In-House clinics are those in which students are supervised by full-time clinical faculty members. Courses include:
- Advanced Immigration Law: Seminar and Practicum
- Civil Litigation Clinic
- Community Enterprise Clinic
- Criminal Justice Clinic
- Housing Law Clinic
- Immigration Law Practicum
- Juvenile Rights Advocacy
- Women and the Law
Civil Litigation Clinic (LL97801; LL97901)
One Semester, (Fall/Spring), 7 credits (4 clinical credits, graded; 3 classroom credits graded) Variable credit (7-10 credits) and pass/fail options
Prerequisite: Students must take or have taken Evidence.
Corequisites: The Civil Litigation Clinic (LL978) and its Class (LL979) must be taken together in the same semester, either Fall or Spring.
This civil clinical course allows students the opportunity to work as practicing lawyers representing actual clients at the Boston College Legal Assistance Bureau (LAB), a legal services office founded by Boston College law students in 1968. Pursuant to the Massachusetts student practice rule (SJC 3:03), students are certified to represent clients in every aspect of litigation, including appearing in court and at federal and state administrative hearings (e.g., Social Security Administration, Division of Unemployment Assistance, and Department of Transitional Assistance). Students advise and represent clients with a variety of legal problems, including divorce and custody proceedings, landlord-tenant disputes, Social Security disability appeals, and consumer complaints. Students are responsible for their own cases and have the opportunity to plan and conduct every phase of civil litigation, from initial client interviews, through formulating a legal strategy, to counseling clients, conducting pretrial discovery and motion hearings, engaging in settlement negotiations, drafting pleadings, up to and including trials and administrative hearings, as well as drafting and arguing appeals.
Students are closely supervised by clinical faculty. Supervisors sit in on most meetings with clients, assist in the preparation for client meetings, negotiations, and court appearances, and they accompany their students to court. Supervisors provide thorough feedback to students about their work at all stages in order to help students build on their skills and learn from their experiences, including written feedback at both mid-semester and end of term. Seven-credit students are expected to spend an average of 20-25 hours/week on clinic matters. Ten-credit students average 30-35 hours/week. Pass/fail and variable credit options can only be exercised at the beginning of the term. In addition to individual supervision, students participate in a weekly seminar where issues related to students' actual cases are examined. The practical, legal and ethical issues of lawyering are explored in detail through discussion, simulations, and review of videotaped portions of students' meetings with their clients.
The Legal Assistance Bureau is located only 15 minutes from the law school, in Waltham. Its faculty consists of four supervising attorneys and a clinical social worker. Additional staff includes an intake worker, and a fiscal manager. Students are provided with comfortable individual workspace and voicemail, conference rooms, a computer center, access to Lexis, Westlaw, a database of approved pleadings, and a well-developed office library. Course satisfies the upper-level professional responsibility requirement. Grades are determined by evaluation of fieldwork, seminar participation, discussion board postings, and a seminar presentation and paper (reflection, not research). Students will receive one grade for both the fieldwork and seminar components. Enrollment is limited to 24 students in the Fall, and 12 in the Spring. Selection by lottery.
Community Enterprise Clinic (LL32601; LL33601)
One semester (Spring), 7 credits (4 clinical credits, graded or pass/fail; 3 classroom credits, graded or pass/fail).
Prerequisite: None
Corequisites: Community Enterprise Clinic (LL326) and its Class (LL336) must be taken together in the same semester.
This course introduces students to transactional legal work on behalf of low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs, small businesses, and non-profit organizations. The course includes fieldwork and a weekly seminar. The fieldwork is based at the Law School's clinical office known as the Legal Assistance Bureau in Waltham, four miles form the Law School. The seminar will be held a the Law School.
