CLINICS, FIELD PLACEMENTS AND EXPERIENTIAL COURSES UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS SCHOOL OF LAW HANDBOOK 2018-19
A letter from the director Jean Gilles Phillips Clinical Professor of Law & Director of Clinics More than 50 years ago, KU Law became a pioneer in clinical legal education when it launched the Paul E. Wilson Project for Innocence and the Legal Aid Clinic. Since then the law school has built an experiential learning program that includes a mix of live-client clinics, field placements and skills simulations, all designed to help students sharpen professional skills and gain practical experience under the supervision of clinical faculty, practicing attorneys and judges. In the clinics and field placement programs, students have the opportunity to represent clients in district or appellate courts, prosecute criminal cases, practice transactional law and document preparation, conduct negotiations on behalf of clients, write bench memos for judges, and work in a variety of governmental or non-profit offices. Through a diverse offering of experiential courses, students learn to take and defend depositions, write and argue mock appellate briefs, conduct mock trials, learn the art of using expert witnesses and discovery.
1 KU LAW HANDBOOK
HANDBOOK 2018-19
CONTENTS 1
INTRODUCTION A letter from Director of Clinics Jean Phillips
3 GRADUATION REQUIREMENT CHECKLIST
Students must attain 90 credit hours to qualify for the J.D. degree.
4
CLINICS
Legal Aid Clinic Mediation Clinic Project for Innocence & Post-Conviction Remedies Tribal Judicial Support Clinic
9 FIELD PLACEMENTS Criminal Prosecution Field Placement
Elder Law Field Placement Field Placement Program Judicial Field Placement KU Medical-Legal Partnership Field Placement 6th Semester in Washington, D.C. Program
16 EXPERIENTIAL COURSES Experiential Course Requirements
Scholarly Writing-Intensive Courses
18 WRITING COURSES
Professional Writing-Intensive Courses
21 OVERVIEW OF CLINICS AND FIELD P PLACEMENTS CHART
A chart of the credit hours, location and time commitment for each clinic and field placement.
KU LAW HANDBOOK 2
Graduation Requirements Checklist Complete 1L courses (Torts, Civil Procedure, Contracts, Property, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Lawyering Skills I, Lawyering Skills II)
Complete Professional Responsibility within first 60 credits earned
Complete three of the following courses:
Business Organizations
Criminal Procedure
Contracts II
Conflict of Laws
Family Law
Secured Transactions
Evidence
Jurisdiction
Trust + Estates
* The same course may count for the above “menu� and as a writing class.
Complete three writing courses:
Professional Writing Course Name
Professional Writing Course Name
Scholarly or Professional Writing Course Name
* The same course may not count as both a writing and experiental credit.
Complete 6 credit hours of experiential courses:
Course Name
Course Name
Course Name
Credit Hours
Credit Hours
Credit Hours
* The same course may not count as both a writing and experiental credit.
90 credit hours needed to graduate
=
Current total credit hours
Unless in a joint degree program, only 6 credit hours may be taken outside of the law school. Requires permission of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
=
Remaining total credit hours
No more than 16 credit hours may be field placements or clinical courses.
CLINICS
In clinics, KU Law students take the lead on real cases with real clients, honing practice skills while providing quality legal representation to underserved individuals and communities. Clinical offices are housed in the law school, and full-time KU Law faculty and staff attorneys supervise the work of student advocates. Each clinic also includes a classroom component taught by a KU Law faculty member. For more information, visit law.ku.edu/clinics. KU LAW HANDBOOK 4
Legal Aid Clinic Professors Melanie DeRousse and Meredith Schnug
The Legal Aid Clinic (Law 952) is a one-semester course that offers students the opportunity to fine-tune their lawyering skills in a fast-paced, live-client setting by representing low-income clients at the trial court level. Since 1967, the Legal Aid Clinic has been working to secure “justice for and to protect the rights of the needy” in a wide range of civil and criminal cases, including: • A criminal practice representing children charged with crimes in Douglas County District Court; • A criminal practice representing adults charged with crimes & municipal violations in Lawrence Municipal Court; • A civil practice that may include school discipline, child welfare, record expungement and other emergent matters to serve our client population. Under faculty supervision, students assume primary responsibility for all aspects of their cases from initial contact to trial or other resolution. The Legal Aid Clinic is designed for students who are interested in learning about litigation, including client counseling, ethical case management, discovery, case analysis and negotiation. Eligibility: All Legal Aid Clinic students must be eligible for a student license pursuant Kansas Supreme Court Rule 719. Students apply to the clinic prior to the semester in which they wish to enroll. In spring and fall, Law 952 is a 6-credit course; in summer, students enroll in both 2.5-credit sessions for a total of 5 credits. Students who successfully complete Law 952 may also apply for the 3-credit course Advanced Legal Aid Clinic, Law 833. Pre- or Co-Requisites: Professional Responsibility and Evidence are required; Trial Advocacy may be a pre- or co-requisite. For more information, contact Melanie DeRousse at Melanie.DeRousse@ku.edu or Meredith Schnug at mschnug@ku.edu.
