Clinics at Columbia Law School

Columbia Law School

CLINICAPPLICATIONS

and

INFORMATION

For all ClinicsOffered

FALL 2016

CLINICS AT COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL

REGISTRATION FOR FALL 2016

WHY TAKE A CLINIC?

Clinical legal education is the study of law and lawyering in context. You will work with real clients on real problems. You will begin the lifelong process of becoming capable, thoughtful, responsible and reflective lawyers. Students, under the close supervision of their clinical professors, are encouraged to identify and pursue their own learning goals while providing essential representation to a wide range of clients and causes. Clinic students test their strengths as they take on increasing responsibility for their clients’ cases and projects, knowing they have the watchful supervision of experienced teachers, yet feeling the profound weight of working on important and often personal matters. Students become counselors, mediators, litigators, and educators as they learn to apply legal knowledge and other skills to their clients’ diverse concerns.

WHAT CLINICS ARE OFFERED IN FALL 2016?**

Adolescent Representation Clinic

Challenging the Consequences of Mass Incarceration Clinic

Community Enterprise Clinic

Environmental Law Clinic

Human Rights Clinic

Immigrants’ Rights Clinic

Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic

Mediation Clinic

COURSE CREDITS?

Each clinic awards 7 points of clinical credit, counting towards graduation. JD students are allowed 30 clinical points.

HOW DO I GET MORE INFORMATION?

Live Events to Learn More:

Monday, March 28, 2016: 12:30 – 1:45 P.M. JG 103

Presentations by the Clinical Faculty

Pizza will be served

Wednesday, April 6, 2016: 12:30 – 1:45 P.M. JG Case Lounge – 7th Fl.

Open House (Kosher & non-Kosher refreshments) with current/former Clinic students

At least one student from each of the clinics being offered will be available for questions

Follow up questions:

If you have questions about a particular clinic, please speak with or e-mail the faculty member in charge of that clinic, before or after the presentation. If you have questions about procedures, please call 212-854-4291, or e-mail .

** Incarceration and the Family and Sexuality and Gender Law Clinics will be offered in Spring 2017.

STATEMENT ON DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVENESS

The Columbia Law School clinical program is dedicated to fostering an educational environment that accepts and fully includes all students. We seek to recognize an expansive and evolving understanding of diversity, encompassing considerations of race, ethnicity, culture, gender, age, religious status, socio-economic background, family history of post-baccalaureate opportunity, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status and life experience. We believe that diversity and inclusion in our clinical program enhance the intellectual experience for all and contribute to the betterment of the legal profession.

EQUAL ACCESS STATEMENT

Columbia University and the Law School’s clinical program are dedicated to facilitating equal access for students with disabilities and to cultivating a culture that is sensitive and responsive to the needs of students. To request an accommodation for a disability during participation in a law school clinic, students are welcome to reach out to the University’s Office of Disability Services, to the law school’s Academic Counselors in Student Services (for instance, Joel Kosman), or to their clinic professors directly. (Students may decide whether or not to inform their professors of any accommodations, as they prefer.)

APPLICATION PROCEDURE AND DEADLINES

If you are interested in taking a clinic in Fall 2016, please pay attention to the schedule below. It is designed to let you know, prior to pre-registration for other classes, whether you have been accepted into a clinic.

Monday, March 28 through noon Monday, April 11, 2016. This is the application period.

Follow the instructions on the attached application forms concerning interviews, submission of resumes, etc. Please note that you must complete the appropriate questionnaire for each clinic to which you are applying in addition to the single cover page that can be used for all clinics. However, you only need to submit one resume with the entire application. Students are strongly encouraged to complete the application process prior to the end of the application period.

APPLICATIONS MUST BE EMAILED NO LATER THAN APRIL 11TH at 5:00 P.M. TO

SPECIAL NOTE: If you have substantial changes in your situation, after your application has been submitted (such as considering taking an externship in the same term), you MUST notify the Clinical faculty in writing with this information.

Wednesday, April 27th – 5:00 p.m. - Students will receive notice via e-mail if they have been accepted into a clinic. All students not selected in the first round will be put on a waiting list for consideration in the event that someone selected in the first round is unable to accept.

Please note:You will automatically be placed on the waiting list for all the clinics for which you applied and will not receive an e-mail unless a spot opens up.

Friday, April 29th – Students who have been accepted into a clinic must accept offers by 12:00 noon today. PLEASE do not accept an offer unless you actually will register for and take the clinic during FALL 2016. We encourage students to speak to clinic professors and students who have taken CLS clinics during the application period to understand the requirements of a clinic before accepting a place. It is important that clinic spaces, which are heavily in demand, do not go unfilled and that waiting list students are not disadvantaged by late entry into a clinic. Follow the accept/decline procedure set forth in the e-mail you receive. The Clinic Administrator will enroll you in the clinic during early registration period.

Monday, May 2nd – Students on the waiting list will receive notice by 5:00p.m., if they have been accepted for a clinic.

