Learning. Georgetown Law

Transcription

1 Experiential Learning at Georgetown Law Georgetown Law

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3 2 Experiential Learning 6 Externships 16 Practicum Courses 30 Clinics 32 Appellate Litigation Clinic 33 Center for Applied Legal Studies 34 The Community Justice Project 35 Criminal Defense & Prisoner Advocacy Clinic 39 Criminal Justice Clinic 40 Domestic Violence Clinic 41 Federal Legislation & Administrative Clinic 42 Harrison Institute for Housing & Community Development 46 Institute for Public Representation: Communications, Environmental & Civil Rights 47 International Women s Human Rights Clinic 50 Juvenile Justice Clinic 51 Law Students in Court 52 Social Enterprise & Nonprofit Law Clinic 55 Street Law Clinic 56 Clinical Teaching Fellowships 43 Harrison Institute for Public Law 58 Clinical Faculty

4 EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING 2

5 The best way for students to learn what it means to be a lawyer is to do what lawyers do. And Georgetown Law is uniquely situated to provide experiential opportunities for our students. Our faculty is deeply engaged with the major issues of the day. Our Institutes provide a bridge between the legal academy and practicing professionals. Our location just steps from the U.S. Capitol, Supreme Court, and numerous other governmental and non-governmental agencies allow our students unparalleled access to those places where the law is made and enforced. Here at Georgetown Law, we offer three different types of experiential learning courses, all of which are designed to help students apply the theories and skills that they have learned in the classroom to a real lawyering context. In externships, students work at external placements such as government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and courts and, under the direction of attorney supervisors, engage in work commensurate with that of a first-year lawyer. Students also attend individual class sessions that are directly relevant to their work. In practicum courses, students work on projects or cases on behalf of a supervising attorney, while studying law in action in an associated seminar. In clinics, students work as lead attorneys; they learn to practice law by representing real clients facing real problems and, with extensive support and guidance, are responsible for all facets of their case or project. Students in all of these experiential courses take initiative, make decisions, and are accountable for the results. They reflect on, and learn from, their experiences. They develop an appreciation for the character of the legal profession, and their place in it. Simply put, experiential courses allow students to experience the law in three dimensions to move outside the classroom and engage in the world. In the pages that follow, you will read about our rich and varied experiential offerings. These courses cover both civil and criminal issues. They include litigation as well as transactional, legislative, and policy matters. They give students the opportunity to practice in local, national, and international contexts. This commitment to providing students with rich opportunities to act as lawyers has made Georgetown Law a national leader in experiential education. 3

6 sharmi Das, J.D., 2014 While books, outlines, exams, and briefs are critically important to academic success, my externship experiences have ensured that I never forget why I came to law school: to become an excellent advocate But in order to be truly excellent, you need those extra somethings that come with practical, hands-on experience in a real-world work environment [those] experiences have enhanced my academic journey at Georgetown in a truly unique way. While Georgetown s incomparable academic experience is indispensable to my success in the legal field, its commitment to preparing its students through experiential learning reflects the critical understanding that we will be better lawyers if our classroom experiences are coupled with the world outside. There is simply no replacement for the experiential learning program here at Georgetown and I am grateful for having benefited from it so immensely! 4

