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico
Quinnipiac University School of Law
Poverty Law
Regent University: School of Law
Individual Income Tax– Students served in the Virginia Individual Tax Assistance Program (VITA).
Roger Williams University: School of Law
Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, Center for Law and Justice (Newark)
Street Law Seminar
Rutgers: The State University of New Jersey School of Law, Camden
Advanced Mediation – Prof. Petrilla encourages participation in the mediation program.
Public Interest Law – Requires a community service component, to be approved by the professor.
Saint John's University School of Law
Saint Louis University: Saint Louis University School of Law
Urban Issues Symposium – Students work with a neighborhood on redevelopment issues. For more information, contact Professor Peter Salsich, Jr. at (314) 977-2766.
Saint Mary’s University of San Antonio: St. Mary’s University of San Antonio School of Law
None.
Saint Thomas University: St. Thomas University School of Law (FL)
Clinics and Field Experience Courses.
Samford University: Cumberland School of Law
None
Santa Clara University: Santa Clara University School of Law
There are many courses at Santa Clara Law with a Public Service Component. The courses that are offered each year in connection with our clinical programs include:
- Katherine and George Alexander Community Law Center (KGACLC) Civil Clinical Skills I & Civil Clinical Skills II
- KGACLC Health Law Seminar: Trauma
- KGACLC Consumer & Debtors Rights Interviewing and Advising
- KGACLC Immigration Interviewing and Advising
- KGACLC Worker's Compensation Interviewing and Advising
- KGACLC Workers' Rights Interviewing and Advising
- Northern California Innocence Project
- Northern California Innocence Project Advanced Practice Clinic
- Juvenile Justice Topics: Leadership Training
- Juvenile Justice Topics: Practical Applications
Seattle University: Seattle University School of Law
Seton Hall University: Seton Hall University School of Law
All Clinics include a classroom component which includes lectures and hands-on simulations. Professors include: Linda Fisher, Jon Romdeng, Daher Azmy, Virginia Handwick, Kevin Kelly, Lori Nessel, Philip Ross and Claudette St. Romain.
South Texas College: South Texas College of Law
Southern Illinois University School of Law
Bankruptcy– Students prepared the Consumer Protection module for the School of Law's Self Help Legal Center.
Regulation of Health Care Providers – Students prepare draft legislation, look for a legislator to sponsor, and then lobby for public health initiatives in Illinois
Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law
Southern University Law Center
Southwestern University: Southwestern Law School
Children & the Law - Each student assists a pro bono attorney with the adoption paperwork for children being adopted out of the foster care system. Adoptions are actual cases before the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Interviewing, Counseling & Negotiation - Students interview and counsel clients with Public Counsel, a nonprofit law firm in Los Angeles.
Clinical Program - The Children's Rights Clinic, Street Law - Youth in Transition, and the Immigration Law Clinic offer valuable services to the community while giving students hands-on experience helping indigent and otherwise underrepresented individuals.
Please see clinics.
Stetson University: Stetson University College of Law
Occasionally professors will design pro bono programs around their courses.
Suffolk Law School also offers a wide range of public interest related courses, such as Children’s Law Practice, Elder Law/Disabled Client, Environmental Law, Health Law, and Landlord Tenant Housing Issues Seminar.
In addition, at least two courses incorporate involvement in pro bono projects. Credit is offered in the Rape, Culture and the Law Seminar for students who choose an internship placement at The Victim Rights Law Center which offers students an opportunity to work on behalf of individual rape victims or on related research projects. Students in the Police Misconduct Litigation class have the option of doing a "project" for a practicing attorney in conjunction with an ongoing case. Last year, over 40 students were matched with attorneys all over the country and each student was involved in doing research and work on a section 1983 case, whether for a plaintiff's attorney or an attorney representing the government.
Syracuse University: College of Law
Temple University: James E. Beasley School of Law
Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law
Texas Tech University School of Law
Texas Wesleyan University School of Law
Thomas Jefferson School of Law: Thomas Jefferson School of Law
VITA (tax assistance program for indigent clients) - TJSL has a faculty supervised volunteer clinic that students run to assist low income individuals in tax preperation and tax issue problem solving.
Thomas M. Cooley Law School offers many classes having a public service component. Required courses include Constitutional Law I and II (instructional) and Professional Responsibility. Cooley Professional Responsibility classes and classes in other subjects frequently adopt class service projects assisting families and non-profit organizations in need. Elective courses having a public service component include Advanced Appellate Techniques (Ethics), Advanced Professional Ethics, Advanced Skills-Mediation Training, Alternate Dispute Resolution, Negotiation and Confrontation, Asian-Americans and the Law, Child Abuse and Neglect, Children and the Law, Civil Rights Litigation Seminar, Constitutional Law and Civil Rights Seminar, Death Penalty Seminar, Defending Battered Women, Disabilities Law, Education Law, Environmental Law, Family Violence Practice, Federal Indian Law and Seminar, Interviewing and Counseling, Immigration and Naturalization Law, International Human Rights Law, Public Resources and Endangered Species, and Workplace and Employment Discrimination Law
Touro College: Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center
None.