Wednesday, May 4th – Students accepted from the waiting list must follow the accept/decline procedures by12:00 noon.

AFTER APPLICATION PERIOD IS OVER. Sometimes spaces become available for clinics after the application period has finished. Students will be notified by e-mail if a space becomes available before the beginning of the FALL 2016 semester.

FALL 2016 CLINIC APPLICATION

Name______Year of graduation______

Phone: Day______Evening______

Please indicate below your clinic preferences with “1" being your first choice, etc.

______Adolescent Representation Clinic

______Challenging the Consequences of Mass Incarceration Clinic

______Community Enterprise Clinic

______Environmental Law Clinic

______Human Rights Clinic

______Immigrants’ Rights Clinic

______Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic

______Mediation Clinic

Clinic(s) previously taken: Please give name of clinic(s) and semester in which you were enrolled: ______

Other than the clinic(s) listed in the previous answer, have you previously applied for any clinic(s)? _____Yes _____No

If yes, please give the name of the clinic(s) and the semester in which you applied______

Courses you have taken or will be taking related to the subject matter of the clinic(s) for which you are applying. (Consult descriptions of individual clinics for information on pre- and co-requisites).

______

Please describe any skills in languages other than English:

______

Please list all extra-curricular activities or obligations (including journals, jobs, etc.) in which you will be engaged next semester and the hours per week you expect to spend on each:

______hours per week

______hours per week

How did you learn about the clinics?______

Any suggestions for other ways to get the word out?______

ATTACHED ARE SUPPLEMENTAL PAGES, ONE FOR EACH OF THE OFFERINGS. AFTER COMPLETING THIS PAGE, PLEASE COMPLETE THE PAGES FOR ALL CLINICS FOR WHICH YOU ARE APPLYING. IN ADDITION, PLEASE INCLUDE ONE COPY OF YOUR RESUME WITH THIS APPLICATION.

Adolescent Representation Clinic

Professor Jane M. Spinak

The ARC will not be offered as a full year clinic this year

Fall Semester: 12 students will be accepted

Spring Semester: Students may continue in the spring semester this year; there will be continuing casework and may be an accompanying seminar tba

Fall Class meeting time: Tuesday 3:10-5:50 pm; Thursday 3:10-5:50 pm

Credits: (fall semester: 7 points; spring semester: flexible in consultation with professor; automatic minor writing credit 1st semester; major writing credit option)

The Adolescent Representation Clinic represents youth and young adults on collateral issues relating to their aging out of foster care or other institutional settings. Most of these clients range in age from 16 to 23. The issues involved extend across a broad spectrum of need and may include housing and homelessness prevention; teen pregnancy and parenting; health and health benefits; income and support benefits; education, tuition and financial aid benefits; financial planning; civil rights including LGBTQ issues; job training and career planning; identify theft and credit; and inheritance. Students problem-solve and negotiate on behalf of their clients as well as appear in administrative hearings and court proceedings. Students paired in teams will represent 2-4 clients referred from the Juvenile Rights Practice of the Legal Aid Society, Lawyers for Children, foster care agencies and community-based organizations.

The clinic has four components:

• Seminar in Representing Adolescents and Young Adults: a weekly seminar will focus on the unique attributes of adolescents and young adults as viewed from multiple disciplines including medicine, law, sociology, and psychology. In addition to law students enrolled in the clinic, graduate students from other disciplines may enroll in the seminar portion of the clinic in order to explore adolescence from multiple perspectives. Guest lecturers include advocates, family court judges, youth in foster care, and mental health professionals.

• Class and Simulation Exercises to prepare for casework: students will participate in intensive simulation practice, being introduced to basic lawyering skills including interviewing and counseling, case development and strategy, complex problem solving, and preparation for negotiation or litigation. Because of the unique requirements of representing youth and young adults, students engage in additional interdisciplinary learning beyond the seminar component, using the approaches and knowledge of many disciplines to represent the clients effectively. There will be an additional “boot camp” class one Friday in September to jump start students’ abilities to begin representing clients.

• Client Representation: students will begin to represent clients in October following the intensive introduction to representation. Students will be teamed in pairs for casework. Each team will meet weekly with Professor Spinak for case supervision. Once case representation begins, some portion of the classes devoted to case preparation will be structured for case rounds so that students will be aware of and learn from their colleagues’ cases. Once casework has begun, students should expect to devote at least 20 hours per week to clinic-related activities.

• Law Reform, Education and Policy Work: recent clinic students researched and wrote a report on housing instability for youth aging out of foster care with the goal of

developing solutions for policy and law makers to reduce housing instability and homelessness. This report was based on the experiences of clinic clients and our advocacy on their behalf over the last several years. This coming year, this report will serve as the basis for systemic advocacy in collaboration with other groups. All clinic students will be able to participate in developing and executing this advocacy campaign, which is expected to include policy, lobbying and legislative components.