7 Sharmi Das 5

8 6 externships

9 Externships offer Georgetown law students the opportunity to earn credit for unpaid work in the public sector. Under the direct supervision of an attorney, students are able to engage in work that is commensurate with projects that would be given to an entry-level attorney. Students become a part of the fabric of an organization and gain exposure to practice and application of laws and concepts that they have studied in the classroom. Facilitated by our unique location in the heart of Washington DC, most students choose to work for the federal government, though a substantial number choose to work on Capitol Hill, in judicial chambers, or in local or national non-profit agencies. Our students might attend Congressional hearings, draft motions for trial, or witness the development of policies that will impact our entire nation. They might assist individuals seeking asylum, brief businesses about dealing with climate change, or work on international trade disputes. Because students develop their own placements, they can tailor their work experience to their own personal interests. In addition to selecting their field work, each student also participates in an orientation to set their learning goals, and chooses the class sessions that will best support their experience. The classes cover a range of issues, and students pick and choose among them to develop a customized program of study that is relevant to their field experience. Classes include: Making Mentors, Managing Up, Non-Traditional Legal Speaking, Communicating with Clients, and many more. In short, Georgetown s externship program allows students to meld work experience with classroom learning in a way that supports their personal needs and goals. Students pursue externships for many different reasons. Some students do an externship in an attempt to discover whether they like a particular area of legal practice, and whether that area is a good fit for their career and lifestyle goals. Others do an externship to enhance their resume and demonstrate their commitment to a type of law. Some students see externships as an opportunity to refine a particular set of legal skills. And yet others pursue an externship out of intellectual curiosity and a desire to gain specialized experience in a particular area. Whatever their motivation for enrolling, students in Georgetown Law s externship program frequently develop professional connections that make them more competitive, and better prepared, for their summer and post-graduate jobs. 7

10 8 Keigan Mull

11 Externships Keigan Mull, J.D., 2013 My first externship was at small non-profit, First Star, devoted to fighting for the legal rights of children, and I had an amazing experience. I truly enjoyed my placement at First Star and was rejuvenated for the rest of my time in law school. At the same time as this externship, I was able to explore my interest in international law. I took a class on international trade law and found my passion. I hoped that I could find a placement in the field the next semester and was lucky enough to get another externship at the U.S. International Trade Commission. This externship confirmed the passion that I felt in the classroom. It allowed me to attend current events and network in the field that I would not have been able to do otherwise. My externships have been incredibly beneficial experiences, so much so that I plan on interning during my third year of law school even without receiving academic credit. This summer I will be working at the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development in Geneva, Switzerland, and feel extremely confident that my externship experiences have prepared me for this opportunity. 9

12 CLASS offerings Through guided reflection, our externship classes help students negotiate the wide range of professional skills necessary for success in the workplace. Georgetown Law students work in over 300 placements during the school year. The placements range from human rights NGOs to states attorney s offices, from federal agencies to judicial chambers to public defender services and more. Students choose from an array of classes that best support the work they are doing each week. Some of these classes (drawn from a longer list that varies by semester) include: Professionalism Managing Up Making Mentors/Networking Ethical Decision-Making Electronic Professionalism Diversity and Conflict in the Workplace Communicating with Clients Collaboration Non-litigation Skills Working Effectively on the Hill Strategic Planning Communicating Legal Concepts to Non-Lawyers Interest Analysis Emotional Intelligence & Leadership Civil Access to Justice Legislative and Policy Drafting Non-traditional Legal Writing Writing an Editorial Writing a One-Pager Legislative Drafting Drafting a Blog Post Legal Impossibilities: Advocating for Clients Facing Unjust Laws Reflection on Practice Work-Life Balance Appellate Lawyering Self-Assesment Direct Legal Services Group Dynamics Women s Rights Secondary Trauma Environmental Practice Judicial Placements Legislative/Policy Placements Indigent Criminal Defense Federal Criminal Prosecution Human Rights Lawyering 10

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14 12 Mara Apostol

15 Externships Profile Mara Apostol, J.D., 2014 Externship Placement The Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia Externship Classes attended Managing Up Communicating with Clients Criminal Defense Reflection Creating a Foundation for a Targeted Pathway When the stakes are so high - when you really want to be a public defender, as I do, and when you have the privilege of working at PDS - the pressure to make a good impression can be overwhelming I m learning how to better understand and serve my supervisor s needs, and she sees that. This whole experience has been enlightening not only in terms of the substantive law and procedure I ve had the opportunity to grapple with, but also because it s underscored how important it is to take control of my experience and to do everything I can not only to deliver, but to make damn sure people know I m delivering. Mara Apostol, J.D., 2014 Externship Semester: The Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia Summer: Montgomery County Public Defender s Office Clinic: Criminal Defense and Prisoner Advocacy Clinic 13

