Law Clinics (General) - LAW 665

1-4 Hours

Law clinics help second and third-year students develop the tools they need to serve clients, the profession, and society. All of the law school’s law clinics have dual goals: to provide hands-on training in the professional skills and values needed for the successful, ethical practice of law and to provide free legal assistance to needy residents and nonprofit or governmental organizations in Alabama. Training in professional skills and values is accomplished by placing the law clinic student, as much as possible, into the role of attorney on the case under the close supervision of experienced law school faculty. Thus, with the client’s consent and as allowed under the state’s student practice rule, students are the primary or “first chair” attorneys on most cases. As student attorneys, they are given responsibility for client interviewing and counseling, case planning and management, factual investigation, legal research, drafting pleadings, briefs and other legal documents, negotiations, alternative dispute resolution, settlement, and trial and appellate advocacy. In the process of taking responsibility for actual cases, students move from observers to participants in the legal system and learn to integrate substantive law, procedures, and ethics with the professional skills needed for all aspects of their professional lives. Clinics help students develop the self-confidence needed to practice effectively in a competitive, fast-paced field. Clinics also assist students in understanding and fulfilling their ethical obligations as attorneys.



All Course Syllabi Available Here