As part of the program, students participate in an interactive training process which enables them to develop and apply the necessary skills required for successful mediation practice. Upon successful completion of the formal training process, students become certified mediators. Typical cases include juvenile court cases, criminal misdemeanor cases, employment discrimination cases, landlord-tenant disputes, and various tort and contract matters. Students routinely interact with judges and attorneys, as well as the parties involved in the litigation. This highly regarded mediation certification is a valuable tool in future legal and ADR practice.
Students also assist the clinical professor in arbitrating cases and drafting arbitration opinions.
Students who intern in the Tax Litigation Program assist taxpayers with their tax disputes, including collection matters, audits, appeals and litigation before the Internal Revenue Service, United States Tax Court, and the United States District Court. Students who intern in the Advice Desk Program, located at the Daley Center , provide interviewing, counseling, and limited representation to indigent defendants who seek assistance at the Circuit Court of Cook County. Approximately sixty percent of the cases involve eviction defense and forty percent involve tort, contract, personal injury and collection matters. Students are taught interviewing and counseling techniques and the substantive law needed to assist these clients. LADR students who intern in the Mediation for LADR Students Only Program engage in training and practice in mediation in which they become certified as mediators and conduct a number of mediations over the course of the semester.