PLANNING FOR A CLINIC
There are many considerations when registering for a clinic including:
- What your interests are
- Whether you would rather take a clinic in your second or third year
- Your semester course load
- Prerequisites
Note: You cannot enroll in an externship and a clinic during the same semester.
If you are enrolled in a clinic and your case carries over to the next semester, and you wish to continue work on your case, you will not be able to remain working with your case as an Advanced Advocacy Clinic student if you are also enrolled in an Externship for that semester.
You should also review our policy on Conflicts of Interest before enrolling in a Clinic.Ìý
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When to Take a Clinic
As with all of your registration decisions, you should enroll in a clinic when you feel that you will derive the greatest educational benefit. There is no single best time within your law school career to schedule your clinical experiences. As clinical courses require a significant time commitment and award a substantial number of academic credits, you must plan how you will fit them into your time in law school.
Clinics help students integrate legal theory and the actual practice of the profession. A clinical course will give you a new perspective on how the law functions in society and how lawyers behave. This additional perspective will enrich your learning in your substantive law courses.Ìý
Taking a clinical course will also help you to learn about yourself and see what aspects of legal practice you enjoy and in which you can be successful. You can then use this knowledge to make better choices about job opportunities or other courses.Ìý Students often report that their clinic course experiences are an asset in applying for jobs.
Some students choose to take a clinical course in the second year of law school, enabling them to assume the role of lawyer as early as possible, applying their classroom learning to real cases and providing valuable services to clients in disadvantaged populations.Ìý
Many students prefer to wait until their third year of law school, seeing the clinic as a transition between law school and their professional career. Taking a clinic later in law school allows you to benefit from having taken additional substantive and/or procedural courses that you can then apply to your work in the clinic. In addition, some clinics have prerequisites which preclude students from enrolling earlier. Lastly, third-year law students have priority for a majority of the clinic spaces.Ìý Please consult the clinic descriptionsÌýfor further clarification.
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Fitting a Clinic into Your Schedule
Each clinical course requires that you commit a substantial amount of your time and energy. They all provide exposure to real practice, give you direct responsibility for clients’ cases and include close faculty supervision. As a result, they often award more credits and are always more time-intensive than classroom courses. You willÌýnotÌýbe able to control when your cases and clients will need your attention.ÌýFlexibility in your schedule is vital.
Students have found that it is best to:
- take a clinical course in a semester in which you have a lighter course load and a relatively low number of credits.
- In particular, it is best toÌýlimit the number of other courses you are takingÌýin the same semester as a clinic toÌýno more than three.Ìý Of course, this will vary with the number of credits awarded by the particular clinic you take.Ìý
- You should think carefully before combining a clinic with any outside employment.
In addition to specific course prerequisites , some other classroom courses are particularly relevant to the work you will do in a clinical course.Ìý
- While not a prerequisite forÌýmostÌýclinics, it is strongly recommended that you takeÌýEvidenceÌýeither prior to or concurrently with your enrollment in any clinic that engages in litigation and dispute resolution on behalf of its clients.ÌýNote: Evidence is a pre-requisite for theÌýCivil Justice ClinicÌýand theÌýInterdisciplinary Mental and Physical Health Law Clinic.
- Legal ProfessionÌýis required for graduation.Ìý Issues of professional responsibility arise in all clinics.Ìý You may choose to take this course either before, after, or concurrently with any clinical course.
- Trial PracticeÌýteaches courtroom skills which are helpful in every clinic that engages in litigation and dispute resolution on behalf of its clients. You may choose to takeÌýTrial PracticeÌýbefore, after, or concurrently with your clinic course.
- Civil Pre-Trial PracticeÌýdevelops practical and analytical skills in the pretrial stages of civil litigation. You may find it helpful to takeÌýCivil Pre-Trial PracticeÌýeither prior to or concurrently with theÌýCivil Justice ClinicÌýor theÌýFarmworker Legal Aid Clinic.