Students will be assigned to work in pairs with entrepreneurs who have business-related legal needs and/or a desire to create a formal business structure or entity; with emerging, community-based small businesses facing corporate, employment or similar legal issues; and with non-profit organizations or groups seeking to establish a tax-exempt organization. For fieldwork purposes, students will be assigned seven office hours per week at the clinic. Students can expect to spend an additional ten to twelve hours per week, on average, on their client representation work. The fieldwork is complemented by a weekly seminar. The seminar will address substantive law surrounding small businesses and entrepreneurship, and ethical issues encountered in corporate and non-profit practice. this course satisfies the upper-level professional responsibility requirement. No examination; grading will be based on fieldwork, and a short reflection paper. Enrollment is limited to 6 students by application.
Important note regarding the Spring, 2008 semester only: The Spring, 2008 semester will be the inaugural and pilot version of the Community Enterprise Clinic. Students who enroll in this course for this semester will have the benefit, and the responsibility, of participating in the course’s formation, its direction and its vision.
Criminal Justice Clinic (LL93501; LL90401)
BC Defenders and BC Law Prosecution Program
Defense: Full-year course, 10 credits (7 credits Fall; 3 credits Spring)
Prosecution: 7 credits Fall; (2 credits Spring, by permission only*)
Prerequisite or corequisite: Criminal Procedure, Evidence, Trial Practice
The Fall Classes: The Criminal Justice Clinic is a unique and exciting program, which examines the criminal justice system from the perspective of both defense attorneys and prosecutors. The Clinic is made up of two programs: BC Law Prosecution Program and BC Defenders. BC Defenders represent indigent clients in District Court, while student prosecutors prosecute cases under the auspices of a District Attorney's Office. Each side meets separately once a week to focus more intently on the skills particular to each profession and to discuss issues which students confront during the term. Both sides also meet in class together once a week to explore systemic issues and practical problems and to compare their experiences, analyses, and conclusions with insights gathered by students practicing on the opposite side.
Students enrolled in the course will experience, participate in, and evaluate the local criminal justice system. Through practice in a district court, combined with one-on-one supervision, class exercises, readings and discussion, students have the opportunity to closely and critically examine the functioning of the criminal justice system and measure it against conceptions of fairness. Students will reflect on their actions in the criminal justice system (with special attention paid to the attorney-client relationship and the prosecution function), and will consider the ethical and moral issues which inevitably arise in criminal casework. Students examine these and other criminal justice issues while learning the habits of mind and behavior necessary to function effectively in that system. Course satisfies the upper-level professional responsibility requirement.
BC Defenders
The BC Defenders pick up cases at arraignment, where they interview their clients for the first time and present bail arguments before a judge. Students then begin to prepare their cases, researching the legal issues, investigating the facts, and helping the client with services whenever possible. A pre-trial hearing is held usually within the first semester to finalize discovery and determine if the case can be resolved. If the case is not resolved then, the case is scheduled for jury trial during the second semester. Jury trials are held before a jury of six persons. To prepare for jury trials, students role-play their cases in the form of mock trials with group participation. Students handle misdemeanors and those felonies for which district court jurisdiction exists, such as charges of assault, larcenies, and drug offenses. Students are responsible for their own cases and are closely supervised, both in court and out of court, by the defense supervisor.
Second semester is a jury trial seminar where students complete their cases. Each case scheduled for jury trial will be performed in class as a mock trial at least once, and all students will participate as witnesses, prosecutors, jurors and critiquers. The class meets weekly for two hours for this purpose. Other mock trial classes will also be scheduled as needed. The hours of preparation are dependent upon the trial schedule, but average at least five hours of additional work per week. As a BC Defender, you will help other students with their cases as well as working on your own. There will also be opportunities for research and writing.
