The woman's lawyer jumped in. Still unyielding, the businesswoman turned to her cowering fianc . Later, the class roared with laughter as it watched a videotape of the negotiations and listened to Ms. Sifford critique their bargaining and the agreements they had drawn up. There are some people who are very reserved about their money and there are some people who just want to give it away. By their third year, the students are finished practicing on one another and are ready to work in clinics with clients who cannot afford more expensive lawyers.
Many law schools run clinics.
But typically, they are optional and cannot accommodate all interested students. CUNY, by contrast, requires a clinical class in which students study a specialized field of law and also work with clients under close faculty supervision. Choices include the rights of battered women, criminal defense, civil rights and mediation. Besides working with clients, students had to take on research and service projects to give them more perspective. As the students reported on their projects, Robert Seibel, one of the professors who run the clinic, talked about the realities of working as community lawyers.