Tulane University: Tulane University School of Law
University at Buffalo Law School, SUNY
A Critical Look at Theraputic Drug Courts: Drug Treatment, Domestic Violence, Mental Health and Gambling Courts – Explores in depth, a radical change in the criminal justice system with a practical analysis drug treatment, domestic violence, mental heath and gambling courts situated in Western New York. Includes dialogue with the presiding judges and courtroom clinical experience. Students will analyze and interact with sessions of the Amherst Drug Treatment court at the Letro Courtroom in the UB Law School and at the Amherst Town Court.
Advanced Mediation Practice – This course allows students to hone their mediation skills to an advanced level by mediating real conflict situations, including family law, small business or other disputes referred by local courts and/or other community mediation resources.
Child Welfare Law II – Students complete field work at the Children's Legal Center assisting in law guardian work. For information, contact Professor Susan Vivian Mangold, 716/645-2428 or svm@acsu.buffalo.edu.
Domestic Violence Advocacy – Students are responsible for administering outreach legal advocacy program for female clients of a local battered women's shelter. For more information, contact Clinical Professor Suzanne Tomkins, 716/645-2103 or tomkins@buffalo.edu.
Labor Law Practice, Living Wage Law – Students worked with the Citizen's Living Wage Commission in the City of Buffalo and the non-profit Coalition for Economic Justice, inc. To analyze potentially covered contracts, monitor worksites, interview workers and consult with Commission members and other government officials regarding procedures for implementation of the new Buffalo living wage law in its formative stages.
NY Criminal Appeals : Practice & Procedure – Combines discussion of New York appellate procedure with the practice of law in the Appellate Division. Students review the mechanics of appeal, the scope of judicial review and problems endemic to appellate practice. At the same time, students work on appeals assigned to the Legal Aid Bureau and research and draft the briefs and prepare appendices.
University of Akron: C. Blake McDowell Law Center
Capital Punishment Seminar: Students may opt to assist the professor in preparing petitions for certiorari on behalf of indigent death row inmates.
Public External Placement Clinical Seminars: Students receive academic credit for their work in public interest placements under the supervision of an attorney, as discussed above.
Family Law: Students assist single fathers with preparing visitation paperwork.
University of Alabama: University of Alabama School of Law
None.
University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law
University of Arkansas at Little Rock: William H. Bowen School of Law
None.
University of Arkansas School of Law
- American Indian Law
- Children and the Law Seminar
- Labor Relations in the Private Sector
- Poverty Law
- Terrorism, National Security, and Human Rights Seminar
- Health Law
- Immigration Law and Policy
- Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Workplace
- Mediation
University of Baltimore School of Law
University of California - Irvine School of Law
University of California - Los Angeles
University of California at Davis: University of California at Davis School of Law
Community Education Seminar
The purpose of this seminar is to train law students to educate the community about basic legal rights and responsibilities. Students attend an initial four hour seminar orientation, followed by weekly seminars that prepare students to teach in a local high school at least two times per week. Students prepare a paper or journal to be determined by the instructor. For more information, contact Professor Millard Murphy, at 530/752-6943 or mmmurphy@ucdavis.edu.
Civil Rights Appeals Practicum
This course provides advanced instruction in appellate advocacy, including the drafting of briefs and oral argument in pro bono civil rights cases in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In addition to two class hours, students are required to meet with the instructor for an hour each week. Successful completion of the course satisfies the advanced legal writing requirement. For more information, contact Professor Margaret Johns at 530/752-8022 or mzjohns@ucdavis.edu.
University of California, Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
Community Law Practice requires a clinical component at East Bay Community Law Center. All in-house and faculty supervised clinical programs include both intensive public service work and a class-room based seminar component. The Domestic Violence Practicum and the Small Business Practicum combine hands-on public service with coursework. Social Justice Practice includes a practical legal case-study component.
University of California-Hastings College of the Law
Administrative Law
Public Interest Concentration Core Seminar
All In-House and Out Placement Clinical Offerings
Immigration Statutory Class
Current State and Local Government Problems Seminar
Public Health and Homelessness: Intersections of Law and Health Care
University of Chicago: University of Chicago Law School
Second and third-year students working in the clinic learn litigation, legislative advocacy, and transactional skills by representing clients while under the close supervision of clinical teachers. Students can work in a wide variety of areas, including
- appellate advocacy;
- civil rights and police accountability;
- criminal and juvenile justice;
- employment discrimination;
- housing;
- mental health;
- exoneration of people wrongfully convicted;
- federal criminal law; and
- advocacy for immigrant children.
