1. What is clinical education?
Clinical education is a teaching method that combines theoretical concepts and actual legal practice. Its purpose is to help students learn from their own experience and from their reflection on that experience. In a clinical course, students are given the opportunity to exercise professional judgment while representing actual clients. In most clinics, students are responsible for all aspects of the client’s representation. The students’ experiences then become the subject of critical review and reflection. This review teaches students how to better evaluate their own legal work as well as the legal work performed by others.
2. Will being in a clinic help me learn how to be a lawyer?
Absolutely. Teaching students how to be skilled, responsible members of the profession is a central goal of clinical education. Students in clinics learn how to be lawyers by engaging in the practice of law in a controlled educational environment that promotes self-reflection on each lawyering task. Those students who have participated in a clinic generally consider their clinic experience to be essential to their preparation for the practice of law.
3. What clinics are offered at Georgetown?
Twelve clinics will offer 19 clinical courses in the 2008-2009 academic year: Appellate Litigation; Criminal Justice; Center for Applied Legal Studies; Domestic Violence; Federal Legislation; Harrison Institute Housing and Community Development; Harrison Institute Policy; Institute for Public Representation; International Women’s Human Rights; Juvenile Justice; Law Students in Court; and Street Law High Schools. Students in Street Law do not represent actual clients; nonetheless, Street Law has traditionally been included as part of Georgetown’s clinical curriculum.
4. How many semesters is a student in a clinic?
Some clinical courses are conducted in one semester. In others, students are enrolled for both the fall and spring semesters. Two clinics usually offer summer courses as well.
5. What subject matter is covered in the clinics?
The subject matter varies from clinic to clinic, and includes areas such as criminal law; juvenile delinquency; domestic violence; environmental protection; policy law in the areas of trade and community health; political asylum; civil rights; public benefits; community development; landlord/tenant; human rights; and communications law. The curriculum includes clinics that engage in trial, administrative, appellate, and legislative advocacy, as well as business and transactional practice and policy analysis.
6. Should I take a clinic even if I plan on practicing corporate law?
You should explore the possibility of taking a clinic irrespective of the type of law you intend to practice. No matter what its subject matter, each clinic teaches the essentials of planning, problem solving, strategic thinking, ethics, client relations, and the other skills associated with the practice of law.
7. Whom do the clinics represent?
Georgetown’s clinics promote an ethic of public service. The clients of most clinics are individuals and organizations who would not otherwise be able to obtain legal representation.
8. How are the clinics funded?
Most clinics are funded with tuition revenues. Some clinics supplement their funding with grants or contracts with community groups.
9. Do students work with real clients?
Students work with actual clients (either individuals or organizations) in all clinics except the Street Law program.
10. What do students do?
Students engage in all of the tasks normally associated with the cases and other matters in which the clinic provides representation. In many clinics, the students bear primary responsibility for investigation, interviewing, client counseling, planning, negotiation, strategic analysis, research, writing, and oral advocacy.
11. Are clients’ interests compromised by student representation?
No. Students are supervised by highly skilled lawyers and teachers, and caseloads are light enough to allow thorough preparation.
12. Do students get to go to court?
Some, but not all, clinics are designed to represent clients before a court. Students in some clinics appear before administrative tribunals. Others participate in the legislative process and some engage in transactional or policy law.
13. What is the faculty/student ratio?
The faculty/student ratio varies between 1 to 4 and 1 to 7.
14. Who teaches clinical courses?
Most clinical faculty are tenured or tenure eligible. Adjunct faculty also teach in some clinics. The faculty are assisted by graduate teaching fellows. In addition to teaching their clinic seminars and administering their respective clinics, the faculty supervise all aspects of their students’ work, either directly or in conjunction with a teaching fellow or adjunct professor.
15. Who are the graduate teaching fellows and what do they do?
The teaching fellows are participants in a unique graduate fellowship program. This program offers attorneys the opportunity to earn a Master of Laws in Advocacy while specializing in a particular practice area, and gaining expertise as public interest lawyers and clinical teachers. The fellows assist the faculty in supervising J.D. students enrolled in the clinics, teaching the clinic seminars, and revising course materials. They may also work on their own clinic-related cases or projects. Fellows are generally assigned to every clinic except Law Students in Court, and are in residence for two years.