BC Law Prosecution Program
What is the primary task of a prosecutor? Enforcing the law? Securing convictions? Punishing offenders? Seeking justice? Even if we agree that a prosecutor's primary task is to seek justice, will we be able to articulate a shared notion of what "to seek justice" means? One of the central challenges that students will face in this clinic will be to understand and articulate the primary task of a prosecutor and how our notions (both conscious and unconscious) of authority, role, boundary, and task affect the way we take up our role. Students will join a group of assistant district attorneys in a local District Attorney's Office and take up the demanding role of prosecutor in a highly challenging local criminal justice system. Each student will become an active participant in the criminal justice system, receiving several cases during the semester, handling various charges, and appearing numerous times in an adult court session. Students are responsible for their own cases and are closely supervised, both in court and out of court. Students' experiences in court will provide the basis for a close and critical examination of the criminal justice system, which will necessarily include self-reflection and self-critique, as students analyze the various roles they take up in the system, and their own participation in the dynamics that they witness.
The Prosecution Program is a one-semester course offered only in the Fall. Students interested in taking the course should leave as many mornings as possible free for court (8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.). Please note that in the first six weeks, the prosecution program will meet for three, two-hour classes per week. *In the Spring, the Advanced Prosecution Clinic may be open to a limited number of students (by permission only) who have successfully completed this course.
Housing Law Clinic (LL41701; LL41801)
One semester (Spring only), Two options: 7 credits (4 clinical credits, graded; 3 classroom credits, graded); 10 credits (7 clinical credits and 3 classroom credits); Also pass/fail option
Prerequisite or corequisite: Evidence
This course introduces students to the pervasive problem of the threat of housing loss and homelessness in our cities. It is a clinical course in which students will litigate cases on behalf of low income clients who are at risk of becoming homeless if they lose their current housing. Most are facing eviction or the loss of government housing subsidies that they need in order to remain housed. The course includes fieldwork and a weekly seminar. The fieldwork is based at the Law School's civil clinical office known as the Legal Assistance Bureau in Waltham, 15 minutes from the Law School. The seminar will be held at the Law School.
Students who enroll in this course will be certified to practice law in Massachusetts under close clinical supervision. They will advise and represent families or individuals who are facing or experiencing having no place to live. Students can expect to defend eviction actions in local District Courts and Boston Housing Court; to represent individuals before local Housing Authorities in an effort to obtain affordable housing for them; to work with community organizations seeking to increase the supply of affordable housing; and, on occasion, to assist in affirmative litigation to correct illegal conditions in low-incoming housing. Students will be trained in essential lawyering skills with an emphasis on trial advocacy techniques. For fieldwork purposes, students will be assigned seven office hours per week at the clinic. Students can expect to spend an additional ten to twelve hours per week, on average, on their client representation work.
The fieldwork is complemented by a weekly seminar. The seminar will cover trial advocacy skills, exploration of the social and political underpinnings of homelessness, and ethical issues encountered in public interest practice. Course satisfies the upper-level professional responsibility requirement. No examination; grading will be based on fieldwork and a short reflection paper. Enrollment is limited. Selection by lottery.
Immigration Law Clinic (LL32001)
One semester (Fall), 2 clinical credits, pass/fail
Prerequisite or Corequisite: Immigration Law
Students who take Immigration Law (LL749), or who took the course last year, will have the opportunity to do clinical work for two extra pass/fail credits in the Fall semester through the Immigration Law Clinic. This is an optional add-on to the regular course. Students are enrolled in the clinic with permission from Professor Kanstroom. Enrollment is separate from the Immigration Law course. Clinical opportunities will include working with pro-bono attorneys on political asylum cases in conjunction with the Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project (PAIR); interviewing, counseling, and representing clients in Detention Facilities and Immigration Court, and working on various types of national and regional "impact" litigation, especially regarding detention policies. Students will be able to choose the type of work which most interests them and will be specially trained and supervised. More detailed information will be available in the first Immigration Law class of the Fall semester. Students who are especially interested in this field should also note that in the following Spring semester they may enroll in the Advanced Immigration Law Seminar and Clinic in which they may continue their clinical work at a higher level of responsibility. Completion of the Immigration Law course and Clinic is a prerequisite for the spring Advanced Seminar and Clinic. The clinic is graded pass/fail. Enrollment limited to 12 by instructor permission.