16 Said Saba, J.D., 2013 I externed at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. This was my first real-world exposure to the legal profession. There s still a lot I need to learn, but the externship has made me feel confident that what I ve been learning in law school so far has real-world application. I also got a chance to work closely with a federal judge who took the educational experience of his interns seriously, and he assigned work to us accordingly. 14

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18 16 PRACTICUM COURSES

19 Practicum courses offer students an opportunity to work on projects or cases under the direction of a supervising attorney, while studying law in action in an associated seminar. These courses provide a wonderful opportunity for students to become substantive experts on a particular topic, cultivate a range of skills, and begin to develop a professional identity. They allow students to build networks that can be tapped for future internships and jobs. And they foster in students the confidence they need to work as lawyers upon graduation. In these ways, practicum courses serve as a bridge between the law school classroom and the legal profession. Practicum courses take one of two forms: students are placed in fieldwork consistent with the subject matter of the course or students work on a project with their teacher, a practicing lawyer in the field. The practicum includes a seminar that uses the students experience as text and prepares students for their work experiences by familiarizing them with the relevant substantive frameworks (both legal and non-legal), as well as the skills they will employ (again, both legal and non-legal). Students reflect on their work experiences in a supportive classroom environment with professors and classmates who are engaged in similar professional undertakings. The practicum program benefits tremendously from Georgetown Law s location in Washington D.C. and its connection to experts who are willing to bring students into their work. We offer a practicum on mediation, for example, in which students are trained, supervised and act as mediators on cases filed with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. Other practicum students conduct research for a member of the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Students use specialized technology to develop legal apps to assist various governmental and non-governmental organizations in their work. And students are placed within a number of different congressional offices on Capitol Hill and study how law is made in the companion seminar. 17

20 Public International Law Practicum Courses Gender, Sexual and Reproductive Health and International Human Rights Law This practicum explores the interaction between international human rights law and sexual and reproductive health. Students work with civil society organizations on legal and policy projects related to this topic. Human Rights at the Intersection of Trade and Corporate Responsibility This practicum introduces students to the challenges businesses face in integrating international norms on corporate accountability. Students work with a multi-stakeholder entity to provide analysis of regulatory gaps and to identify implications for human rights, labor rights, and environmental protection. Human Rights Fact-Finding Seminar: The Toll of Statelessness This practicum trains students as human rights investigators and advocates. As a group, students identify a human rights issue that will benefit from documentation, research that problem in depth, conduct interviews on the subject, draft a report on their findings, and engage in related advocacy. Modern Abolition: The Practice of Ending Child Labor and Human Trafficking This practicum exposes students to the methods practitioners use in their efforts to combat human trafficking. Students are placed at the non-profit organization Free the Slaves or with another anti-trafficking NGO. O Neill Institute Practicum: Global Health Law and Policy Students in this practicum work with Georgetown Law s O Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and its external partners on projects that respond to global health challenges. Projects typically engage intersecting legal regimes, including trade law, public international law and human rights law. Racial Discrimination in International Law This practicum focuses on the work of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), of which the professor is a member. Students investigate the situation of minority groups in the countries being scrutinized by CERD in its upcoming session and document their findings in their own shadow reports. Suing Sudan: Constructing International Human Rights Cases This practicum introduces students to international human rights litigation using Sudan as a case study. Students use evidence gathered by the Enough Project and Satellite Sentinel Project to examine avenues through which various actors may be held responsible for human rights abuses committed in Sudan. Women and Immigration: Government Protection for Women Fleeing Gender-Based Persecution and Abuse In this practicum, students learn about the forced migration of women and how U.S. laws and policies address these women s immigration status. Students conduct intakes of women fleeing their countries because of gender-based violence, draft memos for a nonprofit organization that may represent these clients, and work with attorneys representing survivors of gender-based harm seeking legal status in the U.S. 18

