DCSIMG

Federal Defender Clinic

When Offered

This is a year-long Clinic.

Goal of Clinic

The Federal Defender Clinic provides students with the opportunities to represent indigent defendants in federal court, draft legal memoranda, argue motions and develop a working knowledge of criminal and sentencing statutes. Enrolled students will attend monthly Petty Offense Calendar before magistrate judges where they will be assigned cases, then hone their skills in client counseling, plea negotiation, case analysis, oral advocacy, litigation and trial techniques.

Structure of Clinic

This year-long Clinic has two components: a two-hour weekly seminar called Federal Pretrial/Trial Seminar and the Federal Defender Clinic. The seminar course will be held on the Pacific McGeorge campus while clinical work will be conducted downtown at the Federal Defender's office and the Gordon D. Schaber Downtown Courthouse. Students will carry their own caseloads, working with partners on trial cases.

Prerequisites for Enrollment

A written application is required for this Clinic. Acrobat PDF Download the application.

To qualify for the Federal Defender Clinic students must enroll in both the Clinic and Seminar, must have completed Criminal Law and Evidence and have either completed or be concurrently enrolled in Trial Advocacy and Criminal Procedure.

Acrobat PDF Download the Clinic general information sheet.

Instructors

The Seminar is co taught by current Federal Defender Rachelle Barbour and former Federal Defender John Balazs with the assistance of Professor Cary Bricker. Both Professor Barbour and Balazs have tried numerous federal cases to verdict and have argued cases before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Before joining the faculty at Pacific McGeorge, Professor Bricker was a federal defender in Manhattan for 12 years. The Clinic will be supervised primarily by Linda Harter, the first assistant in the Eastern District Federal Defender Office, with assistance from Professors Barbour and Balazs. For more information, contact Professor Cary Bricker.

Unit Credit and Limit on Enrollment

The Federal Defender Pretrial/Trial Seminar is a two-semester, four-unit (two units per semester) graded course.

The Federal Defender Clinic is a two-semester, six-unit (three units per semester) graded course.

Enrollment in the Federal Defender Clinic/Seminar is limited to eight students.

Why This Clinic is Valuable

Indigent client representation is extremely rewarding. By the end of the year you will be a skilled practitioner with plenty of litigation experience under your belt. You will have the benefit of learning from very experienced federal public defenders, will argue against skilled federal prosecutors and appear before federal judges.