Also, the Poverty and Housing Law Seminar exposes students to the practice of poverty law work by giving them the opportunity to work on housing related cases at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, which provides free legal services to indigent clients in civil matters. Students will spend at least twelve hours per week in one of LAFMC's five neighborhood offices.
University of Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati College of Law
Labor and Employment Law Classes – Students must provide three hours of service at the local office of a national employee rights organization. For more information, contact Professors Rafael Gely and Suja Thomas at 513/556-6805.
University of Colorado: School of Law
Consumer Empowerment
University of Connecticut: University of Connecticut School of Law
The Law School regularly offers courses that involve formal classroom teaching and real-world service to the community. The following opportunities meet that standard and are regular course offerings:
Center for Children's Advocacy – Martha Stone, Director, mstone@law.uconn.edu
Connecticut Urban Legal Initiative – William Breetz, Director, wbreetz@law.uconn.edu
Street Law – This course has been taught by various professors. The Registrar's Office can provide information about the current instructor(s), registrar@law.uconn.edu.
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance – Diana Leyden, Tax Clinic Director, dleyden@law.uconn.edu
University of Dayton: University of Dayton School of Law
Health Care Law – Professor Vernelia Randall's Health Care Law class requires enrolled students to volunteer in nursing homes. For more information, contact 937/229-3378 or randall@udayton.edu.
University of Denver: Sturm College of Law
Poverty Law – In Professor Julie Nice's Poverty Law class, students have undertaken a wide variety of legislative, litigation, and public policy projects relating to the needs of low income people.
Street Law 1 and 2 – Law students work in two-person teams to teach law to students in urban high schools.
Wills Lab (following Trusts and Estates) – In Professor Lucy Marsh's Wills Lab (following Trusts and Estates course) up to 30 students draft wills and related documents for Legal Aid clients under Professor Marsh's close supervision.
University of Detroit Mercy School of Law
University of Florida: Fredric G. Levin College of Law
Poverty Law– Students enrolled in the Poverty Law course are strongly encouraged to become involved in pro bono work.
University of Georgia School of Law
- Public Interest Practicum – Designed to teach students to discover what peoples' needs are, to be able as lawyers to summon community resources for meeting those needs, and to determine what lawyers can do to ensure the community's services are in place and functioning. Students will be required to work with both service institutions and individuals who are the clients of those institutions. They will be assigned to cases and graded on their success in solving the problems raised.
- Approaches to Lawyering - Exploration of different ways to think about the practice of law employing, among others, sometimes overlooked sources in the Western tradition that often take the form of stories (e.g., Moses and Njaal). Students will interpret texts and observe lawyers and judges. Students will be evaluated on the basis of their reading of the texts, their discernment of what lawyers actually do, and their exploration of potential interpretative and personal connections between the texts and lawyering.
- Law, Public Policy and the Elderly - Exploration of aspects of federal and state elderly programs and problems; special risk populations; significance of older population growth; representation of elderly clients; guardianship; lifetime estate management; testamentary estate disposition; living wills and "right to die" debate; health and long-term care; housing, transportation and employment policies; and public assistance. Research paper required for all students. Additionally, those enrolled for 3 credit hours will spend approximately 50 hours during the semester in a supervised clinical setting.
- Independent Project - Independent projects provide students with a flexible opportunity to independently explore legal issues or questions sometimes not found in any course or seminar and without following format of a formal research paper. Projects must involve significant legal, social, or empirical research or experience.
- Supervised Research - Supervised Research involves an in-depth written analysis of a legal issue under close faculty tutoring and supervision. It requires significant legal research, original thinking and analysis, and must produce final paper of a kind and quality similar to that found in law review articles.
University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law
University of Houston Law Center
University of Idaho: College of Law
University of Illinois College of Law
The Civil Clinics offer students the opportunity to represent clients under the supervision of law professors in a model law office setting in numerous areas including litigation, transactional, and international human rights matters. In addition to representing clients, students participate in the related seminar which meets weekly.
The Appellate Defender Clinic has attorneys from the Fourth District Office of the State Appellate Defender supervise law students preparing criminal appeals for clients of the office. Each student receives a transcript from a felony jury trial and is primarily responsible for preparing the appellate brief in the case. Students who qualify for licenses under Supreme Court Rule 711 generally will be able to argue their cases orally before the Illinois Appellate Court for the Fourth Judicial Circuit if oral argument is granted in that case.