21 Practicum Courses In the spring of 2013, students in the practicum Suing Sudan: Constructing International Human Rights Cases discussed their work with the former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and presented their work at one of Georgetown Law s major public conferences. 19

22 DOMESTIC PUBLIC INTEREST PRACTICUM COURSES Advanced Environmental Law: Climate Change This practicum focuses on the evolving legal and policy developments concerning global climate change, and provides students the opportunity to engage in hands-on work with policymakers in addressing the issue. Advocating with and on Behalf of People with Developmental Disabilities: Contemporary Issues, Challenges, and Legal Advocacy Opportunities This practicum focuses on the laws that govern the rights and restrictions of people living with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Students work with and for people with developmental disabilities at organizations like the Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities. Animal Protection Litigation Seminar This practicum explores the process of animal protection litigation. Students work at the Humane Society of the United States. Child Welfare Law and Practice in the District of Columbia This practicum focuses on the workings of the child welfare system in the District of Columbia and students participate in field work with child welfare-related organizations. Law and Entrepreneurship Students in this practicum explore the role of the lawyer as counsel to social and business entrepreneurs engaged in early-stage ventures. They advise student entrepreneurs and various community empowerment and economic development initiatives. Low-Wage and Excluded Workers: Their Rights and the Challenges This practicum examines labor and employment law from the point of view of marginalized workers. Students work at local workers rights organizations, labor unions and government agencies. Poverty Law and Policy Seminar Students in this practicum learn about issues related to American poverty, and work at publicinterest law organizations that focus on issues connected to poverty. Public Interest Lawyering: Access to Health Care This practicum focuses on public interest lawyering and the role that safety net benefits play in assisting low-income people access health care in the United States. In their field work, students focus on the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit. Public Interest Advocacy: Tobacco/Personal Health Care Products In this practicum, students focus on regulation of tobacco and personal-care products by the Food and Drug Administration while working with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and the Environmental Working Group. Technology, Innovation & Law Practice: Access to Justice and the Consumer Law Revolution This practicum exposes students to the uses of computer technologies in the practice of law, with an emphasis on technologies that enhance access to justice and make legal services more affordable for individuals of limited means. Students work for a legal service organization to develop a platform, application, or automated system that increases access to justice and/or improves the effectiveness of legal representation.

23 Practicum Courses Georgetown students benefit greatly from exposure to practitioners involved with our many centers and institutes. In 2013, students in the practicum Advanced Environmental Law: Climate Change worked closely with the Georgetown Climate Center on projects that reduce emissions that contribute to climate change and that respond to its inevitable consequences. 21

24 GOVERNMENTAL AND REGULATORY PRACTICUM COURSES Election Law This practicum introduces students to case law in the areas of campaign finance regulation and voting rights, and provides them with opportunities to draft legal papers and briefs in pending cases. Federal Fraud Prosecution: Theory and Practice This practicum immerses students in the law, theory, and practice of federal fraud prosecutions. For their field work, students are placed within the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Mediation Students in this practicum learn about best practices for the mediation of legal disputes and have the opportunity to work on progressively more difficult cases that have been filed with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. Monopolies, Competition and the Regulation of Public Utilities This practicum focuses on the substantive and procedural ingredients for effective regulatory lawyering and places students within state or federal regulatory agencies. Regulatory Advocacy: Women and the Affordable Care Act This practicum course provides an introduction to regulatory advocacy as it pertains to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and women s health. Students work with the National Women s Law Center to develop projects that will assist in the organization s regulatory advocacy efforts. Regulatory Agency Litigation: Roles, Skills and Strategies This practicum teaches students how to be effective participants in regulatory litigation, both as advocates for parties and as advisors to decision-makers. Each student is assigned to a utility regulatory agency that has described some feature of its administrative litigation procedures that it wishes to improve. Supreme Court Institute Judicial Clerkship Practicum This practicum focuses on the role of law clerks, the mechanics of writing a useful bench memo and draft opinion, and the ethical dimensions of judicial clerkships. Students function as law clerks who help prepare Justices to serve on the Supreme Court Institute s moot court panels. Technology, Innovation and Law Practice: Regulatory Agencies and Compliance In this practicum, students learn how regulatory agencies solve problems and how their actions affect the subjects of regulation (here NGOs). Students collaborate with regulatory agencies to develop apps that streamline regulatory practice or increase the public s access to laws and regulation. The Law of Open Government: Litigation under the Freedom of Information Act Students in this practicum learn about federal open government law and, through their field work, draft, submit, and pursue Freedom of Information Act requests. 22