Advanced Immigration Law: Seminar and Clinic (LL34101; LL34201)
One semester (Spring), 5 credits (3 clinical credits, pass/fail; 2 classroom credits, graded)
Prerequisites: Immigration Law and Immigration Law Clinic
This is a two-credit seminar with a three-credit clinic connected to it. The class is scheduled to meet two hours per week as a seminar. During the first hour of class we will examine and discuss a variety of advanced topics in U.S. Immigration and Deportation law. The focus will primarily be on refugee law, asylum and deportation, although these topics necessarily involve other procedural issues, criminal law, constitutional law, and statutory construction. The faculty will be the primary presenters in the first hour. However, as the class progresses, students will also be asked to present in class on selected topics that will general class discussion. In the clinic, each student will be working with clients on immigration matters. Students may choose from a variety of projects. Some will go to detention centers to give "Know Your Rights Presentations" and interview and counsel clients. Others will conduct intake of possible new clients. Others may represent clients on asylum cases. Some may work on litigation and amicus briefs. During the first class faculty will present all of these options. Course satisfies the upper-level writing requirement. No examination; grading will be based upon class participation, in-class exercises, clinical work, and various research and writing projects. Easc student will undertake a research project that will be chosen in consultation with the course faculty. This may arise out of the student's clinical work, the Post Deportation Human Rights Project, or be a historical or policy-based project.
Juvenile Rights Advocacy (LL38901)
Full year course, 8 credits (4 clinical credits per semester, graded)
Prerequisite or Corequisite: Juvenile Justice Seminar and Evidence
The Juvenile Rights Advocacy Project will provide a full year, four-credit/semester clinic to students either currently enrolled in Juvenile Justice Seminar or who have completed Juvenile Justice Seminar. Students will apply their education in juvenile justice and child advocacy to problem areas of juvenile representation and policy. Students will primarily represent girls in the Massachusetts justice system across the full-range of their legal needs. Issues include delinquency, post-disposition administrative advocacy, special education, personal injury, status offenses, child abuse and neglect, and public benefits. In addition, students work as guardians-ad-litem for girls in the status offender system with a focus on education law. Drawing on the individual case experience, students work on policy development for girls in the system. Students are involved in data collection, research and report writing and dissemination, helping to develop models that work for system involved girls. Students also provide legal education to high school students at Brighton High School. The JRAP operates in an interdisciplinary manner in collaboration with Boston College counseling psychology graduate students. Student will meet every week to discuss advanced topics in juvenile law as they relate to the work of the Juvenile Rights Advocacy Project. Course satisfies the upper-level professional responsibility and writing requirements. Enrollment limited to eight students by application.
One semester (Spring), 7 credits (3 graded, 4 pass/fail)
Prerequisite or Corequisite: Students should be enrolled in or have taken Evidence.
"Women and the Law Clinic" is a clinical and theoretical course. It is offered for seven units, four of these are clinical credits which will be graded on a pass/fail basis. The course would be part of the Legal Assistance Bureau (LAB) and located at the LAB in Waltham. Students will attend two weekly class meetings, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:00 to 4:30 at the LAB. The text is, Feminist Jurisprudence: Taking Women Seriously, by Becker, Bowman and Torrey (2nd Ed.). In addition, students will read several short stories and the novel, Possessing the Secret of Joy, by Alice Walker. Students will also be assigned two to three domestic cases involving divorce, custody, child support, spousal support, visitation, restraining orders, etc. The class meetings will allow the class to explore the theoretical materials and appellate cases in the context of actual client service. It will also expose students to the invisible ways in which the law structures women's experiences. Students will be required each week to have seven scheduled office hours at the LAB, in addition to scheduled class time. It is anticipated that students will spend an additional ten to 12 hours a week on their clinical cases. This would be in addition to the time spent preparing for class. At the end of the semester, the students will be required to submit a 10-12-page paper analyzing a topic from the course in terms of their clinical experience. Course satisfies the upper-level professional responsibility requirement. Enrollment is limited to 6 students by lottery.
