The Life of the Law has not been Logic; it has been Experience. Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Common Law

The clinical programs at Southern New England School of Law help students transform their learning of the law into its practice while also providing opportunities for students to enhance the lives of those who live in our neighboring communities.

Our curriculum emphasizes the importance of clinical courses as a core part of the law school curriculum, and reflects the Skills and Values Mission Statement written in the early 1990s by a Committee of the American Bar Association. That Statement listed the skills and values that all law students need to be exposed to while in law school, including the following:

Skills

1. Solving a problem or accomplishing an objective;
2. Analyzing and applying legal rules and principles;
3. Identifying legal issues and researching them thoroughly and efficiently;
4. Participating in factual investigations;
5. Communicating effectively, whether orally or in writing;
6. Counseling clients;
7. Negotiating in either a dispute-resolution or transactional context;
8. Employing or advising a client about the option of litigation and alternative dispute resolution;
9. Practicing effectively, familiarizing themselves with the skills and concepts required for efficient management; and
10. Representing a client consistently with applicable ethical standards.

Values

1. Providing competent, professional, and ethical representation to one’s clients;
2. Promoting justice, fairness, and morality in society;
3. Contributing to the improvement of the legal profession;
4. Seeking constantly to improve one’s skills, expertise; and
5. Making professional judgments through study, reflection, and discussion.

These are the skills and values that are covered in our clinical courses. Students will be addressing a variety of them in each clinical course, but should understand that not all of the listed skills and values will be addressed in each course.

In law clinics, students interact directly with clients who would not otherwise have legal representation. Through these experiences, students enhance their legal skills while providing important services.

The Law School’s first 'live client' clinic, the Legal Services Clinic, began its operations during the fall of 1998; later, in the fall of 2002, the Immigration Law Clinic opened its doors. Beginning during the 2005-06 school year, the Non-Profit Clinic will be able to serve the special needs of our evening-weekend students while attending to the needs of the community for assistance with their small business endeavors and non-profit organizations.

In addition to the live-client clinics, we also offer a large variety of Field Placements, including an international placement with the International 'Criminal Tribunals for Serbia and the Former Yugoslavia'; judicial internships; credits for volunteering in law offices that concentrate in areas reflecting the subject matter being studied in a class; simulation classes in which students practice specific legal skills; and trial advocacy classes. Each of these offerings, described in detail below, offers an excellent way for students to develop professionally by acting as lawyers while being supervised by their professors. Students who enroll in these classes will find that, upon graduation, they are already well prepared to practice law, having already learned many of the skills necessary for their practices.

The Law School faculty believes it important that students acquire the skills and values necessary for satisfying careers; the faculty also wants to ensure that the members of the neighboring community who are unable to afford private attorneys access the justice system. Thus, the faculty has adopted a 'practical skills' requirement, which mandates that students take at least 6 credits of skills courses. For further information on clinical programs at the Law School, please contact Professor Irene Scharf, Dean for Clinical Programs, or Crystal Desirey, paralegal, at 508-998-9600, extension 174.

Comments from Clinic Students

Immigration Law Clinic

3 credits (one semester), enrollment limited to 7

Legal Services Clinic

6 credits (one semester), enrollment limited to 4

Pre or co-requisites: Legal Ethics and Evidence; must have completed 28 credit hours (to ensure eligibility for Rule 3:03 certification).

Students, supervised by an experienced legal services attorney, spend one semester providing legal services to indigent clients living in the New Bedford area. The Clinic is located in one of the city’s legal services offices, The New Center for Legal Advocacy, in downtown New Bedford. Cases range from family law to landlord-tenant law to government benefits. Students in the clinic attend weekly class seminars with clinical faculty. Students have prime responsibility for handling their clients’ cases, including court room experience as lead counsel, and are expected to average 20 hours each week in their clinic work.

3 or 4 credits (offered Spring semester), enrollment limited to 12, graded high pass/pass/fail

Permission of instructor required prior to registration

Pre or co-requisite: Legal Ethics. Must have completed 28 credit hours.  May be taken only once. Judicial placement requires a minimum 78 GPA and a writing sample.

Law Students may enroll in one of over 50 placements in a public or private law office, or with a Judge in the Court System.  In addition to attending classes, students work in their placement under the supervision of a judge, practicing attorney, or other appropriate expert, gaining practical skills in a real-world setting.  In the judicial placement students observe a judge in chambers, conduct research, and discuss aspects of the court cases and other issues concerning the judiciary.  The Professor will communicate regularly with the judge about the student's progress.  The Placement concludes with a formal evaluation meeting between the judge and the student.  The Judge will also complete a formal written evaluation of the student's work.  For the 3-credit option, students must spend at least 150 hours during the semester at the law office; for the 4-credit option the number of hours is 200.  In class, students discuss their experiences and focus on various ethical issues they encounter in practice.  Class discussions may also encompass setting up a law office and the theory and practice of legal skills such as interviewing, counseling, negotiating, mediating, ets.

Community Development Clinic

3 credits, ( one semester ) Enrollment limited to 7

Pre or co-requisites;  Legal Ethics,  must have completed 28 credit hours.

Preference will be given to qualified evening students.

Permission of the Professor is required prior to registration.

Students, supervised by a law school professor, spend one semester representing non-profit organizations in the South Coast area.  Work will include drafting corporate documents, preparing state and federal filings, conducting legal audits and reviewing contracts. Clinic students will attend a weekly two hour seminar that will provide training in the substance of non-profit law.  A mandatory orientation session will be held on one evening during the first week of the semester and in an extended class session at the first class.  Students will average 10 hours each week in their clinic work.

International Intensive Field Placement: Criminal Tribunals for Serbia and the Former Yugoslavia

12 credits, enrollment limited to 3 third-year students, graded pass/fail

Permission of the supervisor/professor is required prior to registration

Prerequisite: International Law

This program offers a unique opportunity to work on-site at one of two locales: the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), located in the Hague, Netherlands; or the ICTR for Rwanda, located in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, whose appeals chamber sits in The Hague. Typical work will include investigating pending cases and drafting indictments in settings that are principal focal points for the current development of international law. Students will work with members of the Office of the Prosecutor for approximately 30 hours per week. They will also attend classes to compliment their real-world experiences, which may include training by professional staff from the Office of the Prosecutor. Students will maintain regular journal entries to be reviewed by their supervisor/professor and that may also serve as a basis for classroom discussion. Among other things, the supervisor/professor will provide work assignments, feedback on work product, exposure to various aspects of lawyering, and mini-lectures. Students will prepare an independent research paper of approximately 15 pages in length that will be presented in The Hague and reviewed by the supervisor/professor. Evaluation will be based on written and oral performance and on the final written project.

1 credit, graded pass/fail

Co-requisite: Enrollment in subject-matter course related to placement; must have completed 28 credit hours.

Students not presently enrolled in a Clinic or Field Placement Program may volunteer at least five hours each week with a lawyer who practices in a substantive area covered in a course in which the student is enrolled. The professor and student will meet several times during the semester to discuss issues of law arising in the placement. This credit option is appropriate for students who have already taken the Field Placement Program, Immigration Clinic, or Legal Services Clinic, or who do not have the time to devote to those classes but would like to acquire real-life law office experience while still in law school. There is no limit to the number of times a student may enroll in this credit option, nor is there an enrollment limit, but it is contingent on the availability of both an appropriate placement and agreement of the course professor.