Clinical Externships offer students the opportunity to receive law credit for pro bono work for a nonprofit organization, government agency, or judicial experience. In addition to meeting hourly work requirements with the sponsoring agency, the students must also submit periodic reports, a skills analysis and a final evaluation of the experience. The work must be legal in nature and conducted under the supervision of an attorney. Legislative Projects allows students to work on projects with the Illinois State Legislature. Students in this class spend a number of hours in Springfield, Illinois, working with legislative leadership. Internship/Independent Study opportunities with the South African Human Rights Commission, which are funded by the College, allow the students to participate actively in work of the Commission, under the supervision of a dedicated faculty member. Law of Professional Responsibility includes a pro bono element as a way of reinforcing the ABA commitment toward pro bono efforts. In the course of this class, students can receive extra credit for strictly volunteer community service. Students present a proposal, provide the service, and complete a written report detailing their experience and what they learned from the pro bono service.
Children and the Law also includes a pro bono component. Students are encouraged to serve as judges in the Vermilion County Juvenile Peer Court. This Court is where children are tried and sentenced for misdemeanor and other minor offenses by a jury of their peers (other minors). Trained minors also serve as the attorneys. The court personnel use local lawyers and law students as the judges. The adjudications and sentences are real.
University of Iowa College of Law
International Financial Institutions & Development Seminar. The University of Iowa Center for International Finance & Development (UICIFD) is a Center dedicated to the study of problems and issues in the complex world of international finance and development. Currently, the principal activity of the UICIFD is to maintain a globally-read website (www.uiowa.edu/ifdebook), which hosts the innovative E-Book on International Finance & Development as well as other research products, such as the News & Development blog, Briefing Papers, FAQs. Seminar participants are the Center's "staff," and as such study various aspects of international finance while producing various research products for the Center's website.
Non-Profit and Philanthropic Organizations. Through the Iowa NonProfit Resource Center, students in this class work with nonprofit agencies in assisting them with start-up organizational issues.
Law and Technology Seminar. This year-long seminar, limited to 16 students, explores the existing law and literature relating to ethical issues surrounding medical research. The goal of the seminar is to produce a model statute, hopefully to be published, addressing the range of issues in this area with suggested solutions.
Service Tutorial: The Women’s Prison Project (Skylark Project). In conjunction with the Iowa Coalition against Domestic Violence, up to six students work with domestic violence victims serving long-term or life sentences at Iowa Mitchellville Prison. They interview the women and help draft their commutation petitions as well as prepare the prisoners for their interviews before the Board of Parole and the Governor’s office.
Health Law Tutorial. Students worked with the local nonprofit Hospice to provide legal information related to end of life legal issues
University of Kansas: School of Law
The Voluntary Income Tax Assistance Program is staffed on a volunteer, pro bono basis by students enrolled in the tax classes and supervised and guided by a faculty member, also a volunteer, who teaches the various tax classes offered.
University of Kentucky College of Law
University of Louisville: Louis D. Brandeis School of Law
None.
University of Maine School of Law
University of Maryland: University of Maryland School of Law
http://www.law.umaryland.edu/academics/program/curriculum/catalog/
University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law
University of Miami School of Law
Many of our workshop courses include field components dedicated to serving the public interest. These include juvenile justice, election reform, health law, workplace justice, children and the law and more. In addition, all of our litigation skills placement opportunities for Certified Legal Interns are public sector, allowing students to share with each other the experiences they have serving clients most in need.
University of Michigan: University of Michigan Law School
Michigan Law regularly offers courses that have service components, but the courses vary from year to year. Additionally, courses designated as "practicum" or "practical simulation" usually offer some type of public service component.
University of Minnesota: University of Minnesota Law School
In addition to clinic and externship offerings, the following classes have public service components:
- Legal Scholarship for Equal Justice: This course annually rotates amongst the four local schools but is open to all law students. Students create a research memoranda on a systemic issue submitted by a public interest practitioner. The papers are published on a website and presented at a CLE.
- Street Law Seminar: This seminar engages law students in service to the community through teaching law to students in local schools. This is also available as a traditional volunteer opportunity through MJF.
University of Mississippi School of Law
University of Missouri - Columbia: School of Law
University of Missouri Kansas City University of Missouri Kansas City School of Law
- Children and the Law
- Employment Discrimination Law
- Civil Rights, Environmental Law
- Estate Planning and Drafting
- Gender and Justice
- International Human Rights Law
- Race and the Law Seminar, and various constitutional law courses
University of Montana: University of Montana School of Law
Cause lawyering
University of Nebraska: University of Nebraska College of Law
In the Family Law Practice course, students working in teams of two handle a low income divorce case. For information, contact Professor Alan Fran, afrank2@unl.edu.
University of Nevada, Las Vegas: William S. Boyd School of Law
Land Use and Community Economic Development explores community economic development with a special emphasis on affordable housing, the land use approval process, and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area. Students write research papers, prepare materials, and work with local organizations on economic development and land use issues and work with local government agencies and local developers to research models of providing affordable housing to teachers or work with a nonprofit housing advocacy group researching consumer credit issues (around housing finance) or methods to increase the supply of affordable housing.
