Apart from their assigned mod courses, 1L students may only enroll in courses offered as 1L electives. A complete list of these courses can be found on the 1L Elective Listings page. 1L students must use the 1L class number listed on the course description when enrolling.
290C sec. 001 - Policy Advocacy Clinic Seminar for 1Ls (Spring 2026)
Instructor: Stephanie Lian Campos-Bui (view instructor's teaching evaluations - degree students only | profile)
View all teaching evaluations for this course - degree students only
Units: 1
Grading Designation: Credit Only
Mode of Instruction: In-Person
Meeting:
W 2:10 PM - 3:00 PM
Location: Law 113
From January 14, 2026
To April 22, 2026
Course End: April 22, 2026
Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 0
Waitlisted: 0
Enroll Limit: 6
As of: 11/05 09:29 AM
In the Policy Advocacy Clinic (PAC), JD and MPP students represent organizations engaged in campaigns to contest and shrink the carceral state. PAC's approach is ground-up (informed by directly impacted people), problem-based (addressing pressing issues), and client-driven (accountable to community organizations and coalitions). PAC students have supported successful reform efforts in California to abolish fees in the juvenile and criminal legal systems, relieving youth and families of billion of dollars.
This clinic is exclusively for first-year students (1Ls and first-year MPPs) and has two required components -- Law 290.C (the 1-unit required seminar), and Law 295.5K (this course, 2 or more units of required fieldwork). Students will represent an organization that has retained PAC to help identify, research, and analyze new bills in the California Legislature that would expand or deepen the carceral state. This “bad bills” project will introduce students to the lawmaking process in Sacramento from the introduction of bills in January and February through their policy committee hearings in March and April.
Students will learn law and policy skills, including conducting legal and social science research and analysis. On behalf of PAC’s client, students will draft internal work product, such as bill analyses, talking points, and fiscal memos, and public-facing work product, such as bill fact sheets and position letters. Depending on the bill and client need, students may have the opportunity to draft and file Public Records Act requests (California’s equivalent to FOIA) and to prepare testimony for a hearing in Sacramento. By participating actively in client and working group meetings, students will also learn advocacy skills, including facilitation, interviewing, messaging, and strategic decision-making.
The enrollment target is 4-6 JD students and 4-6 MPP students to work together on teams. There are no prerequisites, but an application is required (https://www.law.berkeley.edu/php-programs/forms/clinics/clinical_application.php; deadlines here: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/experiential/clinics/apply-to-the-clinics/#bb0-how-to-apply-1). Prior experience working on criminal justice reform or racial and economic justice more generally may be taken into consideration. The instructor is committed to an equitable, inclusive, and anti-racist learning and practice environment. Enrollment in the co-requisite seminar (1 unit) and clinic (2 or more units) are by permission of the instructor.
Attendance at the first class is mandatory for all currently enrolled and waitlisted students; any currently enrolled or waitlisted students who are not present on the first day of class (without prior permission of the instructor) will be dropped. The instructor will continue to take attendance throughout the add/drop period and anyone who moves off the waitlist into the class must continue to attend or have prior permission of the instructor in order not to be dropped.
Exam Notes: (None) Series of papers or assignments throughout the semester
(Subject to change by faculty member only through the first two weeks of instruction)
Course Category: Clinics
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