Clinic Description

Time Commitment

Investigation

Clinic Benefits

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Faculty Bios

Handled by Georgetown Law LSIC Students This Year

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Informational Video

Each year Law Students in Court (LSIC) students and staff make hundreds of appearances in court.  Students represent their clients in the D.C. Superior Court Civil Division, primarily in the Landlord and Tenant and Small Claims Branches.  Some cases each year are in the Court’s regular Civil Divisions and some that start out in Landlord and Tenant or Small Claims courts require an administrative hearing, usually the D.C. Housing Authority or the D.C. Office of Administrative Hearings.

LSIC works to fight the consequences of poverty, to prevent homelessness and to alleviate inequalities in the justice system.  In a city where safe and sanitary housing for low and moderate income people is scarce and not increasing, clinic students and staff provide a voice for the disadvantaged for both program clients and the many other people helped less formally each year.   LSIC students’ presence at Landlord and Tenant court serves as a vital check in a court where pro se tenants are often taken advantage of by landlords and their experienced attorneys.

As part of the clinic experience, students spend one day each week interviewing, counseling and assisting potential clients in the D.C. Landlord and Tenant Court.  If appropriate for representation, a case is continued for responsive pleadings.  The student schedules a longer, more extensive interview with the potential client and does necessary fact investigation, then meets with a supervisor to decide if the person will become a retained client.  Once a person is accepted as a client, the student is responsible for all aspects of the case: initial pleadings, discovery, motions preparation and argument, and either negotiating a settlement or preparing the case for a bench or jury trial.  Case work is guided and supervised by clinic supervising attorneys at each step in the process. 

The program offers a learning environment which focuses on case preparation, courtroom experience and one-on-one working relationships with experienced instructors. Supervision and instruction emphasize litigation strategy and the skills necessary for effective lawyering. Class work and supervision promote reflection on what a lawyer’s role should and can be.

The D.C. Law Students in Court Program (LSIC) is one of the oldest and most highly regarded clinical programs in the city.  It began as an effort by five District law schools in conjunction with the Bench and the Bar to address the disparity in legal representation and assistance in two of the city’s highest volume courts.  Students selected for the program will work alongside students selected from American, Catholic, George Washington and Howard law schools to represent indigent clients in the District of Columbia. 

LSIC is a two semester program. The fall term begins with a mandatory, week long orientation the week before law school classes begin. The orientation takes place only in the afternoon, so that students can also participate in Early Interview Week. (The interview scheduling program used by the Office of Career Services will automatically schedule all of your interviews for the morning.  See Clinic Enrollment Policy #6.) Classes initially focus on developing skills needed as a student makes his or her first court appearance and takes on clients.

Our students spend one day each week in court.  The student chooses the day, and it is the same day every week.  Most hearings and court appearances will be scheduled for the chosen day of the week.  Students must have one day available free of daytime class and other work obligations, in order to participate. 

As with most clinics, it is impossible to control fully the amount of work each student has in each week.  In most weeks students are able to meet their responsibilities for their clients and for the clinic in about 20 hours.  Some weeks, however, will require additional time to prepare motions, investigate cases, meet with witnesses, prepare for trial, and make court appearances.  Students are expected to devote sufficient time to the clinic to advocate zealously on behalf of their clients.  We estimate that over the course of the semester, excluding orientation, time required for clinic will average out to 20 hours per week.

Students remain primarily responsible for their cases during exam periods and breaks; however, supervisors are available to cover emergency court proceedings that cannot be continued.  Students will be expected to cover their cases at the end of the academic year until they have completed a close-out meeting with a supervising attorney and the staff is satisfied that the student’s files are prepared to be passed on to another student.

Many students work while attending law school and also participate in clinics successfully; however, students should have somewhat flexible work schedules because mandatory court appearances may require adjusting work hours.

Investigation is a requirement of the program.  In order to develop any case, an attorney must learn as much as possible about the facts that brought the case to court or are important to a defense of the case.  In LSIC cases that will usually mean visiting clients’ homes.  Because the clinic operates in an urban environment, investigating carries with it a certain amount of risk.  LSIC students and staff have safely done investigations over the thirty-nine years of LSIC’s history, but no one can make guarantees.  Part of orientation includes a discussion of the do’s and don’ts when doing on-site investigations.  Students are encouraged to investigate in pairs (for safety reasons, so that the other student can testify as a witness at hearings, and to be another set of eyes and ears to pick up information).

Professional Development: You don’t have to intend to be a trial lawyer to benefit from a clinical program.  Once you have handled a case in court or prepared for a trial, your new insight will make you a better lawyer, whether or not there is a courtroom in your future legal career.  Remember, for all but a few trial specialists (a smaller number than you would think), a lawyer’s job is to keep clients out of court.

Accepting the responsibility of representing a client is the best way to understand and synthesize all that you have learned in law school.  In representing real clients with actual court cases you will learn how to develop a lawyer-client relationship, negotiate with opposing counsel, write pleadings and apply legal principles to difficult facts in ways that will be invaluable to you in your future, however far from landlord-tenant law it may be.

   The clinic will give you more court time than most associates will see for years.  Extensive interaction with clients and attorneys and hands on approach to learning litigation.  A must for anyone who is interested in litigation and wants lots of experience.

                                                                                   -Ryan Wright, LSIC 07-08

Civil Practice: Most cases LSIC students handle are landlord and tenant/housing cases.  This area of the law is surprisingly complex and interesting and involves many intricate twists and turns.  Issues involve primarily property and contracts law, but can and do intersect with federal and local administrative law, affordable housing, disability law, receivership law, torts, guardianship and probate, civil rights, family, criminal and bankruptcy law (thankfully, not all in one case).  And, of course, in a court room setting, you will be applying rules of civil procedure and evidence in every hearing or trial.

