Clinic Course for Students Enrolling in the 2025-26 Academic Year

Beginning in the Fall Semester of 2025, sixteen students will join the Appellate Litigation Clinic. This group of students will brief and argue cases before federal courts of appeals and may work on petitions for certiorari or amicus briefs before the Supreme Court of the United States. Students will work under the supervision of Professor Erica Hashimoto and two highly qualified supervising attorneys.

Briefing and arguing appeals requires intensive training in all aspects of appellate practice, including procedure, research, issue formulation, and writing. The training emphasizes improving analytical skills and clarity in both writing and oral advocacy. In general, each student, in conjunction with one of the clinic attorneys, will produce two major documents for filing (e.g., briefs or petitions for writs of certiorari). A small number of clinic students will appear before appellate courts for oral arguments, and all students will receive training in oral advocacy during the year. Whenever possible, students interact directly with clients through phone calls, letters, and visits.

The caseload of the clinic is generally composed of civil rights, immigration, habeas corpus, and a variety of other civil cases. A Lexis or Westlaw database search will yield a representative sample of the types of cases that we undertake. Although the breakdown varies from year to year, these cases, regardless of type, often raise important constitutional and statutory questions.

Our Commitment

Professor Hashimoto is an experienced appellate lawyer who has spent over fifteen years training law students to file high-quality briefs in federal courts of appeals and argue cases before those courts. The two supervising attorneys are lawyers selected on the basis of outstanding academic records, excellent writing skills, clerkship experience, and prior appellate litigation experience. They work closely with students in developing their written and oral advocacy skills.

The staff is committed to teaching the finest appellate advocacy. Students learn to analyze a set of facts, develop legal issues, and produce superb written briefs under the supervision of experienced lawyers. Supervision is typically in a 2- or 3-to-1 student/attorney ratio.

Your Commitment

A fourteen-credit, year-long clinical program is a significant commitment. It offers students more than just exposure to a branch of law; it is an opportunity to be a lawyer and to work in a partnership under the guidance of experienced lawyers. Students joining the clinic will be required to put in substantial work, including writing and editing briefs, preparing for oral arguments, and attending the two-hour weekly seminar. Evening division students who can: (1) attend the scheduled Wednesday afternoon seminar; (2) attend at least one Supreme Court Institute moot court; and (3) have sufficient work flexibility to take leave time as needed, particularly the week before a major filing deadline, are encouraged to apply.

Under the supervision of one or more of the attorneys, you will work in a team or alone on at least two written projects during the year. You will receive significant feedback initially from the supervising attorneys and then from other clinic members and readers with expertise in the area. Your goal will be to produce written and oral products that meet the highest professional standards.

The weekly seminar emphasizes student participation and covers a broad spectrum of issues confronting appellate litigators, such as brief writing, oral argument, appellate jurisdiction and procedure, standards of review, and the meaning of professional responsibility in the appellate context.

Students are also expected to attend at least one Supreme Court Institute moot court during the year. These moots provide an excellent opportunity to watch lawyers prepare for oral argument and then see how well the lawyers were able to anticipate the questions posed at the actual argument. Students meet with one of the supervising attorneys after observing both the moot court and the argument to discuss the experience.

Case assignments generally are completed by the end of classes in April, although some work during exams may be necessary. In that event, steps are taken to ensure that students have adequate time to complete these assignments and prepare for their exams. Work on cases may be necessary during holidays or breaks.

Overall, you can anticipate a time commitment of roughly 25 hours per week. That number indicates how the total number of hours worked would average out at the end of the school year. The time actually devoted to the clinic will be concentrated around the time of writing assignments and oral arguments. The most time-consuming parts of the year will be when you are drafting briefs and preparing for oral argument (if your case is scheduled before the end of the school year). During those times, substantially more than 25 hours per week should be expected. Fewer than 25 hours is the norm when you are not actively briefing a case. It is relatively easy to plan around these assignments because you will know about them well in advance.

The clinic conducts a two-day orientation session before classes begin in the fall.