- Business and Transactional PracticeÌýcourses may assist in advancing the substantive and practical knowledge that students will use to represent clients in theÌýClinic for Law and EntrepreneurshipÌý(CFLE). You may find it helpful to take courses such as Business Organizations, Taxation of Business Entities, Intellectual Property, Business Planning, Drafting Business Transactions or In-House Counsel, prior to or concurrently with the CFLE, keeping in mind that effective CFLE counselors are characterized by their openness to learning, and high levels of commitment and intellectual engagement, rather than any particular subject matter expertise or practical background.
- Administrative PracticeÌýfacilitates an understanding of the regulatory process. As regulations govern much of the health care field, you may choose to take Administrative Practice either before, during or after theÌýInterdisciplinary Mental and Physical Health Law Clinic.
- Various other substantive and procedural courses may be helpful to particular clinics.Ìý To see a list of the substantive areas of law practice for each clinic, please consult the above dropdown.
- Note: All clinics (except Advanced Advocacy) satisfy the Practical Writing requirement for graduation.Ìý
All of the clinics cover the topics ofÌýInterviewing and CounselingÌýextensively.Ìý Students find that there is significant overlap and repetition between this course and any clinic.Ìý
You may wish to consult theÌýDirector of the ClinicÌýin which you are interested as to the benefits of taking particular courses and determining the best timing.Ìý In addition, you may wish to contact students who have taken particular clinical courses to obtain information about their experiences, both in terms of the time commitment and the benefits they received.
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Conflicts of Interest
When you work in the Clinical Program, the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct will apply to you. Even before you enter the Clinical Program, you must think about the rules regarding conflicts of interest. You must avoid any conflicts between clients of the Clinical Program and any clients that you may represent in any externship, paid job, volunteer work or internship.
The conflict rules regulate lawyers when they have confidential information about a client. Broadly, the rule prohibits lawyers and law firms from representing two clients whose interests may be in conflict. Because of the nature of our work, the Clinical Program is considered one law firm. Therefore, we have to make sure that all students in all of the clinics do not create conflicts for any clinic client. To be fully informed, you may want to look at the rules yourself.
ÌýÌýÌýÌýSee e.g.,:
- ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý(Conflicts of Interest: Current Clients);
- ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý(Conflicts of Interest: Current Clients: Special Rules);
- ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý(Duties to Former Clients);
- ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý(Imputation of Conflicts of Interest: General Rule); and
- ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý(Special Conflict of Interest for Former and Current GovernmentÌýOfficers and Employees).
In order to ensure that you and the other members of the Clinical Program are abiding by our ethical obligations under the Rules, we need to obtain complete information about your work outside the Clinical Program. For these purposes, work is defined broadly and would include all externships, internships, paid and volunteer jobs in legal or government capacities with all former, current and future employers (during your term in the clinic).
When you register for a clinic with the Clinical Program, you will be required to provide complete information about all former, current, and future employers. In order to ensure that you do not violate your obligations under the Rules, you have a continuing duty to keep this information current throughout your work in the clinic and to inform the Clinical Program if your employment changes. You should also check with your employer to ensure that the employer does not perceive your work with the Clinical Program as presenting a conflict with your work with the employer.
ÌýÌýÌý The time when this could become most complicated is when you work, or volunteer, in two law offices at the same time. This situation would arise if you are working in a legal capacity during the same semester you are in a clinic. In the event that a conflict arises between the Clinical Program a concurrent employer, you will NOT be able to drop the clinic course. So, please resolve all potential issues involving conflicts before registering for the Clinical Program.
ÌýÌýÌý Given the scope of work we do in the Clinical Program, potential conflicts of interest are most likely to arise with the following government offices:
- ÌýÌýÌý Internal Revenue Service
- ÌýÌýÌý Department of Homeland Security
- ÌýÌýÌý Department of Justice, Immigration Courts
- ÌýÌýÌý District Attorneys Offices
This is not intended to be exhaustive. Your duty to notify us of employment extends to all employers, whether on this list or not.
If you work or plan to work (in any capacity) with any of these organizations while enrolled in the Clinical Program, the Rules may prohibit your concurrent involvement in the Clinical Program, so please bring this to our attention immediately. Also, note that you are prohibited from enrolling in both a clinic and an externship during the same semester.
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