Public Service Clinics and Coursework

Clinics

Under the supervision of an attorney, students perform the lawyer functions associated with their cases, including client and witness interviews, factual development, legal research, preparation of pleadings and negotiation. Students with third-year practice certification may also be responsible for courtoom advocacy. Clinics can offer students valuable public service experience and provide important networking contacts.

Courses

The following courses will be offered during the 2023-24 school year. (SC) stands for short course.

  • Administrative Law
  • Advanced Administrative Law
  • Advanced Topics in Law and Public Service
  • Advancing the Commitment to Public Service Through Law Firm Pro Bono (SC)
  • Animal Law
  • Antitrust
  • Antitrust in the Digital Economy
  • Antitrust Review of Mergers in a Global Environment
  • Asian Americans and the Law
  • Bioethics and the Law Seminar
  • Border Policy and Politics
  • Children and the Law
  • Civil Rights Litigation
  • Civil War and the Constitution
  • Climate Law and Climate Ethics
  • Comparative Constitutional Law
  • Comparative Freedom of Speech Law Seminar
  • Comparative Gender Equality
  • Comparative Indigenous Peoples Rights (SC)
  • Computer Crime Law
  • Congress, Oversight, and the Separation of Powers (SC)
  • Conservation Planning and Law
  • Constitutional Law II: Freedom of Speech and Press
  • Constitutional Law II: Religious Liberty
  • Constitutional Law II: Survey of Civil Liberties
  • Constitutional Law of Cyberspace Operations (SC)
  • Constitutionalism: Nation, Culture, and Constitutions
  • Contemporary Challenges in Military Justice (SC)
  • Courts
  • Criminal Adjudication
  • Criminal Investigation
  • Criminal Law Colloquium
  • Criminal Procedure Survey*
  • Criminology
  • Crimmigration Law: Law and Policy at the Intersection of Immigration Law and Criminal Justice
  • Cryptocurrency Law and Policy (SC)
  • Current Topics in Law, Medicine, and Society (SC)
  • Cybersecurity Law and Policy
  • Designing Democracy: Representation
  • Dignity Law Seminar
  • Disability Law
  • Discrimination Theory
  • Drug Product Liability Litigation Seminar
  • Drug Product Liability Litigation: Principles and Practice
  • Education Inside U.S. Prisons Seminar
  • Employment Discrimination
  • Employment Law: Contracts, Torts, and Statutes
  • Employment Law: Health and Safety
  • Energy Regulation and Policy
  • Environmental Law
  • European Union Law (SC)
  • Evolution of Holistic Defense (SC)
  • Federal Criminal Pre-Trial and Trial Practice
  • Federal Regulation of Investment Companies
  • Federal Sentencing
  • Feminist Jurisprudence
  • Food and Drug Law
  • Foreign Relations Law
  • Forensic Psychology in Criminal Proceedings
  • Genetics and the Law
  • Governing the World Seminar
  • Government Contract Law
  • Government Ethics (SC)
  • Government Secrecy
  • Health Law Survey
  • History of the American Administrative State
  • Housing Law and Poverty Seminar
  • Human Rights Study Project
  • Immigration Law and Policy Lecture
  • Innovating for Defense
  • International Human Rights Law
  • International Law
  • Internet Law (SC)
  • Juvenile Justice Seminar
  • Labor Law
  • Law and Inequality Colloquium
  • Law and Inequality Writing Seminar
  • Law and Leadership in the Public Interest
  • Law and Public Service
  • Law and Riots
  • Law and Social Science Colloquium
  • Law of Armed Conflict
  • Law of Artificial Intelligence (SC)
  • Law Reform and Impact Litigation Seminar
  • Legislation
  • Legislative Drafting and Public Policy
  • Mental Health Law
  • National Security Law
  • Native American Law
  • Nonprofit Organizations
  • Nonprofit Organizations: Principles and Practice
  • Organizational DEI Programs (SC)
  • Plea Bargaining (SC)
  • Political Prisoners (SC)
  • Postgraduate Public Interest Fellowships (SC)
  • Poverty in Law, Literature, and Culture
  • Poverty Law and the Lawyer's Role
  • Practical Perspectives on Policing: Fair and Effective Policy-Making by Law Enforcement
  • Pretrial Litigation Skills: Civil Rights
  • Privacy
  • Privacy Law and Theory Seminar
  • Professional Responsibility in Public Interest Law Practice
  • Property, the Police Power, and Emergencies
  • Public Interest Law and Advocacy Skills
  • Race and Criminal Justice
  • Race and Slavery on UVA's North Grounds
  • Race, Class, and Democratic Legitimacy (SC)
  • Racial Justice and Law
  • Regulation of Political Advocacy Seminar
  • Religious Freedom and Reproductive Rights
  • Reproductive Ethics and Law (SC)
  • Reproductive Rights and Justice
  • Rethinking Criminal Justice
  • School Desegregation, School Integration
  • Science and the Courts (SC)
  • Securities Litigation and Enforcement
  • Securities Regulation
  • Separation of Powers in the Federal Courts Seminar
  • Social Science in Law
  • Spanish for Public Service Lawyers
  • State and Local Government Law
  • State Attorneys General
  • Ten-Year Check-Up on the Affordable Care Act 
  • The Economic Tools of National Security
  • The Mueller Report and the Role of the Special Counsel (SC)
  • Title IX: The Law and Policy of Sex Discrimination in Education (SC)
  • Topics in Banking and Financial Regulation
  • Urban Law and Policy

* If you plan to be a prosecutor or public defender, we recommend taking the separate criminal procedure courses (Criminal Investigation and Criminal Adjudication)

All Current Courses

Jeremy Bennie

Making a Difference — Every Day

"When I was a 2L, the Public Service Center connected me with the Charlottesville-Albemarle Office of the Public Defender. I externed there last semester, clerked there this summer, and will be working with them as much as I can for 3L. In all of law school, there's nothing I love more, and nothing that teaches me more, than standing in court next to clients, representing them and knowing that I am their attorney. It keeps me plugged in to the Charlottesville community. It enables me to make a difference — even if it's just a small difference — every day."

—Jeremy Bennie ’18