Clinics at your school Forum

[lt0826]

I know law review process is generally very competitive. What is the process for getting into clinics at your school and how competitive is it to get into the clinic you want? Some clinics that stand out to me are the Guantanamo clinic at Duke, National Security Clinic at UT, and the International Women's Human Rights Clinic at Georgetown.

If you can tell me what school you are attending and your experience with clinics it would be helpful. Anything specific about the clinics above would be super nice.

[tallboone]

This is a great idea. It would be nice to get students at all the top schools to post info about their clinical programs, especially stuff you can't learn from the web sites.

[nycparalegal]

bump

Anyone involved in a clinic and want to share their story?

[tallboone]

any takers?

[tintin]

i'm interested. someone chime in plz?

[Jordan77]

I am currently in a Civil Clinic at a T2 school. There is a seminar component that goes through the various stages of litigation through simulations from Client Interviewing to seemingly conducting a trial. We also staff various sorts of cases for people who cannot afford representation (i.e., landlord tenant law, employment discrimination, equity skimming on houses, unemployment compensation, etc.). Once the clinic votes to take on a client, one or two of us students are put on the case under a faculty supervisor. The responsibilities on any given case vary quite a bit. You might pick up the case at the appellate level, hearing stage, fact investigation, discovery, etc. The goal of the clinic is to allow each of us to at least conduct a mini-trial in an unemployment compensation appeal.

Another interesting aspect of the Civil Clinic, completely unrelated to civil suits, is that some of us have been given the opportunity to work on policy/legislative projects with groups in Washington D.C.

Overall, I would say the clinic is an awesome experience and lets you see the more practical side to practicing law enabling you to bridge the gap between law school and practice much easier. The clinic I am in only has generally up to 10 slots, with 3Ls and those who have not done a clinic before getting preference. We had to list our GPA, however, not sure how much that plays a role in the selection process. The clinic I am in is 6 credits and requires a significant amount of work; therefore, time management is really essential if partaking in a clinic.

Other clinics offered at my school: public defender, mediation, post-conviction, technology venture services, indian legal clinic, patent law clinic, criminal practice.

[lt0826]

Thank you Jordan77 - I appreciate the response. Hope we get more.

Do a lot of people get turned down for the clinics they want?

And technology venture services sounds unique and interesting for a clinic - I like how some schools have some interesting niche clinics not offered elsewhere.

[Jordan77]

No problem... this post might get more responses if it was moved to the "Forum for Law Students"