Supervised Practica Students may arrange individual clinical experiences under the supervision of a faculty member. In recent years, students have secured supervised practicum placements in the legal departments of hospitals, with the Internal Revenue Service, and for an immigration law project. A faculty member can supervise only a limited number of students, and the projects must be approved. In addition to clinics, which include a significant focus on professional values in practice, students at Washington University learn professional ethics from a menu of courses in the Ethics Curriculum. Each of these courses is designed to provide students with the basic knowledge and skills they will need to understand lawyer's professional obligations and to examine critically their roles as lawyers.
Simulation courses place students in roles as attorneys handling fictitious cases and clients.
Many of these courses are co-taught with judges and attorneys practicing in specialized fields and all are offered in small sections to ensure individualized attention. In the numerous planning and drafting courses throughout the curriculum, students assist fictitious clients, addressing or avoiding legal problems, negotiating possible solutions, and drafting related documents. All of these opportunities assist students in integrating their substantive course work and developing professional skills and values. Dispute Resolution Washington University was one of the first law schools in the country to develop a course in Pretrial Practice and Procedure . Despite portrayals in television shows and movies, much of a lawyer's work aims at avoiding lawsuits and trials.