Civil Rights Clinic (YR)

LAW8649
Section 1, Fall 23

Schedule Information

Enrollment: 6/8
Credits: 4
Days Time Room Start Date End Date

Thu

 		1150-1350 SL268 08/29/2023 12/06/2023

Course Description

This year students in the Civil Rights Clinic will use multiple advocacy tools to promote justice in Virginia’s criminal legal system and support the work of the Civil Rights & Racial Justice (CRRJ) Program at the Legal Aid Justice Center. Students will learn about the various release mechanisms available to individuals detained in Virginia (and those that are not available to Virginians) and will represent an individual in their pursuit for parole. Students will work in teams of two to thoroughly investigate, engage in deep relationship building, identify the strongest strategy for release, and present their client’s case to the Virginia Parole Board in the hope of securing release. In addition, students will be assigned to support each of the CRRJ’s campaigns and cases; these include fines and fees, pretrial justice, and policing. Students will go to inter-LAJC meetings for that campaign, do a deep academic dive into the subject area, and complete the various legal research, writing, and advocacy tasks that come up in that campaign throughout the semester. By second semester, the students will be a subject matter expert in their campaign’s area of study. Finally, students will be introduced to the fundamentals of civil rights litigation through class discussion and supporting impact litigation cases in Virginia around prison conditions and police misconduct. If potential clinic students have questions, please feel free to reach out to Maisie ([email protected]) or Akiva ([email protected]).

Course Requirements

Exam Information

Final Type (if any): None

Description: None

Written Work Product

Students will engage in casework on multiple campaigns throughout the year and will be responsible for drafting memoranda, correspondence, legal pleadings, and policy materials as assigned projects dictate.

Other Course Details

Prerequisites: There are no required course prerequisites, but these are recommended: Constitutional Criminal Procedure; Trial Advocacy; Federal Courts; Civil Rights Litigation. Because the credits in this course count toward the JD Program Professional Skills requirement, JD candidates will be given enrollment priority for this class. Concurrencies: None

Exclusive With: None

Laptops Allowed: Yes

First Day Attendance Required: Yes

Course Resources: To be announced.

Course Notes: During the fall and spring semesters, students will meet weekly for two hours at the Legal Aid Justice Center (1000 Preston Ave.) for instruction and case supervision. During the fall semester, the two hour weekly class session will include the clinical seminar, which will provide students with an understanding of the legal obstacles confronting low-income communities, the various legal systems and settings in which the students will work, and generalized instruction regarding civil rights advocacy. It also will include case and project supervision, where students will meet in small groups with their supervising attorneys. During the spring semester, the majority of the two hour weekly class session will be spent on case and project supervision. Students will meet with supervising attorneys outside of weekly supervision as necessary. Because students may participate in frequent visits to correctional centers, a background check may be required. IMPORTANT: All clinic participants must attend an “Orientation to Law Clinics at LAJC” session at the start of the semester. This session will provide clinic participants with necessary information about working with LAJC and its client community. It will likely be held on Monday, August 28 from 10 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. NOTE REGARDING CREDITS: Of the eight credits awarded for this clinic, four will receive a Satisfactory (S) or Unsatisfactory (U) grade at the conclusion of the fall semester, and four will receive a grade of Honors (H), Pass (P) or Fail (F) at the conclusion of the spring semester. In accordance with Academic Policy, H and P grades do not earn grading points, so they do not contribute to a student's grade point average (GPA).

Graduation Requirements

Satisfies Understanding Bias/Racism/Cross-Cultural Competency requirement: Yes

Satisfies Writing Requirement: No

Credits For Prof. Skills Requirement: Yes

Satisfies Professional Ethics: No

Additional Course Information

Schedule No.: 123819806

Modified Type: Clinical (Excl.)

Cross Listed: No

Waitlist Count: 0

Concentrations: Democracy and Civil Rights , Litigation and Procedure , Public Service and Leadership , Race and Law

Information reflected on this page was last refreshed at: Tuesday, June 18, 2024 - 9:26 AM *

*During open enrollment periods, live enrollment data may be found in SIS.