Public Lands and Natural Resources Field Seminar focuses on the application of law and science to natural resource issues on public lands in the desert region. It includes a six-day field trip to the Kaibab Plateau, near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. On the trip, students visit areas on public land where significant legal issues have arisen concerning the management of natural resources, including old growth forests, rangelands, the Colorado River, and critical endangered species habitat. At each location, students discuss resource management and legal issues with federal/ state land managers and, in some cases, representatives of the environmentalist community and resource industries.
Legal Education & Assistance to Prisoners (LEAP) is a course where students learn about state and federal post-conviction remedies and family law and, in the field component of the course, provide training for inmates who work in the law libraries at several state correctional facilities in Southern Nevada. Students meet monthly with inmates to analyze training needs, conduct workshops, and develop selfhelp materials for use by inmates in the prison law libraries.
Climate Impact Planning - A Climate Action Plan for UNLV - Law students, in conjunction with grad students from other departments, will research greenhouse gas emissions by UNLV, identify the policies and practices that generate those emissions, and draft a plan to reduce UNLV's climate impact (and save it money using a template developed by the University of California Santa Barbara, and with the support of consultants from Second Nature, Inc., and the National Association of Environmental Law Societies.
This seminar presents an excellent opportunity for students interested in climate change to explore global, national, regional, state, and local responses to climate change, and to understand how institutions can respond to climate change. It will also offer students an opportunity to develop and hone skills in factual investigation, policy analysis, and strategizing for institutional change -- skills essential to many kinds of law practice.
The Nevada Appellate Court Initiative - Students learn about the initiative to create an intermediate appellate court in Nevada and work with community partners including the Nevada Supreme Court’s Administrative Office of the Courts and organizations or groups that need information about the Nevada Appellate Court Initiative. Students will research the role of intermediate appellate courts in court systems, pros and cons about the proposed new court, and develop materials and presentations that will be part of a public education campaign on this important issue. Students will also develop their awareness of ethical issues and have opportunities to reflect on and practice responsibilities of legal professionals and to increase their awareness of the social and cultural contexts of legal institutions and services and of the value and many opportunities for civic engagement.
Class will meet weekly and students will work in teams to develop a presentation and deliver the presentation to at least three community groups or organizations. Students will also be required to reflect on the service experience and how it contributed to their learning the subject matter of the course, the professional obligations of lawyers and the value of civic engagement.
University of New Hampshire School of Law
The University of New Hampshire School of Law’s academic curriculum offers a broad range of challenging courses laying the foundation for careers in a variety of social justice practice areas—including criminal law, indigent legal services, civil rights and civil liberties, public interest in private practice, intellectual property in the public interest, and international human rights. With guidance from the Social Justice Institute, the Dean’s Office, and Academic Advisors, students interested in social justice careers manage core subjects with elective coursework focused on specific practice areas.
University of New Mexico School of Law
Equal Access to Justice
Criminal Law & Practice
Immigration Practice and Poverty Law Practice
University of North Carolina: University of North Carolina School of Law
Domestic Violence Law - This course has a voluntary practical skills component for Spanish speaking students.
Non Profit Organizations - This course addresses a number of issues involved in the formation, operation, daily management, and taxation of nonprofit organizations. It also examines the historical underpinnings and the political and public policy considerations that have given shape to the so-called "third-sector" with a practical skills component.
University of North Dakota School of Law
University of Oklahoma College of Law
University of Oregon: University of Oregon School of Law
Legislative Issues Workshop - In addition to class sessions, students work for a legislator during Oregon's bi-annual legislative session. Contact Assistant Dean Merv Loya, mloya@law.uoregon.edu or 541/346-3887.
University of Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Law School
Many of the law school faculty teach seminars with a public service component which is often coordinated with the Public Service Program. The following is a partial list of faculty who have taught courses with a pro bono component related to their seminars:
- Professor David Rudovksy, Evidence (student perform legal research in civil rights cases)
- Director of Center for Children's Policy, Practice, and Research (director teaches a seminar in Juvenile and/or Family Law and students work concurrently on legal research for practitioners)
- Professor Jason Johnstone, Environmental Law (students performed research for various environmental agencies)
- Professor Nathaniel Persily, Constitutional Law (students perform research for the Brennan Center)
- Professor Fernando Chang Muy, Immigration Law (students assist with pro bono assistance in immigration matters)
- Professor Harold Reicher, International Human Rights (students perform research for international human rights agencies including the United Nations)
- Professor Seth Kreimer, Constitutional Litigation (students perform research for the American Civil Liberties Union)
- Professor Dina Schlossberg, Small Business Clinic (work for the People's Emergency Center).
