DePaul’s public interest law program provides opportunities to explore social justice issues such as civil liberties, voting rights, community economic development, public health, public benefits, and asylum and immigration, as well as hands-on experience through a variety of public interest experiential learning opportunities.
To earn a certificate in public interest law, you must complete the 86 credits required for the JD degree. Within the required coursework, you must complete at least 15 credit hours from the approved course list, fulfill the service in public interest law requirement and earn a minimum GPA of 3.0 in the certificate courses. If you take more than 15 hours from the approved list, all grades earned in those courses will be factored into the GPA requirement for the certificate.
In order to fulfill the service in public interest requirement, students must satisfy both of the following:
(I) One semester in a public-service oriented clinic or externship and (2) 50 hours of service through the Pro Bono & Community Service Initiative.
For detailed certificate requirements and an approved course list, visit go.depaul.edu/certificates
PROGRAM OPPORTUNITIES
• Externships with public interest law firms and organizations
• Legal Analysis, Research & Communication I & II: Public Interest
• Eight legal and field clinics related to public interest law
• Journal for Social Justice
• JD/MNM, JD/MPA, JD/MPP, JD/MS in International Public Service or JD/MS in Public Service Management
• Center for Public Interest Law
• Pro Bono & Community Service Initiative
• National Lawyers Guild
• Public Interest Law Association
• Study Abroad
UPPER-LEVEL COURSES
Course offerings may vary from year to year.
• Administrative Law
• Animal Law
• Asylum & Refugee Law & Policy
• Catholic Social Justice & the Law
• Civil Rights
• Constitutional Torts & Section 1983
• Consumer Protection
• Criminal Procedure I: Investigation
• Criminal Procedure II: Adjudication
• Critical Race Theory
• Domestic Violence Practicum
• Elder Law
• Election Law
• Employment Discrimination
• Employment Law
• Environmental Law
• Evidence
• Federal Courts
• Federal Criminal Law
• First Amendment: Freedom of Speech and Religion
• Hate Crimes Law
• Health Equity & the Law
• Housing Law
• Immigration Law & Policy
• International Criminal Law
• International Human Rights Law Practicum
• International Law
• Journal for Social Justice Editorial Board
• Juvenile Justice
• Labor Law
• Legal Clinic I & II
• Mission-Based Lawyering: Legal Practice in the Non-Profit Sector
• Poverty Law
• Predatory Lending
• Privacy Law
• Prosecuting & Defending Criminal Cases
• Race, Racism & United States Law
• Senior Research Seminar
• Sex, Gender & the Law
• Women’s Human Rights
Under International Law