Students will be placed in a number of settings that engage in policy analysis, legislative advocacy, informal advocacy to effect administrative reform, the development of projects and programs to supplement existing services or remedy systemic flaws. In both the fall and spring semesters, the seminar component of the course will provide an opportunity for students to engage in group discussions of their fieldwork experiences and to use these experiences to raise more general questions about the operations and impact of the criminal and juvenile justice systems. Open to third-year students only. The focus of the clinic is on representing parents in cases of child abuse or neglect, termination of parental rights, or review of the status of foster care in the Family Court. The clinic involves a mixture of fieldwork, seminars on child protection law and foster care, litigation skills, and participation in simulations and hearings.
Students work on cases under the direct supervision of full-time faculty.
Professors Fendall, Guggenheim and M. Kurtz. The Clinic represents all indigent defendants in misdemeanor cases, except those with conflicts of interest, who are represented by court-assigned private attorneys. Students have principal case responsibility, and they appear in court under direct faculty supervision, as members of Washington Square Legal Services, pursuant to the Eastern District s student practice rule. Through the seminar classes written assignments, simulation exercises and class discussions, students will study the course of federal civil litigation in the context of representing the United States, its officials and agencies. Open to second and third year law students.