Access to Justice Clinic - Education Access Advocacy Division

Potential clients seeking representation should reach out to [email protected].

Students will be selected based on their potential to provide high quality, client-centered legal services to our client population. Faculty will consider students’ interest in and commitment to education law, administrative litigation, civil litigation practice, advocacy on behalf of students, and/or litigation generally. Students who have not yet been able to explore these areas should not be deterred from applying but should explain in their applications their interest in and enthusiasm about working on these issues.

Interested students must fill out the Uniform Clinic Application from the Law School's student portal website under "Clinics," where a complete set of application instructions are posted at least a few weeks prior to registration. Students may contact Dean Johnson to discuss the Clinic generally or to ask specific questions. Permission of the professor is required prior to registration. Students may not enroll in a Field Placement and a Clinic at the same time without prior approval of both departments.

In the 1-credit seminar, students focus on advocacy skills, relevant regulations, and Constitutional arguments. Classroom exercises prepare students for the legal work they will engage in. In the seminar, students also learn the substantive law they need to engage in their lawyering work. Finally, in seminar, students consider access to justice and how to reform our legal system to address bias, discrimination, and injustice. The seminar is taught collaboratively with faculty who direct other divisions of the Access to Justice Clinic.

Students may also handle other types of DCPS cases on behalf of DCPS students.

Students will meet with their supervisors on a weekly basis outside of the seminar to review and discuss the case and client counseling. Supervisors review and provide feedback on all documents and on all client counseling sessions.

This 2-credit clinic is intended to provide a clinical experience to students who may not have the ability to devote more credits or time to lawyering work. At the same time, students will be engaged in the practice of law, which can be unpredictable and demanding. Students will be expected to devote an average of 7 hours per week to their Clinic work. The work will ebb and flow during the semester, requiring substantially more work when working under a particular deadline and less work between deadlines. We ask that students be prepared to be as flexible as possible and that they understand that litigation schedules are often driven by judges and clients rather than by lawyers. Students are required to attend a full-day Orientation either the weekend before classes begin or the weekend after.