The Clinic concentrates on teaching lawyering skills and substantive law primarily through the representation of actual clients who could not otherwise afford legal representation. Our emphasis is always on using the case as a teaching tool and producing the highest quality legal product. Ordinarily, a student preparing for trial or writing a major brief will be assigned fewer cases. Our primary mission is education, and thus students generally prepare thoroughly a small number of cases rather than serve all potential clients. We quickly limit caseload and in-take when the optimum number of teaching cases is reached.
Students hold regular office hours and are assigned appointments based upon their caseload.
They also participate in a weekly seminar devoted to substantive issues, specific lawyering skills, and case rounds where students report on their cases. Although clinical education is expensive, we are committed to our in-house clinics because they give students the opportunity to put theory into practice, develop litigation skills, and acquire insights which would not be otherwise available in the law school's curriculum. A live client clinic has many advantages over both classroom teaching and simulations. It is difficult to examine certain issues except in the context of a real case. The fact that this educational experience is pursued through the representation of actual clients places participating students within the ethical constraints applicable to all attorneys.