Students with a wide range of backgrounds and/or ultimate career interests are encouraged to apply. Graduates of the clinic enter public service and private practice careers, frequently using their clinic experience to develop pro bono opportunities in the private sector. Students will focus on their own professional goals for the year, identifying specific skills or professional attributes they would like to develop or enhance in preparation for making the transition into the legal profession. The clinic will encompass professional responsibility and ethical practice issues as well as explorations into the role of law and legal practice in a just society.

To read about some of our advocacy this year, click here:

Challenging the Consequences of Mass Incarceration

ProfessorBrett Dignam

One Semester

Credits: 7 points of credit

Writing credit: Writing credit is available by arrangement with the Professor

Enrollment: Ten students will be accepted

Challenging the Consequences of Mass Incarceration is a clinic that will focus on litigation in federal court and resolution of claims primarily related to prisoners’ conditions of confinement. Students will visit clients in state and federal prisons where they will interview, counsel and develop strategies. In collaboration with non-profit organizations and subject to the law student intern rules, clinic students will litigate issues identified by the clients.

Students will work with clients to develop materials clients can used to prepare internal prison administrative remedies and to file administrative claims. Although the identification of cases will be done collaboratively with the clients, projects may include civil rights actions in EDNY and SDNY and state court litigation of adverse parole decisions. It is anticipated that claims related to medical care, mental health and excessive force may also become part of the clinic’s docket.

To prepare for this work, students will read and discuss writings about punishment theory, the history of American prisons and the substantive law governing prisoners’ rights. To develop the skills they will need to work with clients, students will participate in intensive simulated interview exercises. Other legal skills, including counseling, negotiation, oral argument, preparation of pleadings, briefs and other litigation related writing will be taught and acquired in the context of client representation. Students will be encouraged to raise, reflect on and discuss relevant issues of professional responsibility that arise in work with confined, indigent clients.

Community Enterprise Clinic
Professor Barbara A. Schatz
One semester with option to continue casework for credit in the spring semester.

Credits: 7 credits.

Writing credit: Minor writing credit will be awarded. Major writing credit is available by arrangement with professor.
Enrollment: 8students.
Class meeting time: Tuesday 4:20 to 6:10 PM and Thursday 3:00 to 5:50 PM.

Grading:Letter grade

NOTE: In 2016-2017, the Community Enterprise Clinic will be offered in the fall semester only.

Goals

Non-profits are an important sector of our economy and are growing in significance in countries throughout the world. Small businesses are important players in community economic development. Social enterprises seek to accomplish social or environmental goals through business strategies and are part of a growing movement to combine business and charity. The goal of this clinic is to help students to become effective and ethical lawyers by providing high quality transactional representation to all three kinds of organizations. An additional aspect of the Clinic involves helping students to achieve personal goals related to becoming professionals, e.g., learning to collaborate with a partner, improving time-management, improving ability to work with people of different age, race or economic status, enjoying work as a lawyer.

Cases and Projects

Non-profits

Our non-profit clients include a wide range of community groups and arts organizations, both start-ups and mature organizations. Recent clients include a group which assists victims of domestic violence, an organization formed to help the ultra-poor on three continents to develop livelihoods, a Harlem charter school, a network of organizations helping the formerly incarcerated to succeed in higher education, a New York City group which supports and educates about Native American art, and the residents association of a public housing project.
The work for start-up non-profits generally involves counseling the client as to whether non-profit status is appropriate; helping the client to choose and create an appropriate entity for the conduct of the organization’s programs; developing a governance structure and drafting by-laws, conflict of interest and other corporate policies, applying for federal and local income tax exemptions; advising the organization on prospective corporate and tax obligations; and taking

other legal steps necessary to the implementation of the organization’s programs.
Projects for mature non-profits have included: simplifying a multi-corporation enterprise, helping an organization choose a corporate and tax structure for a business activity, helping a successful local organization create a national structure,reviewing and drafting leases and contracts, creating structures through which charities can participate in the political process and advising on trademark and copyright issues. Interested students can work with organizations on issues like board development andstrategicplanning.

Small businesses
Our small business clients have run the gamut from family day care providers and chefs to jewelry designers, music teachers and inventors. Most come from or serve low income communities and all are unable to afford market rates for legal services. Typical projects include helping entrepreneurs to choose and form appropriate business structures, enter into leases and

other contracts and comply with regulatory requirements.

Social enterprises

Recent social enterprise clients have included a tutoring/test prep service for minority kids, a consulting company focused on environmental projects in the Caribbean, and an enterprise formed to provide training and employment opportunities for developmentally disabled people. Our work for these clients parallels the work for both non-profits and small businesses, whose worlds they straddle.

Community Legal Education
In some semesters, students offer seminars and workshops for non-profits and community entrepreneurs on corporate, tax and regulatory issues. They also participate in law reform projects related to our clients (e.g., the Clinic led an effort to improve the way two state agencies exercise their regulatory role with respect to non-profits).