Clinic Updates

Updated 03/05/2025

Orientation to Cville 2024

The Orientation to Cville series is open to everyone, but is particularly designed to provide context for students who are doing (or plan to do) clinical or pro bono work in the community, and is required attendance for some clinics. It is designed to help clinics teach  about racism, bias and cultural competence in the context of our community clinical work.

  • Part 1 features tours/events designed to introduce students to the histories of communities around Charlottesville, including at the Jefferson School African-American Heritage Center (and surrounding Vinegar Hill, home to a thriving Black community razed for "urban renewal", see Razed/Raised) (Fri. Sept. 27 at 1pm), and the Descendants of Enslaved Communities at UVA tours of the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers (Friday, Sept. 20 at 2pm) and downtown Charlottesville sites related to August 2017 (Friday Sept. 20 at 3:30pm). Sign up for a tour/event here.
  • Part 2, October 1, 2024, 4-5:30 in Purcell Reading Room: UVA's Relationship with the Community. Watch the video here. This panel focuses on UVA’s fraught history in its relationship with both the Black and Native American communities in this area, and the work being done to repair the harm done. Prof. Sarah Shalf will moderate a discussion with panelists including Louis Nelson, Vice Provost for Academic Outreach and Professor of Architectural History, Kody Grant, UVA Tribal Liaison, and Apostle Sarah Kelley, UVA Hidden Nurse, pastor and community leader. Snacks provided!
  • Bonus opportunity: Pocohontas Reframed Short Film Festival, October 15, 5:30-8 at Violet Crown Cinema on the Downtown Mall. Free and open to the public (obtain tickets at the link above). Free popcorn and soda to the first 40 guests. Sponsored by UVA DEI.
  • Part 3: Tuesday, October 29, 2024, 4-5:30 in Caplin Pavilion: Community Activism in Cville: A Focus On Food Justice. Watch the video here. This panel featured some of Charlottesville's most successful community organizers and activists discussing their work as it pertains to food insecurity and access in Charlottesville. Panelists include Monica Kelley, Public Benefits Outreach Program Manager at Blue Ridge Area Food Bank (BRAFB), Aleen Carey from Cultivate Charlottesville, Jane Colony Mills from Loaves & Fishes, and Dusty Hicks from International Rescue Committee's New Roots Farm; moderated by Les Sinclair of BRAFB. Snacks provided (including baked goods and potentially some tamales from a New Roots Farm community member!).

Clinic Enrollment FAQs

How does the clinic application/lottery process work?
2Ls and 3Ls rank all of the clinics that they would be interested in for the entire year, using the LCS system by the SRO's clinic lottery deadline. Some clinics also require an application to prescreen lottery participants, which must be submitted to each clinic director by the same deadline.

If a student was eliminated from a clinic based on an application process, or if the student has not met a prerequisite, they will be deemed "not eligible" for the lottery for that clinic, and their remaining preferences moved up. Then, clinic seats will be filled first with eligible students who ranked the clinic #1 (in lottery order, 3Ls first). If seats remain, they will be filled with the remaining eligible students who ranked the clinic #2, and so on. Each student will be enrolled in at most one clinic through this process. The regular lottery, which occurs after the clinic lottery (and uses slightly a different process), will then fill out the remainder of your schedule.

This formal clinic enrollment period begins no earlier than June 15 for all clinics. (Schedule details here.) 

Thereafter, including during regular enrollment for the Spring semester, students must request enrollment in any remaining open clinic seats using this enrollment request form, on a first come, first served basis. If a clinic requires an application, you must first apply directly to the faculty member and obtain approval for enrollment before completing this form. This form also serves as an official waitlist for clinics that have been filled.

Note that enrollment in Advanced clinics is not part of the lottery/application process. Students enroll in Advanced clinics by either requesting instructor permission or adding the course during open enrollment. (The regular version of the clinic is a prerequisite for the Advanced version.)

How should I choose clinics to rank?
Browse the clinic webpages and comparison chart to learn more about them -- particularly requirements such as a prerequisite or third-year practice eligibility. Think broadly about what experience you can take away from a clinic -- don't limit yourself to clinics that are directly in your planned practice area. Be sure to look at the course schedules for the clinic compared to other courses you need to take, to avoid schedule conflicts. (You must attend the scheduled seminar and there cannot be any overlap with another course.)

Note that enrollment in a yearlong clinic is likely to preclude your ability to also enroll in a Spring clinic - it's practically difficult to find the time, and you would have to obtain both directors' permission and wait until the end of Spring add/drop to see if there are still seats available. This is why the lottery process in the summer applies to both Fall/Yearlong and Spring.

We recommend ranking more than one clinic to ensure that you will end up with a clinic experience. Students who participated in the clinic lottery but did not end up enrolled in a clinic in the past either ranked only one very popular clinic, or had not satisfied a prerequisite. Nevertheless, the great majority of students who participated were enrolled in a clinic. If you rank 2-4 clinics, you are very likely to be enrolled in one of them.

Do people who apply earlier in the process get preference?
Not as to the formal application/lottery process. Directors of application clinics will make screening decisions until after the lottery ranking has closed, and then the lottery will run. So no selection processes will occur prior to the close of the lottery. That said, applying well before the deadline is advised in case of problems submitting your rankings and applications. Also, clinics that require writing samples, such as Appellate and Supreme Court, would appreciate more time to thoughtfully review them, so submitting those applications earlier in the process is highly recommended.

Once the formal process is complete, any remaining spots are filled on a first come, first served basis.

Can I drop a clinic after I am enrolled?
Generally, you must obtain instructor permission to drop any clinic once you are enrolled, and application clinics typically require you to agree that you will not drop as a condition of applying. Clinics depend on having a stable roster in order to plan commitments to clients and dockets for the following term. Additionally, it is unfair to other students who participated in the lottery and were unable to enroll in their first choice because another student took that seat, only to drop it later.

Can I take more than one clinic in a semester?
You can only obtain one clinic in the lottery, and we want to ensure that students who don't already have a clinic have a chance to enroll first. Also, serving more than one set of clients can lead to time and ethical conflicts. So, we don't encourage dual enrollment. That said, if there are seats available in a second clinic at the end of add/drop, you can request permission from both clinic directors to enroll. Use this form to obtain approvals, and submit that with your enrollment request.

If I miss the lottery/application process, can I still enroll in a clinic?
Yes! You can still add a clinic using the enrollment request form if there are any seats left. However, many clinics fill prior during the lottery, so availability will be limited; additionally, application clinics typically will still require an application to add. Client assignments and orientations often happen during the first class if not shortly before the semester starts, so be sure to reach out to the clinic director before the semester starts and plan to attend the first class, whether or not you have been formally enrolled.

Is there a limit to how many clinics I can take while at UVA?
No -- you can take a clinic every semester during your 2L and 3L year if you like!