Dear 2L's and 3L's: What are Law Clinics? Forum

[SOCRATiC]

Exactly how do law clinics work?

1. Are they structured like an ordinary course?
2. Are there lectures?
3. What is the professor's role in running a legal clinic (perhaps coordinating the pro bono work)?
4. How do you get into clinics?

Thanks a million:D

[MrKappus]

General Answer: I can only speak for where I'm a 1L, but at my school clinics are run out of a variety of "centers" that focus on different types of law (e.g., criminal appeals, inmate advocacy, econ justice, race studies, et al.). They provide you w/ a ton of hands-on experience working w/ actual clients, and work decidedly differently from a law school course.

(1) They require anywhere from 5-40 hrs/wk (depending on how many credits, and whether they're during the summer), there's no exam, and 90% of your contact is w/ clients, not profs.
(2) No lectures. You have an orientation period w/ the staff attys at the center you're working for. They supervise your work throughout the term.
(3) Profs serve an advisory role in some clinics, but in most you work w/ the staff attys that run the clinic.
(4) A decently rigorous app cycle that begins in 1L fall, and then recurs each term (i.e., clinics are available starting 1L summer through your 3L year).

Hope this helps.

[Lonagan]

How are clinics graded?

[MrKappus]

"Satisfactory." Haha or not, I guess, if you mail it in and don't do the assigned work.

[SOCRATiC]

Thank you, MrKappus.

I really like where we're going here; I think a lot of non-0L's could offer a lot of insight about this matter.

So when it comes to the "Centers" that are listed by schools in the ABA book on law schools: Are these actually "clinics"? Or are some of them simply academic centers whereas others are clinics?

What exactly does a clinical professor do then? Do they even deserve the title "professor"? I'm also curious about this, since I'm very interested in a law teaching career in the future.

[SOCRATiC]

*prime time bump*