Pacific McGeorge Legal Clinics
Our commitment to experiential learning opportunities for students is woven into our culture. In addition to training tomorrow's legal advocates, our pioneering legal clinics deliver quality pro bono representation to underserved community members. Our students routinely earn impressive victories on behalf of their clients.
Our clinic students are enriched both academically and personally by helping community members navigate a variety of legal challenges. Students learn to apply legal theory to practice, develop professional lawyering skills, and perhaps most importantly, become reflective practitioners and lifelong learners.
Our on-campus clinics (Immigration Law, Elder and HealthLaw, and Bankruptcy) place law students in the role of an attorney in a law office setting serving low-income clients. Students take major responsibility for real cases under careful faculty supervision, deal with the particular issues in the pending cases, and then use those real-life experiences to discuss in an academic setting the issues that lawyers face in their legal careers.
We have also established four innovative hybrid clinics, each with an important community partner where students do muchof their work off-campus. We have one of only two Federal Defender Clinics in the country where our students handle bench and jury trials in federal court, a Criminal Appellate Advocacy Clinic where our students draft appellate briefs in criminal cases, and two mediation clinics: the Prisoner Civil Rights and the Housing Mediation Clinics.
Message From The Dean
"Legal Clinics have been a hallmark of Pacific McGeorge for over 40 years. We have a broad array of clinical programs to meet our students' learning needs and serve our community's legal needs. Clinical experience is one of the ways that our school shows its commitment to public service and real-world work experiences for our students. We teach what can best be learned through experience: creative problem solving and skilled advocating for clients.
Our faculty, who provide supervision and mentoring to clinic students, are experienced practitioners and talented teachers. Through their leadership, scholarship, and commitment to the community, our students have access to rich experiential learning opportunities as they prepare to be self-sufficient legal practitioners." — Francis J. Mootz III, Dean and Professor of Law
Legal Clinic Offerings
For the 2012-2013 academic year, Pacific McGeorge offers eight specialized legal clinics:
- Administrative Adjudication Clinic — offered in the Spring
- Bankruptcy Clinic — offered in both Fall & Spring
- Criminal Appellate Advocacy Clinic — offered in the Spring
- Elder and Health Law Clinic — offered in both Fall & Spring
- Federal Defender Clinic — a year-long clinic
- Housing Mediation Clinic — offered in both Fall & Spring
- Immigration Law Clinic — offered in both Fall & Spring
- Prisoner Civil Rights Mediation Clinic — a year-long clinic
ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) Prerequisite for Prospective Mediation Clinic Students
Fulfilling the ADR Prerequisite — The ADR Prerequisite for either Mediation Clinics can be satisfied by successful completion of our course in Mediation, or Negotiations & Settlements, or Alternative Dispute Resolution, or a non-credit basic 40-hour mediation course with the approval of the faculty. These ADR courses fill up quickly during the Fall and Spring semesters. 2D/2E/3E students are generally not able to get into them, so careful planning is required. You need to complete the ADR Prerequisite during 2D, 2E or 3E year or during summer school (two ADR courses are offered this summer).
A limited number of spaces in ABR classes in Fall and Spring semesters are reserved each year for 2D, 2E and 3E students who want to participate in one of the mediation clinics. To be considered for one of those spaces, you must complete the Form for Reserved ADR Slots below by May 31, 2013.
Forms
Questions?
Contact Melissa Brown, Director, Legal Clinics
Email