16. Who may enroll in a clinic?
Six clinical courses (Center for Applied Legal Studies, Federal Legislation and Administrative, Harrison Institute Policy, Harrison Institute Housing and Community Development, Institute for Public Representation, and International Women’s Human Rights) are open to students (full-time and part-time) who will have completed a minimum of 28 credits before the beginning of the semester in which the students are enrolled in a clinic. Street Law will also accept part-time students who have completed the required 22 credits of their first year. Four clinical courses (Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, Juvenile Justice, and Law Students in Court) are only open to students who will have completed 41 credits by the time clinic classes begin and who otherwise fulfill the requirements of the D.C. student practice rule (see FAQs # 20 & 21 below). The Appellate Litigation Clinic is only open to third year full-time students, and part-time students who will have completed the equivalent of four full-time semesters by the end of their fall semester in the clinic. Course prerequisites and other eligibility requirements apply to some courses. For further details on these requirements, see the Guide to Clinic Courses and FAQ #20 below. Part-time students: see FAQ # 26. LL.M. students are not permitted to take a clinic.
17. How are students selected for a clinic?
Each clinic has its own method of selection. Most clinics choose students through a competitive selection process, but several clinics use a lottery system. Clinics that use competitive selection base their choices on prior experience, writing samples, statements of interest and other criteria. Most clinics also give preference to those students who are entering their final year of law school. For further details, review the clinic-specific materials.
18. Do all applicants get into a clinic?
Unfortunately, no. About 500 students usually apply for one of the approximately 300 clinical seats available each year. Many of the applicants who do not receive a clinic slot are first year students, and will therefore have another opportunity to apply the following year. If past application statistics are predictive, at least 70 students who are entering their final year of law school will not obtain a clinic seat in any of their choices.
19. Can a student take more than one clinic while in law school?
It is theoretically possible for a student to take more than one live-client clinic over the course of his or her law school career. Limited clinical resources, however, make this highly unlikely. Preference is given to those students who have not previously taken any clinical course other than Street Law. If a live-client clinic is under-subscribed and all other students wishing to take that clinic have been satisfied, a student who has taken a prior live-client clinic will be permitted to enroll.
20. Are there prerequisites to enrollment?
In clinics that practice before the courts and other tribunals of D.C., students must meet the requirements of the D.C. student practice rule. This rule requires the completion of 41 credit hours before the beginning of the semester in which the students are enrolled in a clinic, including courses in Civil Procedure, Criminal Justice and Evidence. Both the A & B curricula at Georgetown satisfy the Civil Procedure and Criminal Justice course requirements. Students in some clinics that practice in federal court must have completed the equivalent of four full-time semesters before they begin their clinic work. Students in the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic must take International and Comparative Law on the Rights of Women, either concurrently with or prior to taking the clinic and students in the Federal Legislation and Administrative Clinic must take Lawmaking, Legislation or Government Processes prior to taking the clinic.
21. What do I need to know about student practice rules?
Aside from course and credit requirements (see FAQ #20 above), students in clinics that practice in the courts and tribunals of D.C. must be certified by the Dean as being of good character and must obtain a character clearance from the Committee on Admissions in D.C., the entity that issues student bar cards. Obtaining the character clearance entails answering certain questions regarding prior violations of the law (including some traffic violations), financial responsibility, and other prior conduct (see Clinic Enrollment Policies #4). Dean Cantalupo will answer specific questions about how students’ past histories will affect their ability to participate in one of the clinics. Students with cases pending before the Georgetown Professional Responsibility Committee will not be cleared by the D.C. Committee on Admissions until the matter is resolved. While the case is pending, a student will not be permitted to enroll in a clinic. Most federal courts also require a Dean’s certification of a student’s good character. A prior adverse disciplinary determination in college or law school could prevent a student from being certified.
22. May I do an externship for credit, or take a trial practice or other skills training course, and also enroll in a clinic?
A student may only enroll in Civil Litigation Practice, Patent Trial Practice, Trial Practice and Applied Evidence, Trial Practice: Working with Expert Witnesses, Trial Practice: Criminal Law and Advocacy, Trial Advocacy and Practice, or any section of Trial Practice, during a spring semester prior to enrolling in the Center for Applied Legal Studies, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, Juvenile Justice, or Law Students in Court clinics. Students may not take Civil Litigation Practice, Patent Trial Practice, Trial Practice and Applied Evidence, Trial Practice: Working with Expert Witnesses, Trial Practice: Criminal Law and Advocacy, Trial Advocacy and Practice, or any section of Trial Practice during the same or a subsequent semester in which they enroll in the Center for Applied Legal Studies, Criminal Justice, Domestic Violence, Juvenile Justice, or Law Students in Court. If a student has taken or is currently enrolled in the Appellate Practice Seminar, Appellate Litigation Seminar, or Appellate Courts and Advocacy Seminar, that student cannot also enroll for credit in the Appellate Litigation Clinic (or vice versa).
