Berkeley Law supervisor: Nancy K. D. Lemon, Lecturer (510) 525-3164 or nlemon@law.berkeley.edu
[Note: most of these placements can be done 12-20 hours a week for 3-5 credits, to be arranged with your on-site supervisor]
Civil Legal Settings
1. Family Violence Appellate Project (FVAP) – Berkeley – www.fvaplaw.org
• conduct legal research, help screen possible cases for appeal, work on appellate briefs and/or amicus briefs in cases involving survivors of abuse who need help with restraining orders, custody of children, support, housing, employment, immigration, etc. It is recommended that you work at a trial-level placement first – see the rest of this list.
2. Family Violence Law Center (FVLC) – Oakland – www.fvlc.org
• many types of family law issues: Restraining Orders, custody, support, etc.; you can expect to represent clients in restraining order hearings if you are certified
3. Bay Area Legal Aid – Richmond – www.baylegal.org
• restraining order drop-in clinic, variety of types of legal work, many aspects of family law, some immigration law, all the clients are survivors of domestic violence
4. Bay Area Legal Aid – Oakland – www.baylegal.org
• variety of types of law affecting survivors of domestic violence (family law, consumer, public benefits, immigration, housing); sometimes go to court and administrative hearings
5. Bay Area Legal Aid – San Francisco – www.baylegal.org
• variety of types of law involving survivors of domestic violence (family law, consumer, public benefits, immigration, housing), rarely go to court, but may be administrative hearings
6. Bay Area Legal Aid – Santa Clara – www.baylegal.org
• variety of types of law involving survivors of domestic violence (family law, consumer, public benefits, immigration, housing), rarely go to court, but may be administrative hearings
7. Legal Aid at Work – San Francisco – www.legalaidatwork.org
• the domestic violence part of LAAW helps survivors with employment issues (time off to deal with domestic violence, keeping their jobs, obtaining unemployment, trying to get their jobs back, employer not protecting client at work, etc.) – direct services and policy work; rarely go to court
8. Various family law judges in Contra Costa, Alameda, and SF counties
• intern with a local family law judge, doing research on domestic violence legal issues, writing memos, observing court
9. The Alipato Project – Berkeley – alipatoproject.org
• screen possible tort claims for survivors of domestic violence, research legal issues, write memos, may attend court hearings
Immigration and Asylum Law
10. Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach – San Francisco and Oakland – www.apilegaloutreach.org
• advocacy, family law and immigration law for domestic violence survivors; require 15-20 hours a week, prefer students who speak Tagalog, Mandarin, Cantonese, or Spanish plus demonstrated commitment to social justice work
11. East Bay Sanctuary Covenant – Berkeley – www.eastbaysanctuary.org
• self-petitions for immigrant battered women under the Violence Against Women Act, U Visas, asylum petitions, a lot of client contact, including possibility of representing clients at immigration/asylum hearings
12. Center for Gender and Refugee Studies – SF – www.cgrs.uchastings.edu
• research and policy work on asylum cases involving survivors of domestic violence; no client contact
Criminal Law
13. San Francisco Public Defender – www.sfpublicdefender.org
• interns focus as much as possible on domestic violence cases, though the office does not have a dedicated DV unit (an intern also worked at Santa Clara Public Defender’s office in the past)
14. District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Unit – Oakland – www.alcoda.org
• a little client contact, focus is on working closely with prosecutors and assisting them with motions, investigation, etc.; if certified, you may argue a motion or preliminary examination; recommend that you take Criminal Procedure first
15. District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Unit – San Francisco – www.sfgov.org/da
• a little client contact, focus is on working closely with prosecutors and assisting them with motions, investigation, etc.; if certified, you may argue a motion or preliminary examination; recommend that you take Criminal Procedure first
16. District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Unit – Marin – www.co.marin.ca.us/da/
• a little client contact, focus is on working closely with prosecutors and assisting them with motions, investigation, etc.; if certified, you may argue a motion or preliminary examination, or even conduct a trial; recommend that you take Criminal Procedure first
Policy Work
17. California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, the state domestic violence coalition, Sacramento – www.cpedv.org
• no need to be certified as you would not be representing clients. You would be doing research on legislative proposals and other policy work, attending meetings, etc.
Other Placements
If there is another placement where you would like to work, please talk to me and we will attempt to arrange it.
General Information
You need to average 12-20 hours per week at the internship, including both seeing clients and going to court. (LLM’s can enroll for 8 hours a week or 2 units at the internship.) You receive 1 unit for each 4 hours you do weekly, for a total of 3, 4, or 5 units. I will also meet with you and the other interns two hours per week (283Q, the classroom component, or 297). So the total time commitment for JD students is 14-22 hrs per week plus some reading and homework. After you figure out a potential schedule and placement, please call or email me, then the supervisor at the above numbers so you can arrange to be interviewed by the supervisor, in person or on the phone. Some placements want a resume too.
Getting Certified
Need for Certification: If you’d like to represent clients in court, you need to be certified to represent clients at hearings. To do this, you must have taken or be taking Evidence and Civil Procedure. The Dean of Students will not sign your certification form until the semester in which you are taking Evidence begins. For other legal settings, you may not need to be certified, so do not need to have taken Evidence. You may want to be certified in case you get a chance to argue in court, but this is not required.
Process: There are 3 separate forms, to be submitted together with your check:
• Student’s Application
• Declaration by Supervising Attorney
• Declaration by Dean of Law School
• $55 Non-refundable Application Fee, made payable to the State Bar of Ca.
Go to: www.calbar.ca.gov/Admissions
Print the forms, fill them out and ask the supervising attorney at your placement and the Dean of Students to sign them.
File the package with the State Bar in San Francisco as soon as possible.