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295D sec. 1 - UCDC Law (D.C. study program) (Spring 2011)
"Law and Layering in the Nation's Capital"
Instructor: Stephen B. Pershing (view instructor's teaching evaluations | profile)
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Units: 3
Course Control Number (Non-1Ls): 50045
The UCDC Law Program combines a weekly seminar with a full-time, semester-long field placement to offer law students an unparalleled opportunity to learn how federal statutes, regulations, and policies are made, changed and understood in the nation���s capital. Students will have contact through their placements and seminar guest speakers with all three branches of the federal government, independent regulatory agencies, advocacy nonprofits and the media.
Students apply each term for the following term. The program provides individual assistance in choosing and obtaining a Washington placement, but there is no guarantee a student will be placed or that a given placement will be approved, and no one can enroll in the Program without an approved placement.
The Program has two elements: the externship placement (10 credits) and the required companion course (3 credits). The weekly 3-hour seminar will explore in the classroom setting the lawmaking and law-changing continuum, alongside perspectives of the myriad roles lawyers play in the process and the many legal and policy career options unique to Washington, D.C. The seminar will also provide a setting for reflection through ���grand rounds���-style presentations by students about their placements to better connect learning in the seminar and in the field. Students will spend the rest of each week in the ���real-life��� classroom of government and law-related nonprofit offices under the supervision of pre-screened supervisors.
The program includes law students from Berkeley, UCLA and UC Davis, and (starting in 2011) UC Irvine. Classes are held at the University of California Washington Center. For more information, see ucdclaw.blogspot.com.
There is currently no strict cap on enrollment. If combined enrollment from all participating schools exceeds 25 and the Program is unable to expand in a given term to accept more, selection will be made by the Director. However, students could still be eligible to go to D.C. through the Away Placement Program. See Berkeley Law field placement director Sue Schechter about this option.
Prerequisites:
No prerequisites, but we recommend you have taken a constitutional law course and at least one course related to the subject matter of your externship placement, e.g. an evidence, advanced procedure and/or federal courts course for litigation placements, a legislation course for legislative placements, an administrative law course for administrative agency placements, communications law for the FCC, labor or employment law for the Labor Department or the EEOC, and so on. Your UCDC Law application will be the basis for individual conversations with the Program director about what placements might be best matched to your background, interests and experience.
This course may satisfy the Writing Requirement.
Course Category: Field Placements
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Books:
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