25 Practicum Courses Students in the Supreme Court Institute Judicial Clerkship Practicum work on behalf of Georgetown Law s Supreme Court Institute, which moots virtually every case the U.S. Supreme Court hears each term. 23

26 CRIMINAL LAW PRACTICUM COURSES Fighting Organized Crime in the 21st Century This practicum introduces students to the challenges involved in fighting organized crime in a transnational setting using both traditional and non-traditional methods. Students work in various Sections and Offices of the Justice Department s Criminal Division, where they participate in complex prosecutions, assist in the exchange of information between cooperating law enforcement agencies of the U.S. and other countries, or work on policy issues relating to international justice affairs. Prison Litigation and Advocacy This practicum focuses on the prison reform field. Student placements are at various nonprofits and agencies that deal with prison reform issues; depending on the agency and its needs, work includes litigation, individual advocacy, policy development, or legislative advocacy. Problem Solving Justice: Developments in Treatment, Diversion and Community Courts Students in this practicum learn about the legal concepts, administrative and ethical challenges, and public debates concerning this country s exponential growth of problem-solving courts. Each student is placed as a law intern for one of five judges within the DC Superior Court. Technology, Innovation and Law Practice: Police Procedural This practicum exposes students to the promise and limits of emerging evidence-based approaches to police investigations and explores the extent to which systems and technological platforms that guide police discretion produce improved policing practices. Student teams collaborate with law enforcement agencies and police research organizations to develop apps and systems to regularize police work. The Right to Counsel: Entitlements, Limits and the Client Experience This practicum explores the evolution and current parameters of the right to counsel, including: when counsel must be provided; what quality guarantee, if any, the right includes; impediments to the full functioning of the right; and efforts to expand the scope of the right. Students conduct research on the right to counsel and formulate policy recommendations. Wrongful Convictions This practicum provides students with an understanding of the various ways innocent people are convicted and discusses remedies for exoneration. Students work as intake investigators with the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to correcting and preventing wrongful convictions, to determine whether representation of a prisoner s claim of innocence should be undertaken. 24

27 Practicum Courses Three practicum courses Technology, Innovation and Law Practice: Police Procedural; Technology, Innovation and Law Practice: Regulatory Agencies and Compliance; and Technology, Innovation and Law Practice: Access to Justice and the Consumer Law Revolution provide students the opportunity to develop innovative legal apps and to show off their products at Georgetown Law s Iron Tech competition. 25

28 Learning from Practitioners in the field I really liked the practicum course because the small class size enabled us to build relationships with real experts in the field. Our professors were very engaged and eager to make sure we learned and enjoyed our experiences. The professors, who had significant litigation experience in their field, could talk about the challenges you don t read in court opinions, like recruiting or managing clients, interacting with judges, how a government s internal review processes in the litigation office affects the progress of litigation, how a particular administrative agency s review process works. Occasionally, we d read opinions in which the professors were the attorneys in the case. The professors were able to give us a Behind the Music -type view of how the case played out. With the field placement, we got to see how the whole nonprofit functions -- everything from intra-office chains to participating in multi-organization coalition meetings. 26

