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.
295.5K sec. 001 - Policy Advocacy Clinic 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: 2 - 6
Grading Designation: Credit Only
Mode of Instruction: In-Person
Course End: May 12, 2027
Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 0
Waitlisted: 0
Enroll Limit: 6
As of: 11/03 10:05 PM
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 billion 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 (the 1-unit required seminar), and Law 295.5K (this course, which is 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 (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/). The clinic application for Spring 2027 will open at 12:00pm on Thursday, October 29, and will be due at 12:00pm on Thursday, November 5. Prior experience working on criminal justice reform or racial and economic justice more generally 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) is by permission of the instructor.
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Requirements Satisfaction:
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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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