Representation in Small Claims Court often involves consumer issues.  D.C.’s consumer-friendly consumer protection statutes are underutilized and offer a different venue for students.  In Small Claims Court, students represent plaintiffs  as often as they represent defendants.  Students also represent clients, plaintiffs and defendants, in a limited number of regular Civil Division cases.  Cases in the Civil Division have involved damages for wrongful eviction, malicious prosecution, injunctive relief to force a landlord to restore possession or utilities, and disputes regarding tenants’ rights to purchase a building.                     

D.C. “Rocket Dockets”:  Landlord and tenant and small claims cases are on a litigation fast track compared with regular civil cases.  Students can often begin a case and finish it within two semesters, even when the case is set for a jury trial.  As the student attorney, you will have responsibility for the entire case from initial pleadings, investigation, discovery, motions practice and pretrial preparation, negotiation and either settlement or trial. Opportunities also exist for appellate work.

Court days: On court days, students interview potential clients, generally tenants facing eviction.  Students negotiate with opposing parties, most of whom are represented by attorneys.  Students often appear in a temporary capacity before the judge to ask for relief: a continuance to obtain counsel, to stay an eviction, to quash defective service or process or to dismiss a defective complaint.  Because the vast majority of tenants do not have representation, LSIC students are a critical access point for legal information and assistance for tenants in Landlord and Tenant Court.  By spending even a brief time in either Landlord and Tenant or Small Claims Court, you will see the enormous difference an attorney’s presence makes in our judicial system. 

Office intake:  Approximately two to three times each semester, students are in the office instead of court on their court days.  At the office they will interview potential clients who walk in or call in, some of whom we accept for full representation.   

Español or other languages: Students who speak languages other than English may have opportunities to use these valuable talents, given the large immigrant population in the city.  There is a huge need for Spanish speakers in this community. 

Summer program: We offer a summer clinic for 5 credits as well as a summer/fall clinic for 10 credits.  The summer session is compressed and students beginning in late May must be able and willing to concentrate on clinical responsibilities.  Summer orientation classes are in the evening from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.  Orientation begins May 19th.  Seminars take place Tuesday evenings.  The summer session runs from May 22nd to August 1st this year.  To apply, please use the summer clinic application, available beginning on Monday, April 7 in room 352 and on the web (http://www.law.georgetown.edu/clinics/).

              Mr. B, an elderly and ailing gentleman, rented a room in a house owned by an even older woman for 10 years, faithfully paying rent each month. After the owner died, a relative was named as representative of the estate.  That person decided that she no longer wanted Mr. B living there.   She hired an attorney to represent her and between them, they sent notices to Mr. B that he had to leave because he was no longer a tenant.  Mr. B filed a tenant petition saying that the notices he had gotten did not comply with DC law. 

              A GULC student represented Mr. B at a hearing and got admissions from another relative that he had indeed paid rent, thus making him a tenant under D.C. law.  He prepared responses to the attorney’s “creative” legal arguments in closing and then each side wrote proposed findings of facts, conclusions of law and a proposed order as directed by the Administrative Law Judge.  A decision has been issued in favor of Mr. B. 

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               Ms. H, a tenant in subsidized housing, was sued for eviction 12 times in less than two years.  Each of the suits lacked merit, and all were dismissed, but not usually until after Ms. H. had been to court several times, missing work and incurring additional child care costs.  DCLSIC brought suit on her behalf against her landlord for malicious prosecution.  After the landlord failed to appear, a GULC student represented her in putting on her proof of damages and obtaining a judgment.  The student then proceeded to assist her in enforcement of the judgment.

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              Ms. H., a young woman, battling cancer, with two young children, was sued for eviction.  Shortly after she moved into her apartment, the bathroom ceiling collapsed and the oven stopped working.  While undergoing treatment for cancer, she and her children had limited use of the apartment’s only bathroom and were not able to cook anything in the stove.  After months of asking her landlord to repair these and other problems, she began withholding rent.

              A GULC student began representing her at the beginning of this year as the case was a few months from a jury trial.  Before this student began representing Ms. H., all attempts to settle the case had resulted in an even more contentious relationship between Ms. H. and her landlord.  The student attorney was able to negotiate a settlement very favorable to Ms. H. and spare Ms. H. the stress of a trial.

We will have open houses at GULC on Thursday, March 13th from 3:30 to 5:30 and on Monday, March 17th from 12:00 to 2:30. Both sessions will be outside the chapel on the First Level.  Please stop by to talk with current students, former students and current supervising attorneys with any questions about our program. 

In addition, we require that you meet with one of our clinic staff, either at Landlord and Tenant Court or at our offices in Chinatown.  This will give you an opportunity to see where you will be working and what you will be doing if you join LSIC.  Because we are off-campus and operate somewhat differently than many of the other Georgetown clinics, we think it is helpful for students to see us in action.  Please call (202) 638-4798 to arrange for a meeting time at the office.  Bring a resume with you.

To meet us at court, come to the Landlord and Tenant Court, 510 4th St., N.W., (Building B – entrance near the Police Memorial) at 10:00 a.m. any day from March 13th to March 25th.  No appointment is necessary, but call our office to let us know to expect you and bring a resume with you.  Go to the LSIC room at court (right as you enter the building, down the hallway past the courtroom, then right and through the large room called Room 113.)  Plan to stay about an hour.  We’ll show you around and you can observe students with potential clients or who have court hearings.  If mornings are not good for you, you are welcome to come to our offices in the afternoon, where you can meet with one or more of the supervising attorneys and talk with current students.