Clinic Courses
Please review the rules and regulations. Information regarding student practice as a legal intern pursuant to Admission to Practice Rule 9 can be found at the Washington State Bar Association Web site.
Administrative Law Clinic
(3 credits) ADMN-400 (Spring)
Students will represent clients in administrative hearings before Washington State Administrative Law Judges. Student teams must maintain office hours in the Clinic offices two days a week for a total of four hours a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. The days and times for office hours will be determined based on each student team’s schedule. Students will be required to attend a clinic class one day per week. This course will be letter-graded.
Pre or Co-requisite: Administrative Law
Arts Legal Clinic
(1 credit) INTP-401 (Offered each semester)
This course is a collaboration between the Law School and Washington Lawyers for the Arts, a non-profit organization. Students in the clinic will work with two experienced intellectual property attorneys who serve as adjunct faculty. On the second and fourth Mondays of each month, students will participate with the adjunct faculty in interviewing and advising artists and others seeking legal assistance regarding intellectual property issues. On the remaining Monday(s) of each month, the faculty will engage the students in a variety of lawyering skills activities, including discussions of interviews from the prior week, simulated skills exercises drawing on current developments in intellectual property law, and activities devoted to ethics and professionalism. This course must be taken pass/fail. This course does not fulfill the professional skills requirement for graduation.
Prerequisites: Intellectual Property and at least one of the following: Copyright Law, Trademark Law, IP Licensing, or Business Entities
Community Development and Entrepreneurship Clinic
(4 credits) BUSN-400 (Fall and Winter)
Law students will be teamed with Management students from the Albers School of Business to assist local residents with new and existing business ventures. Clients will be referred to the Clinic by area microlenders. Interdisciplinary student teams will work with law and business faculty and also volunteer mentors from the legal and business communities. Students will need to be available outside of class time for meetings with clients, partners, supervising faculty and others involved in the projects. Class sessions will emphasize principles, skills and values in forming a company from both business and legal perspectives, and will provide an opportunity to pinpoint and discuss significant issues or themes arising in the course of the client representation. The Clinic will run 10 weeks in the fall and 10 weeks in the winter, consistent with the University’s (i.e., not the Law School’s) standard Academic Calendar.
Prerequisite or co-requisite: Business Entities
Domestic Violence Clinic
(6 credits) FAML-430-A (Spring)
Students in the Domestic Violence Clinic represent domestic violence survivors who are seeking protection from abuse, typically through orders for protection. Protection orders typically prohibit abusers from contacting, coming near, or committing acts of domestic violence against the survivors and their children. Courts may also award child custody, require the respondent to vacate a shared residence, mandate that the respondent participate in the domestic violence perpetrator treatment program, and provide other relief necessary to prevent violence. Working in teams of two, students will conduct initial interviews, counsel clients regarding legal and non-legal options, and file pleadings. Students will perform legal research and fact investigation, negotiate with opposing counsel, and may conduct evidentiary hearings and oral arguments. Some students in the Domestic Violence Clinic may represent clients petitioning to change their immigration status under the Violence Against Women Act.
Under clinic faculty supervision, students will have the opportunity to represent several clients during the semester, to assist clients with legal remedies and their immediate safety needs, to problem-solve concerning the barriers to leaving an abusive relationship, and to evaluate the benefits and limits of these interventions into the complex problem of domestic violence.
The classroom component of the Domestic Violence Clinic meets twice a week. The seminar addresses the theory and practice of advocacy, along with the dynamics of domestic violence and systemic interventions and responses. The seminar will be taught largely through discussion, simulations, and in-class exercises. Students will be expected to keep 9 hours of regularly-scheduled office hours each week. During these hours, students will be expected to work in the Clinic (e.g., meeting with their partner, supervising faculty, or clients; doing research; drafting pleadings; and preparing for trials or oral arguments). Given the responsibilities of representing clients, students should plan to spend an additional 10 hours per week on their cases. Students need to have sufficient flexibility to attend several court hearings during the semester.