University of Pittsburgh: School of Law
Bioethics & Law Clinical Practicum
Criminal Appellate Practicum
Criminal Prosecution Practicum
Environmental & Occupational Health & Safety Summer Institute
Health Law Practicum
Lawyering Process III – student work at Legal Services Provider
Legal Services Practicum
Worker’s Compensation Practicum
University of Puerto Rico School of Law
Seminar: Law and Development – Aula Verde is a project for the development of economic strategies through nature and the environment in the midst of a public housing project with very high criminal incidence. Through this program former convicts are employed in a butterfly farm that serves as a community enterprise and receives visits from school children of adjacent communities. In 2004 Dean Rivera incorporated this project into the Law School curriculum as an applied research project with an accompanying two semester seminar with an initial enrollment of fourteen students.
University of Richmond T. C. Williams School of Law
Nonprofit organizations - The class has group projects which vary but involve community service to nonprofit organizations. The current project is to learn about a local nonprofit and complete a report assessing the effectiveness of the marketing/development effort (telling the organization’s story), the effectiveness of organizational governance, compliance with legal requirements relating to governance and operation, and existence and effectiveness of policies such as conflict of interest and financial controls.
Family Law - This class has a public service option. One component of the student’s participation grade in the class is a modest service learning requirement. Students may either spend 3 hours observing a relevant courtroom proceeding, academic talk or training or they may coordinate with Tara Casey, Director of the Carrico Center for Pro Bono Work to do relevant pro bono work. Students may participate in the Richmond Families Initiative, The Protective Order & Domestic Relations Courtroom Outreach Project, The Street Law Program, Safe Harbor Education Outreach, Protective Order CLE, Court Appointed Special Advocates, FACES of Virginia, Metropolitan Richmond Women’s Bar Association Domestic Relations Handbook or may observe court in the Henrico Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court regarding support, contested custody, domestic protective order, or truancy matters.
Children and the Law - The class has a public service option. One component of the student’s participation grade in the class is a modest service learning requirement. Students may either spend 3 hours observing a relevant courtroom proceeding, academic talk or training or they may coordinate with Tara Casey, Director of the Carrico Center for Pro Bono Work to do relevant pro bono work. Students may participate in the Street Law Program, Court Appointed Special Advocates, FACES of Virginia or may observe court in the Henrico Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court regarding criminal juvenile cases, abuse and neglect, contested custody domestic protective orders, or truancy matters.
University of Saint Thomas: School of Law (MN)
Minnesota Justice Foundation Seminar – The MJF Seminar, subtitled Legal Scholarship for Equal Justice, offers students an opportunity to research and write about issues/policies that members of the public interest bar have identified as being worthy of deeper consideration and evaluation. The course, which is offered jointly by all four Twin Cities schools, offers three students from each school the opportunity to do supervised research that is directly related to helping assure equal access to justice.
University of San Diego School of Law
University of San Francisco School of Law
Information on current class offerings with a public service component can be found on the law school’s website: http://www.law.usfca.edu/academics/jd/electives.html
University of South Carolina: University of South Carolina School of Law
None.
University of South Dakota School of Law
University of Southern California Gould School of Law
Family Violence Seminar - Professor Thomas Lyon offers an additional one to two units for students who provide direct services to victims of domestic violence with one of several local legal services nonprofits.
Housing and Tenant/Landlord Law Seminar – Adjunct Professor Tai Glenn offers an additional one to two units for students who provide direct services to victims of slum housing with one of several local legal services nonprofits.
University of Tennessee College of Law
- Children and the Law
- Community Development
- Community Legal Education
- Not-for-profit Corporations
- Ownership & Justice
- Public Interest Law
University of Texas at Austin School of Law
The Law School offers an ever-changing assortment of courses each semester, a number of which have a public service component although they are not classified as clinics or internships. Students in such courses typically partner with faculty and courts, agencies or non-profit organizations to conduct research, draft reports, and develop policy recommendations.
University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law
In addition to the community service requirement and the two required seven-credit clinics which have a public service component, doctrinal courses such as Tax and Non-Profit Law offer a service component in which enrolled students work with District of Columbia groups on such matters as applications for tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status.
University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law
Many courses at Pacific McGeorge incorporate elements of public service and the application of theory to community assistance. With its emphasis on internationalizing the curriculum, Pacific McGeorge introduces students to the law’s proactive roll in addressing pressing international issues.
University of Toledo: College of Law
There are several doctrinal course offerings that relate to public interest law and public service, including Gender and the Law, Sexual Orientation and the Law, Civil and Political Rights.
However, the College's social justice mission is most evident in the clinical curriculum. Law students are trained in public interest law in the Public Service Externship Program, the College of Law Legal Clinic, the Domestic Violence Clinic, the Criminal Practice Clinic and the Dispute Resolution Clinic.
University of Tulsa: College of Law
Some of the Professional Responsibility classes (a mandatory course for graduation) include a public service component.
