Clinic Application Forms

SUPREME COURT LITIGATION CLINIC
PROSECUTION CLINIC

SUPREME COURT LITIGATION CLINIC Yearlong Seminar, Mr. Goldberg, Mr. Ortiz, Mr. Stancil, Credits: 8

(right-click on file and select "save target as" to save to your hard drive)

This yearlong clinic will introduce students to all aspects of current U.S. Supreme Court practice through live cases. Students earn eight credits (one credit graded on a CR/NC basis awarded in the fall for monitoring during the summer; three credits graded on a CR/NC basis awarded in the fall for work done in the fall; and four credits graded on an A-F basis for work done in the spring). Working on teams, students will handle actual cases from the seeking of Supreme Court review to briefing on the merits. Classes will meet every week to discuss drafts of briefs and other papers students have prepared for submission to the Court. Students will be expected to identify candidates for Supreme Court review; draft petitions for certiori, amicus merits briefs, and party merits briefs; and attend mootings and Supreme Court arguments. Students who wish to enroll must complete an application form, attach the requested documents, and submit them via e-mail to Daniel Ortiz (dro@virginia.edu) and Mark Stancil (mstancil@robbinsrussell.com), no later than April 11, 2008. Applications received after this date will be placed on a waiting list; these students will only be contacted if openings arise. Once enrolled, NO drops will be permitted. Admitted students will be required to complete some work over the summer before the clinic begins.

Enrollment Limitation: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester (on a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering)
Prerequisite: Third-year status, Constitutional Law
Course Requirement: Draft petitions and merits briefs, monitor lower court cases, and attend mootings and Supreme Court arguments

PROSECUTION CLINIC Yearlong Seminar, Mr. R. Moore, Credits: 6

(right-click on file and select "save target as" to save to your hard drive)
This year-long clinical course will expose students to all aspects of the prosecutorial function. Through a combination of classroom lectures and discussions, readings, guest speakers, and a field placement in one of several local participating prosecutors’ offices, students will explore a range of practical, ethical, and intellectual issues involved in the discharge of a prosecutor’s duties and responsibilities, including the exercise of discretion in the decision to initiate, prosecute, reduce, or drop charges; interaction between prosecutors and investigative agencies and law enforcement personnel; dealing with victims and other witnesses; and relationships with defense counsel. Ethical issues addressed may include: exculpatory evidence, duty not to prosecute on less than probable cause, cross-warrant situations, witness recantation and preparation, and improper argument at trial.

Clinical field placements will be in the Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ Offices for Charlottesville and Albemarle County, and 16 other surrounding Virginia jurisdictions within 30-75 minutes of Charlottesville, as well as the Charlottesville Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, and the Richmond Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District. Most of the students’ responsibilities and duties will be at the trial court or pre-trial level, but may include writing appellate briefs. Students will be assigned to one of these participating prosecutor’s offices for the entire academic year, and are expected to work there on pending cases or in court at least one day per week. It is expected that each student will work out a suitable schedule with the office to which he or she is assigned. Requests for particular offices may be able to be accommodated, but students must be willing to work in whatever office assigned. Students are expected to provide their own transportation.

Fall semester classroom time will focus on the various stages of a felony criminal case in Virginia—from obtaining the charge up through trial, sentencing, and appeal—to provide a framework within which to better understand the clinical placement experience. The lectures and discussion will cover issuance of warrants by a magistrate, arrest, first appearances, bond hearings, preliminary hearings, Grand Jury, suppression hearings, competence and sanity issues, motions in limine, and trial, as well as assisting the police during the investigative stage.

Spring semester classroom time will be devoted to particular problems or issues that might arise in a criminal case, including specific difficulties encountered by students in their cases during the fall semester. These may include questions regarding prosecutorial discretion and the charging decision (and amending charges), constitutional concerns (such as search and seizure, confession and Miranda issues, right to counsel and fair trial, speedy trial, or double jeopardy), domestic violence and reluctant witnesses, relations with the police and defense counsel, capital punishment, competency/insanity, conspiracies, accessories, plea agreements, prosecutorial immunity, federal/state differences, and juvenile defendants.

Students also will be required to observe several court proceedings during the year and then write one or two short papers discussing such proceedings. There will be a written test fall semester, and a major paper spring semester on some aspect of the criminal process or prosecution (topic to be approved by the instructor). This paper is not a research paper and will not qualify for the upper-class writing requirement.

Students who wish to enroll must complete an application form and submit it via fax (434-924-4672), in person, or by mail to the Student Records Office. All applications must be received no later than NOON Wednesday, May 14, 2008. Applications are available online and in the Student Records Office. Selected students will be notified by mid-June. Because spaces in the program are limited, and because of the need to perform background checks in some instances that require deployment of significant resources, the application sheet includes a formal representation which must be signed by the student that he or she will honor the commitment to undertake this program, if selected. Once enrolled, absolutely NO drops will be permitted.

Grades will be based on the papers, test, attendance at court proceedings, and field office evaluation. It is helpful if the students applying for this clinic keep as many mornings open (free from classes) as possible since most courts meet in the morning. Students earn three credits each semester.

Enrollment Limitation: Students may enroll in one clinic per semester (on a space-available basis, students may petition to enroll in a second clinical offering)
Prerequisite: Third-year status, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law, Criminal Adjudication or Criminal Investigation, Evidence, Professional Responsibility, Trial Advocacy. Trial Ad or one of the criminal procedure courses can be taken first semester third year as a “co-requisite” but students who already have all six are given preference. Constitutional Law, Federal Criminal Practice, or Negotiation Institute would be helpful, but are not required. Students must be eligible for and obtain Third Year Practice Certification from the Virginia Bar.
Course Requirement: Fall - test and two short papers; spring - major paper