Students must be Rule 9 eligible.
Prerequisite: Evidence
Co-Requisite: Professional Responsibility
Recommended: Domestic Violence Law
Participation in the Clinic requires compliance with the Clinic's conflict of interest rules which, among other restrictions, preclude concurrent employment with certain agencies. Please read the conflict of interest rules on the Clinic website under "Rules and Regulations."
Immigration Law Clinic
(3 credits) IMMG-400 (Spring)
Students enrolled in the Immigration Clinic will provide legal representation to clients in immigration proceedings. Students will get involved at various stages of these proceedings, which may include proceedings before Immigration Officers, Immigration Courts, Board of Immigration Appeals or Circuit Courts of Appeals. The primary responsibilities would include: interviewing clients in immigration custody, investigating facts, conducting legal research, preparing memoranda, motions and legal briefs, and conducting oral argument. The typical advocacy involves disputing the legal grounds for inadmissibility and/ or deportability, and seeking relief from deportation in the form of adjustment of status, cancellation of removal, asylum from persecution (because of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or social group), and deferral of removal under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT).
International Human Rights Clinic
(4 credits) INTL-402 (Offered each semester)
The International Human Rights Clinic offers students the opportunity to work with foreign and domestic clients before international and regional human rights bodies. Students will also collaborate with human rights organizations on research and advocacy projects. Furthermore, there may be opportunities to work on cases filed in U.S. courts that incorporate elements of international law.
In addition to project work, the course has a seminar component that presents knowledge and skills essential for lawyers in this dynamic field. The interactive approach covers relevant legal principles, theory, and case law, and--on the pragmatic side--features in-class exercises designed to hone critical skills. The International Human Rights Clinic is a graded course with a substantial time commitment; it may not be taken pass/fail.
Prerequisite or co-requisite: International Human Rights, Public International Law, or Rights of Women: Intl. and Comparative Law
Mediation Clinic
(3 credits) ALDR-410 (Fall)
The Mediation Clinic offers students the opportunity to delve deeply into the theory and practice of mediation by serving as co-mediator in employment discrimination cases. The class will be comprised of a classroom component and a casework component. In the classroom component, students will explore and develop the skills necessary to serve as mediators and will participate in a series of mock mediation sessions. In the casework component, students will observe, prepare for and co-mediate (with faculty support) actual employment discrimination cases. Students will also be required to engage in on-going debriefing sessions, to keep a journal of their observations and experiences and to submit their journal to the instructor. The EEOC schedules its mediations for an 8-hour period. Any particular mediation may take less or more than this.
Prerequisites: In order to be eligible to enroll in this course, a student must have:
- Taken the Mediation course (also called Problem Solving II); or
- Completed (or commit to completing before the start of the fall semester) a 40-hour Basic Mediation Training offered by an approved organization; or
- Had sufficient experience/training as a mediator (as decided by the Mediation Clinic instructor in advance of registration).
Mental Health Court Clinic
(3 credits) MENT-400-A
Students in the Mental Health Court Clinic will represent clients in one of the nation's first and most successful courts designed specifically to address the needs of mentally-ill individuals charged with crime. Participating in this pioneering approach to these difficult cases as part of the defense team run by the Association of Counsel for the Accused (a King County public defense firm), students will interview and counsel clients, participate in multi-disciplinary team meetings at the court, and advocate for clients in treatment reviews and competency hearings.
Requirements: Students will need to have one afternoon a week (other than Friday) free of class obligations from noon to 4 p.m., in order to be present at Court when needed to observe or participate in proceedings.
In addition, there will be a training session from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the second Friday of the semester, January 22. This session will include presentations by a range of professionals from different disciplines involved with the Mental Health Court as well as lawyering simulations.
Students must be Rule 9 eligible.
