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 2027)
Instructor: Samantha Lee (view instructor's teaching evaluations - degree students only)
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 136
From January 13, 2027
To April 21, 2027
Course End: April 21, 2027
Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 0
Waitlisted: 0
Enroll Limit: 6
As of: 10/31 05:05 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 and other states around the country to abolish fees in the juvenile and criminal legal systems, relieving youth and families of billions of dollars of debt as well as future financial burdens.
This clinic is exclusively for first-year students (1Ls and first-year MPPs) and has two required components -- Law 290.C (this course, which is the 1-unit required seminar), and Law 295.5K (2 or more units of required fieldwork). Students will represent an organization that has retained PAC to help identify, research, analyze, and defend against bills in state legislatures (outside of California) that would expand or deepen the carceral state. This “bad bills” project will introduce students to state-level lawmaking from the introduction of bills in January and February through their committee hearings later in the semester.
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 requests (a state equivalent to FOIA) and to prepare testimony for a hearing before the legislature. 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 3 JD students and 3 MPP students to work together on teams. There are no prerequisites, but an application is required.
Students can access the Clinical Program portal when applications open via this website: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/experiential/clinics/apply-to-the-clinics/ under the section "Access the Clinical Program Application." For the Spring semester, the application will be open on October 29th and will be due by noon on November 5th.
Prior experience working on racial and economic justice may be considered. 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.
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
If you are the instructor or their FSU, you may add a file like a syllabus or a first assignment.
Class materials may also be available on bCourses.berkeley.edu
Readers:
No reader.
Books:
Instructor has indicated that no books will be assigned.