The clinical programs provide many opportunities for students to work on real cases as part of their legal education. During their second and third years, students participate in a variety of clinical projects that provide legal services directly to individual clients or that involve close interaction with lawyers on large-scale cases or other legal matters. Whether they assist a victim of domestic violence, fight for the rights of children in international tribunals, argue in a federal court, help an HIV-positive mother with her legal needs, or represent a child in a guardianship, most students describe their clinical experience as one of the most significant components of their legal education.
Boalt’s clinical program offers the opportunity for hands-on training in a variety of practice areas, and with four different clinical models. In the Center for Clinical Education, Boalt’s "in-house" program, students work on cases and projects under the supervision of full-time law faculty in an office within the law school. The center houses three clinics: the Death Penalty Clinic, the International Human Rights Law Clinic, and the Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic. In our community-based clinic, the East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC), students work under the direct supervision of EBCLC’s director and 12 supervising lawyers in a litigation and transactional poverty law practice. In the Domestic Violence Practicum, students assist victims of domestic violence, primarily under the supervision of lawyers in agencies and nonprofits. In the Field Placement Program, students are placed directly with government agencies and nonprofits
Skills Program
Boalt Hall offers a range of courses that are explicitly designed to introduce students to the theory and practice of professional lawyering skills through a combination of lectures, group discussions, simulated cases and structured role-playing exercises in a classroom environment. The skills program includes required courses for first-year law students, as well as a wide variety of courses for upper-division law students.