Foundations of Legal Studies
Immigrant Rights Project
SEED Project
University of Utah College of Law
Community Justice – Conducting research for groups serving the poor or educating low income individuals.
Teaching Law in High School – Streetlaw course taught to local high schools students
University of Virginia School of Law
University of Washington: University of Washington School of Law
Access to Justice Seminar – This course explores the legal, ethical and financial issues surrounding providing legal services to low-income people. Satisfies the externship perspectives requirement.
Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing – The course has three major components. First, it provides an introduction to sources of law, legal reasoning, interpretative methodologies, and professional responsibility. Second, it teaches the sources and techniques for basic legal research. Third, it develops and hones students’ ability to write about complex legal issues in a variety of settings and for a variety of audiences. In the final academic quarter of this traditional first year research and writing course, students have the option of selecting a capstone project. The capstone choices vary from year to year and have included: Public Interest Practicum: Immigrant Wage Claim Issues; Public Interest Law Practicum: LGBT Youth; Asylum Law Practicum; Civil Rights Policy Practicum; Human Rights Research Practicum; Judicial Clerkship Practicum; and Public Interest Practicum: Tenant Screening. In each practicum the students use their research and writing skills to support services to clients of a local nonprofit organization or to provide assistance on a case pending before a court.
General Externship Perspectives Seminar -- Course provides a framework for evaluating and analyzing externships from an educational and philosophical perspective. The seminar facilitates dialogue among students engaged in different kinds of externships and encourages consideration of the ways rules, policies, and standard business practices affect different organizations, populations, and practitioners.
Immigration Law – This course will concentrate on the statutory and regulatory scheme concerning the immigration and naturalization of aliens in the United States, including the historical origins of U.S. immigration law and current proposals for major reforms of these laws. In one section of this course, the students complete a project in collaboration with the Washington Defender Association’s Immigration Project, a project that seeks to defend and advance the rights of noncitizens within the criminal justice system and noncitizens facing the immigration consequences of crimes.
Juvenile Justice Seminar-- Course examines how the legal system treats juveniles who are accused of crimes. Students in this course are encouraged to volunteer for the Street Youth Legal Advocates Project by either helping to staff clinics for at-risk youth or by supporting the juvenile records sealing project.
Poverty Law – Overview of legal issues affecting poor people, including relevant background readings on poverty and access to justice, and selected problems such as housing and homelessness, education, employment issues of low-wage workers, income support and welfare reform, consumer law, family law and child-care. Open to second- and third-year students.
Property I – Analysis of the legal relationship among persons as to the ownership, transfer, and use of property from both a historical and a contemporary perspective. In one section of this traditional first year law course, the professor has required students to observe the Housing Justice Project (HJP) at King County Superior Court. The HJP provides free legal assistance to low income tenants in landlord/tenant proceedings utilizing pro bono attorneys and volunteer students.
Seminar in Contemporary Muslim Legal Systems -- In the contemporary Muslim world many governments are trying to establish legal systems that ensure economic development and the protection of human rights, while at the same time pledging to ensure that their legislation, judicial decisions and private contracts reflect Islamic norms. In this course, we will examine case studies from one or more countries that have tried to develop effective legal and economic systems while ensuring that their citizens will recognize their legal systems as "Islamic." This course addresses law reform projects and human rights promotion in the Muslim world.
University of Wisconsin: Law School
None.
University of Wyoming School of Law
Valparaiso University: Valparaiso University School of Law
Vanderbilt University Law School
Social Security Law & Practice - Students assist a legal aid attorney with cases. http://law.vanderbilt.edu/academics/curriculum/elective-courses/social-security-law-and-practice/index.aspx
Villanova University: Villanova University School of Law
Children and the Law - This course will begin with an analysis of the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It will then explore the division of power over the child between the state and parents, children's constitutional rights in school, parents' privilege to discipline, child abuse and neglect, the sexual abuse of children, state removal of the child from parental custody, foster care, termination of parental rights, and adoption.
Students apply the doctrine and theory learned in this class in a mandatory service-learning project.
Feminist Legal Theory - This course exposes students to the major paradigms of feminist legal thought and their application to a number of contemporary legal problems. It begins with an analysis of the theoretical constructs of legal feminism: formal, constitutional equality; dominance theory; and difference theory. It then grapples with the critique of these paradigms, including ones based on critical race theory and the intersection of gender, class and sexual orientation. After mastering the theories and critiques, the course will apply both to a variety of issues, including sexuality, reproductive rights, rape, pornography, domestic violence and marriage.
Students apply the doctrines and theory learned in this class in a mandatory service-learning project.
Poverty Law - This course engages students in a general study of the history and current reality of poverty in our society, as well as how the legal system has responded to the poor, both through governmental programs and civil justice systems.