Due to competing time demands, students are not permitted to enroll in Georgetown’s two-credit externship program or an experiential learning course during the same semester in which they are enrolled in any clinic besides Street Law. Taking any clinic, enrolling in an experiential learning course and participating in the two-credit externship program during different semesters is permitted. Students who take Street Law and do an externship or an experiential learning course in the same semester are expected to prioritize their obligations to the clinic first and to manage their time in accordance with these priorities.
23. On average how many hours per week do students work in their clinic?
Most of our clinics require a substantial time commitment in order to ensure that students receive the best educational experience and that clients receive quality legal representation. The average weekly time commitment varies from clinic to clinic and is related to the number of credit hours allocated to the course. Time commitments over the course of a semester range from an average of 15 to 35 hours per week, depending on the clinic. Due to the nature of the work in some clinics, students in those clinics should expect to work more than the weekly average in some weeks, and less in others. An explanation of the expected time commitment is provided in each clinic’s entry in this packet. In addition to reviewing this information, we strongly recommend that applicants ask currently or previously enrolled clinic students to what extent their clinic participation has impacted their ability to engage in extracurricular activities or part-time employment.
24. How long am I responsible for my cases or other clinic assignments?
Each clinic determines the duration of a student’s responsibility for the course. Many clinics expect students to work on their cases through the exam period. Please see each clinic’s entry for further information.
25. How are students graded?
Clinics use the same A - F grading scale that is used in other courses at Georgetown. Clinics also generally grade in accordance with an historical curve (an historical average of all clinic grades). Final examinations are not given. Rather, student evaluations are based on performance of the lawyering tasks associated with the representation of a client and on a student’s ability to learn from those experiences. The faculty of each clinic determines the specific criteria upon which students are evaluated. While the faculty is ultimately responsible for determining students’ grades, fellows participate in the grading process.
26. What should part-time students know about taking a clinic?
Part-time students are welcome to apply for a clinic as long as they are not rendered ineligible for a particular clinic because they are employed by the Federal or District of Columbia governments and they do not have job responsibilities during the day that preclude the time commitment demanded by clinics and ethical client service. Part-time students should carefully review the eligibility guidelines in order to ensure that they will have completed enough credits to enroll. Assuming they meet all other eligibility and course prerequisites, fourth year part-time students may enroll in any clinic. Street Law will also accept part-time students who have completed the required 22 credits of the first year part-time curriculum. In addition, some clinics will accept part-time students who will have completed a minimum of 28 credits before the beginning of the semester in which they are enrolled in a clinic (see FAQ #16). With the exception of Street Law, the 28 credit minimum also applies to first year part-time students who have transferred to the full-time division for their second year. Part-time students may not defer taking their required second year courses (Criminal Justice and the perspective elective) in order to participate in a clinic (see Clinic Enrollment Policies, #9). Summer school clinics give preference to part-time students, assuming they meet other admission criteria.
27. If I do not get accepted to a clinic during the regular registration period for the 2008-09 academic year, is there any other way to enroll in a clinic for the 2008-09 academic year?
While the chances to be admitted to a clinic following the regular registration period for that same academic year are small, students do occasionally get admitted off the waitlist if a student already enrolled in the clinic withdraws. In addition, on the equally rare chance that the regular registration period has not filled all of a clinic's available seats, Dean Cantalupo may announce an additional application period via broadcast email and in What's Happening. Any such announcement will specify any particular rules, timelines, eligibility criteria, etc. applicable to the additional application period.
28. How does the waitlist process work?
All students who were not admitted to another clinic and listed a clinic as any number choice are automatically listed on that clinic’s waitlist, in the order that they ranked the clinic. When a clinic experiences a withdrawal or other unexpected vacancy, it will select a student from the students still available in the clinic’s “first choice pool.” If no students are available or accept an offer to fill the vacancy from the first choice pool, the clinic will consider students in its second choice, third choice, etc., pools until it fills the vacancy, similar to the manner in which clinics decide which pools of students to consider during the regular application and selection process (see selecting a clinic page for more information on how the clinic ranking process works).
29. Is there anything I should know or should do if I suspect I have a disability that may affect my experience in a clinic?
Because of the nature of clinic work, students with disabilities may encounter a need for accommodations in clinics that may be different from those previously established as appropriate for other courses. The kind of accommodations will depend on the particular clinic’s area of practice and vary clinic to clinic. Therefore, students registered with the Law Center’s Office of Disability Services or who suspect that they may have a disability that could affect their experience in a clinic should consult Dean Cantalupo and/or Marianne Huger, the Law Center’s Disabilities Services Coordinator. We advise that students consult Dean Cantalupo and/or Ms. Huger as soon as possible, ideally before applying to clinics, so they can factor the relevant considerations regarding accommodations into their clinic selection process.