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30 PRACTICUM FACULTY Sarah Altschuler Associate, Foley Hoag LLP Shawn Armbrust Director, Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project Victoria Arroyo Assistant Dean, Centers and Institutes; Executive Director, Georgetown Climate Center; Director, Environmental Law Program, Georgetown Law James Bair Attorney, Brown Rudnick LLP Tanya Baytor Program Director, Global Health Law LL.M., O Neill Institute for National & Global Health Law, Georgetown Law Dori Bernstein Director, Supreme Court Institute, Georgetown Law Eric Biel Bureau of International Labor Affairs, Department of Labor Malia Brink Director of Institutional Development and Policy Counsel, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Lisl Brunner Facilitator, Telecommunications Industry Dialogue, Global Network Initiative Oscar Cabrera Executive Director, O Neill Institute for National & Global Health Law, Georgetown Law Rosa Celorio Attorney and Specialist, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Thomas Cluderay General Counsel, Environmental Working Group Judith Conti Federal Advocacy Coordinator, National Employment Law Project Anthony Cook Professor of Law, Georgetown Law Marisa Demeo Associate Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia Peter Edelman Professor of Law; Co-Director, Joint Degree in Law and Public Policy; Faculty Director, Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy, Georgetown Law Deirdre McCarthy Gallagher Alternative Dispute Resolution Unit, United States Office of Special Counsel Kelli Garcia Senior Counsel, National Women s Law Center Deborah Golden Staff Attorney, DC Prisoners Project, Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs Mark Greenwold Attorney-at-Law; Senior Consultant, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Kayleen Hartman Policy Counsel, Shared Hope International Gerald Hebert Executive Director and Director of Litigation, Campaign Legal Center Scott Hempling Scott Hempling, Attorney at Law LLC Julia Horowitz Open Government Counsel and Coordinator of Open Government Project, Electronic Privacy Information Center Samuel Jackson Private Practice Fred Jacob Deputy Assistant General Counsel, National Labor Relations Board s Appellate, Supreme Court Litigation Branch 28

31 Practicum Courses Lisa Johnson-Firth Founder and Managing Member, Immigrants First, PLLC Jane Juliano Chief, Alternative Dispute Resolution Unit, U.S. Office of Special Counsel Erin Leveton Legislative and Policy Analyst, State Office of Disability Administration, District of Columbia Department on Disability Services Erin Loubier Director of Public Benefits and Senior Managing Attorney, Whitman-Walker Health Jonathan Lovvorn Senior Vice President & Chief Counsel, Animal Protection Litigation, The Humane Society of the United States Fanny Gomez-Lugo Human Rights Specialist, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Benn McGrady Project Director, Initiative on Trade, Investment and Health, O Neill Institute for National & Global Health Law, Georgetown Law Juliet McKenna Associate Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia Wallace Mlyniec Director, Juvenile Justice Clinic and Lupo-Ricci Professor of Clinical Legal Studies, Georgetown Law Kevin Mulcahy Director of Customer Support & Training, Neota Logic Victoria Nourse Professor of Law, Georgetown Law Bruce Ohr Counselor for Transnational Organized Crime and International Affairs, Criminal Division, Department of Justice Gabriel Pacyniak Institute Associate, Georgetown Climate Center Joseph Page Professor of Law; Director, Center for the Advancement of the Rule of Law in the Americas, Georgetown Law Marc Quarterman Research Director, Center for American Progress Meg Roggensack Senior Advisor, Business and Human Rights, Human Rights First Gretchen Rohr Magistrate Judge, D.C. Superior Court Tanina Rostain Professor of Law; Research Director, Center for the Study of the Legal Profession, Georgetown Law Marc Rotenberg Executive Director, Electronic Privacy Information Center Roger Skalbeck Associate Law Librarian for Electronic Resources, Georgetown Law Paul Smith Partner, Jenner & Block Carlos Vasquez Professor of Law, Georgetown Law Silas Wasserstrom Professor of Law, Georgetown Law Mark O Brien Co-founder and Executive Director, Pro Bono Net Paul O Brien Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice 29