The Workers’ Rights Clinic is committed to protecting employment rights for low-income and disadvantaged workers and their families by providing free legal services to address discrimination based upon race, national origin, gender, pregnancy, disability, language proficiency, and immigration status. The Clinic provides students an overview of employment law and exposes them to a wide variety of workplace issues faced by low-wage workers across California—many of whom are non-English speakers.
Students will conduct interviews with clients and complete research under the supervision of an attorney to provide the client legal advice. Students can expect to encounter and become familiar with a broad range of legal issues, such as employment discrimination, workers’ compensation, and workplace torts. Students will also gain skills in client interactions, issue spotting and legal research. Prior to every session, a visiting attorney will give a lecture on a specific topic in employment law. Previous guest speakers have even argued cases before the Supreme Court. Dinner is provided, and socials will be organized during the semester to encourage bonding amongst clinicians! Clinic will be held on campus at the law school so no travel needed!
Supervision: Students will receive training from and be supervised by attorneys from Legal Aid at Work.
Time Commitment: Students will be split up into two groups and commit to working every other Thursday evening (biweekly) for the year. Sessions start at 5:30pm and run approximately three hours, for the full year. If student counselors ever need to miss a session, it is their responsibility to find another student to swap weeks with them. Clinic does not run during finals or school breaks. Depending on COVID, there may be a commute from the law school to the East Bay Community Law Center.
For more information, please contact the student leaders at workersrightsclinic@berkeley.edu.