Pre-requisite: Law, Policy and Mental Health
Recommended: Client Counseling and Negotiation
Not for Profit Organization Clinic
(2 credits) TAXL-400 (Spring)
Students in this Clinic will have the opportunity to put their interest in and knowledge of business and tax law into practice. Working in teams of two, students will work with individuals and community groups interested in creating a non-profit organization. Students will counsel their clients on the most appropriate entity for their purposes and prepare and file the documents necessary to create the organization, such as articles of incorporation, bylaws and state and federal tax documents. Students will also advise their clients about the various state laws and regulations with which the clients will need to comply. Students will receive the additional knowledge and skills necessary to do this legal representation in a classroom component. Beginning the third week of the semester, students must also maintain office hours in the Clinic offices twice a week for two hours each session. Office hours will be established based on the schedules of each student team. This course must be taken pass/fail.
Prerequisite: Individual Income Tax and Taxation of Charitable Organizations
Predatory Lending Clinic
(3 credits) ADVC-410 (Fall)
The Predatory Lending Clinic will focus on consumer protection, civil litigation, and mortgage foreclosures. Students will represent clients in predatory lending matters relating to home mortgages, mortgage modifications, and unfair practices related to mortgage modification and debt relief. Students will have the chance to engage a wide range of civil practice on behalf of their clients: factual investigation, pleading and discovery, counseling, negotiation, and pretrial or settlement conferences. Students will also engage in community projects, educating laypersons on topics of their choice related to debt collection, mortgage lending laws, payday loans, refund anticipation loans, check cashing institutions, and other forms of alternative financial services. If you enroll, you must attend the classroom component (which will be 75 minutes twice per week) and maintain office hours in the Law Clinic. As you may be conducting pre-trial motions and discovery and trials under supervision, you must be Rule 9 eligible.
Pre- or co-requisites: Professional Responsibility and Comprehensive Pretrial Advocacy. Maximum enrollment: 8.
Trusts and Estates/Indian Trusts and Estates Clinic
(3 credits) ESTA-400 (Fall)
Students will represent a low-income elderly or disabled person in an estate planning matter, including preparation of wills, powers of attorney and health care directives. Student teams must maintain office hours in the Clinic offices for a total of four hours per week. Office hours must be scheduled on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday between 1 and 8 p.m. This clinic is available as an evening clinic. This course will be letter-graded.
Prerequisite or co-requisite: Trusts and Estates
Youth Advocacy Clinic
(6 credits) ADVC-310 (Offered each semester)
Working with attorneys from The Defender Association (a King County public defense law firm) and under the supervision of Clinic faculty, students will represent clients charged as offenders in Juvenile Court. Students will learn essential lawyering skills of interviewing, counseling, case planning, and advocacy.
Schedule Notes: The seminar component of the Clinic includes a day-long Trial Skills Workshop (on a Friday) and a day-long Mock Motion Hearing before an actual judge (on a Saturday). Interested students can learn the dates of these mandatory sessions by contacting the Clinic faculty or Office Manager. Students will be expected to maintain Office Hours in the Clinic for a total of nine hours a week.
Prerequisites: Must be eligible under Rule 9 and must have completed Evidence.
Co-requisite: Professional Responsibility.
Students completing the Civil Advocacy focus area must take Comprehensive Pretrial Advocacy before taking the Youth Advocacy Clinic.
Participation in the Clinic requires compliance with the Clinic's conflict of interest rules, which are available on the Clinic web site.
Grading: This course is letter-graded.
Externships
Externships are law-related placements outside the law school, where students do legal work in law offices, agencies or courts and receive academic credit. Externships students are closely mentored by an on-site supervising attorney or judge. In addition, students must participate in a seminar conducted by the Externship Director. For more information, please see the Externship Web site or contact Nicole Cardona at 206.398.4128 or cardonan@seattleu.edu or Assistant Professor of Lawyering Skills Gillian Dutton at 206.398.4010 or duttong@seattleu.edu.
