Students at the Homer A. Jones, Jr. Wills Clinic represent economically disadvantaged clients in fiduciary and probate matters. Students at the Testamentary Clinic interview clients, determine their legal needs, and draft and sign relevant documents, including wills, living wills and trusts. Students can also deal with certification issues. The clinic was established with a grant from the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) Foundation. Ongoing support comes from a foundation that began with a generous gift from Homer A. Jones, Jr., an ACTEC Fellow who practiced in Bristol, Tennessee. Students at the mini-radiation clinic help people clear charges from their juvenile or adult criminal records.
Students gain valuable experience working within a legal framework, identifying charges and convictions that can be cleared, and providing meaningful service to those in need of legal assistance. Many of our students find clinical experience to be the most valuable, rewarding and challenging part of law school. Environmental Justice Clinic The Environmental Justice Clinic works with low-income communities and communities of color to challenge the unequal distribution of environmental pressures and benefits and ensure meaningful participation in environmental decisions. Students enrolled in the clinic use a range of tools and an interdisciplinary approach to advance environmental justice. Students at the clinic provide legal services directly or work closely with faculty members on complex cases. They represent clients in the preparation, negotiation and call for litigation files or in legal transactions and projects. Each clinic has a teaching component and a case treatment component. The students` work is closely supervised by the clinical faculty. All clinics are assessed on a pass/fail basis, and there is no thesis or exam. Students at the Family Mediation Clinic focus on the mediation process, theory, strategy, tactics, and skills in mediating family law disputes.
Students study and develop mediation skills through readings and simulations and by serving as mediators in Knox County Juvenile Court and other institutions. Participation in the clinic meets the training requirements of Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 31 for certification as a family law mediator. For over 70 years, we have been home to the oldest legal clinic program in the country. Since 1971, the Utah Legal Clinic has provided high-quality, affordable legal services and civil rights advocacy. Our team of knowledgeable and experienced lawyers resembles traditional law firms, but without the associated costs. The Advocacy Clinic is the oldest legal clinic in the United States and remains one of the most successful programs of its kind. We are a national leader in clinical education, ranking fifth in the United States. News and World Report`s Top Legal Clinical Programs among public universities and 19th among all U.S. law schools. In a clinical course at the College of Law Legal Clinic, students find opportunities to build an experiential bridge between law school and practice by representing real clients facing real legal issues.
Creative Advocacy Lab The Creative Advocacy Lab explores forms of legal representation that go beyond traditional client representation and introduces lawyers as community educators, problem solvers and storytellers. In collaboration with community partners, students will use creative tools such as design thinking, storytelling, plain language writing, and visual communication to make legal information accessible to those who need it. Students at the clinic coordinate their efforts with UT graduate students in ecology, environmental design, wildlife ecology and other disciplines. Coordination enables integrated environmental decision-making and problem-solving, giving students the opportunity to improve their ability to understand, communicate, and influence other disciplines. The clinic is offered as a three-semester course, which is offered in the fall and spring semesters. As part of the College`s Business Clinic, Trademarks Clinic students provide trademark services to independent inventors and small businesses on a pro bono basis. Students represent clients before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office of the U.S. Department of Commerce under the direction of an experienced faculty trademark supervisor.
Clinical courses are valuable to all students, whether they are interested in litigation or transactional practice. The intensive nature of clinical work helps develop analytical and advocacy skills, providing practical practice in fact-finding, research and writing, litigation, problem solving, client relations and professional liability. Students gain valuable work experience through regular interaction with clients, lawyers, judges, and other professionals. Many students also have the rewarding opportunity to support clients and communities in need. Students work as practitioners in a public interest law firm, immersing themselves in all facets of their case and project work, working closely with clinical faculty to ensure appropriate and comprehensive representation. The program gives students time to examine and reflect on criticism as they evaluate their own work and that of their classmates. Texas Law offers numerous clinical training opportunities with fifteen clinics covering a range of legal issues and numerous internships in nonprofits, government agencies, national and international courts, and the legislature. These exciting and challenging courses allow students to gain meaningful real-world experience while staying in school. The low student-faculty ratio and small size of the clinics ensure that students work closely with experienced faculty and their classmates. Students often describe work on clinical cases and projects as highlights of their time at Texas Law. The advocacy clinic operates as a law firm, with the entire “firm” meeting weekly with clinic faculty and guest speakers to discuss cases, tactics, applicable law, and strategy. Innovation for Justice (i4J) hosted at the University of Arizona James E.
Rogers College of Law and the Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah, Innovation for Justice (i4J) apply design and systems thinking methodologies to uncover inequities in the justice system and develop new, replicable and scalable strategies for legal empowerment. Courses include Innovative Legal Services, UX4 Justice, and Leadership in Legal Innovation. The clinic deals with transactional legal issues for non-profits, artists, and non-scalable businesses such as sole proprietorships. Students deepen their legal knowledge, strengthen their legal skills and broaden their professional experience through our legal clinics. Our clinical faculty guides, mentors and challenges students while helping them develop expertise in clinical science. In this clinic, students represent their own clients in various types of litigation in criminal law, housing law and juvenile law. Under the Tennessee Student Rule of Practice, students who have completed their fourth semester of law school are allowed to represent clients under the supervision of faculty members. Client representation requires students to perform the full range of legal tasks, starting with client interviews and factual investigations, case development, negotiations, and often court hearings or proceedings. Thus, students develop a wide range of legal skills, including: Working with the Knox County Community Mediation Center, students at the clinic mediate cases with experienced volunteers. Many of these cases, filed in Knox County General Session Court, involve landlord-tenant disputes, services and property damage. By providing mediation services to low-income groups and other legally underserved groups, the mediation clinic provides a valuable community service.
Students at the clinic learn through live work, intensive seminars, and regular meetings with faculty supervisors. Each student in the clinic gains valuable skills, knowledge, and mental habits that prepare them for successful practice. You will also gain in-depth insight into the strategic, ethical and relational dimensions of advocacy. Developing professional skills is integral to your success as a lawyer. At Toledo Law, you must take 6 credit hours of experiential courses.