Class topics include the history and current demographics of poverty, the antipoverty policy issues that underlie the body of law in the area of social welfare, access to justice and the evolution of legal services to the poor, the development and application of due process and the quest for equal protection and various substantive topic areas.
Students apply the doctrine and theory learned in this class in a mandatory service-learning project.
Villanova Sentencing Workshop - The Sentencing Workshop brings together students, judges, criminal law practitioners and others to discuss sentencing policy through the lens of pre-screened, actual cases.
The heart of the workshop is student-judge interaction, and discussion of real cases during three intensive weekend sessions. Specifically, the workshop will include three sessions, each beginning on a Thursday evening and ending mid-day on Saturday. The workshop participants will include approximately twelve students, eight trial judges, a prosecutor and a defense attorney, and other professionals. Each of the workshop sessions will revolve around actual cases submitted by the judges. Before each workshop session, the participants will review voluminous information on each case (often including source materials such as police reports and court transcripts), determine an appropriate sentence, and prepare a very brief sentencing memorandum explaining his or her sentencing decision. This sentencing information will be distributed to the other workshop participants in order to facilitate discussion of the cases. Most of the sessions will be devoted to discussing the cases and learning about the factors that go into the sentencing decision.
Wrongful Convictions: Causes and Remedies - This course examines the causes of wrongful convictions. Some of the topics covered include eyewitness identification, false confessions and incompetent lawyering.
Wake Forest University School of Law
Clinical courses only.
Washburn University School of Law
All students in the taxation of individual income course are encouraged to participate in the volunteer income tax assistance program (VITA) run by the tax law society.
Washington and Lee University: School of Law
None
Washington University: Washington University School of Law
Wayne State University Law School
Teaching Law in High School (students teach law in Detroit high schools)
West Virginia University College of Law
Income Tax; Corp Tax – Students provide free income tax assistance to low-income citizens.
Western New England College: School of Law
Western State University College of Law
Whittier Law School: Whittier Law School
Public Interest Lawyering – The School's Public Interest Lawyering course combines traditional academic learning with field service. Students complete their field service at local homeless shelters or juvenile halls.
Street Law Program – The School's Street Law Program requires students to provide legal education to local youths in area high schools, shelters, and service agencies.
Widener University School of Law--Delaware Campus
Willamette University: Willamette University College of Law
The Certificate in Dispute Resolution requires 100 hours of practicum volunteering in some area of dispute resolution. http://www.willamette.edu/wucl/cdr/certificate/index.php
William and Mary School of Law
There are no classes, other than clinics and externships, that have a specific public service component. However, faculty often incorporate public service issues/examples into other classes. A representative list of classes is available at http://law.wm.edu/academics/programs/jd/index.php
William Mitchell College of Law: William Mitchell College of Law
The Center for Negotiation and Justice incorporates a public service component in its work. For example, students in Advanced ADR created a family mediation program for American Indian families to find options that would help the families avoid child protection action from the county.
Elder Law Workshop: Advising the Elderly Client - Students have the opportunity to work with elder law specialists and advocates for the elderly community in the Twin Cities.
Elder Justice and Policy - Combines an external placement in an elder justice organization with a seminar on a variety of elder law issues and topics. Projects typically entail drafting legislation and working towards its passage in the state legislature or at the national level, developing self-help resources for seniors on specific areas of interest, or conducting empirical research on elder justice issues.
Legal Scholarship for Equal Justice –A seminar open to students enrolled in the four Twin Cities law schools, during which students work singly or in small groups to produce research papers that advance equal justice.
Poverty Law – A public service component is offered in conjunction with the Poverty Law class.
Policy Analysis – This introductory course focuses on the skill of problem solving and policy analysis, using the exploration of a current problem such as poverty or gentrification. The students’ work is then made available to interested stakeholders.
Yale University: Yale Law School
Yale provides many opportunities for students to initiate their own independent research and study. Through the student-organized research and legislative drafting seminar, students can submit a proposal for such seminars and, if approved, receive credit. In addition, students may receive credit for independent study with the approval of a faculty sponsor.
The International Law and Development Workshop provides some students with an opportunity to follow up their semester coursework with a variety of real-world legal projects in Northeast Africa.
Yeshiva University: Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
Animal Law
Appellate & Certiorari Practice
Children’s Law
Civil Rights
Advanced Constitutional Law
Advanced Criminal Law
Domestic Violence Law
Election Law; Voting Rights
Environmental Protection; Natural Resources
Ethics in the Public Interest Context
Government; General Public Policy & Legislation
Health Law
Human Rights; Humanitarian Law
Immigration and Asylum Law
International Policy & Development
Low-Income Taxpayer
National Security; Community Safety
Non-Profit Organizations
Prisoners' Rights
Racial Justice/Race Theory
Sexual Orientation and the Law
Worker's Rights; Corporate Responsibility