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Mediation Clinic Professor Shawn Watts
The Mediation Clinic (Law 802) immerses students in mediation theory, practice, techniques and ethics through mediating cases with actual clients. Students may also have the opportunity to work directly with ambassadors at the United Nations, foreign government officials, other transnational organizations, and American Indian tribal leaders on mediation practice and systems design. Participation in the clinic provides students an opportunity to: • Improve their ability to represent clients by helping them practice skills that are important to effective problem solving and wise lawyering • See the benefits and limitations of mediation and other dispute resolution techniques to enable students to responsibly counsel clients about their choices • Understand how feelings, background values and personal style affect performance in a professional role • Provide quality assistance to parties whose disputes the clinic mediates • Get a head start in terms of both skills and ethics for students who make mediation part of their professional lives
Students taking the Mediation Clinic will earn 4 credit hours. Eligibility: Students are eligible to apply to the Mediation Clinic after the successful completion of the first year of law school. Students must apply to participate. Pre- or Co-Requisites: Concurrent enrollment in the Mediation Skills Workshop. For more information about enrolling, please contact Professor Shawn Watts at shawn.watts@ku.edu. KU LAW HANDBOOK 6
Paul E. Wilson Project for Innocence and Post-Conviction Remedies Professors Jean Phillips, Beth Cateforis and Alice Craig
Students in the Project for Innocence (Law 895, 896) provide assistance to prisoners who otherwise do not have legal representation. The clinic represents prisoners with claims of actual innocence, ineffective assistance of counsel, prosecutorial misconduct, newly discovered evidence, and constitutional violations. Our representation extends to both district and appellate court litigation at the state and federal level. As a result, students engage in a variety of legal skills, including, interviewing clients, conducting fact investigations, creating case strategies, locating and working with expert witnesses, drafting and filing pleadings and motions, preparing and conducting hearings, and preparing appellate briefs. In the process, students learn about the criminal justice system and the impact of its mistakes. The Project is designed to engage students who are interested in either district or appellate court litigation, as well as those who are interested in criminal law. Eligibility: Students are eligible to apply to the Project after the successful completion of the first year of law school. Students must apply to participate and can be selected for either the fall/spring semesters for 4 credit hours a semester (students must enroll in both semesters), or for the summer session for 3 credit hours a session (students must enroll in both summer sessions). Each semester/session satisfies either the upper-level writing requirement or the experiential requirement. Pre- and Co-Requisite: Enrolled in both Law 895 (fieldwork component) and 896 (classroom component); Criminal Procedure unless otherwise approved. For more information, contact Professor Jean Phillips at phillips@ku.edu, Professor Beth Cateforis at escat@ku.edu or Professor Alice Craig at alice.craig@ku.edu 7 KU LAW HANDBOOK
Tribal Judicial Support Clinic Professor Elizabeth Kronk Warner
Students in the Tribal Judicial Support Clinic (Law 998) provide research assistance to tribal court judges and personnel in projects that range from tribal code development, legal research and drafting of legal memoranda, and judicial orders. Students are assigned research projects from participating tribal courts, and in the process have opportunities to meet with tribal attorneys and judges at tribal headquarters. In the past, clinical students have engaged in ground-breaking work for local tribes.
Eligibility: No application is required. Students enter the clinic by following standard enrollment procedures. Students can earn 3 credit hours for the semester. Participation in the Clinic satisfies the Tribal Lawyer Certificate Program internship requirement.
Pre- or Co-Requisites: Federal Indian Law; Sovereignty, Self-Determination and the Indigenous Nations; or Native American Natural Resources. Students who have not taken these courses must petition Associate Dean Kronk Warner for permission to enroll.
For additional information, please contact Associate Dean Elizabeth Kronk Warner at 785-864-1139 or at elizabeth.kronk@ku.edu. Kronk Warner’s office is located in room 406.
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FIELD PLACEMENTS
In field placements, KU Law students perform legal work under the supervision of a practicing attorney at approved government agencies, nonprofit organizations and courts. KU Law offers specialized placement opportunities in criminal prosecution, elder law, the judicial branch and the medical-legal partnership setting. Students can also enroll in the general Field Placement Program. In either scenario, field placements also include a classroom component taught by a KU Law faculty member. For more information, visit law.ku.edu/field-placements. 9 KU LAW HANDBOOK
Criminal Prosecution Field Placement Professor Suzanne Valdez
Students in the Criminal Prosecution Field Placement (Law 890) gain significant courtroom experience working side by side with prosecutors in federal, state and local offices in virtually all phases of the criminal justice process. In addition to appearing regularly in court on behalf of the prosecution, interns work closely with law enforcement agencies in developing a case, as well as prepare and file district court documents and appellate briefs. The Criminal Prosecution Field Placement consists of two components: work experience in the approved prosecutor’s office and an academic experience, which includes a professionalism training session, program orientation session, meetings with the Program Director, a goals memo, weekly journal entries and a reflection paper. Students may earn between 3 and 6 credit hours during each of the fall and spring semesters, or during the summer program. A student may only earn up to a total of 9 credit hours in the Criminal Prosecution Field Placement Program. Eligibility: To be considered for the Criminal Prosecution Field Placement Program, students submit a completed application, resume and unofficial law school transcript to Professor Valdez. In order to appear in a court proceeding, students must be eligible for a student license pursuant to Kansas Supreme Court Rule 719, which requires a minimum of 60 hours of coursework. Pre- or Co-Requisites: It is recommended for students who participate in this field placement to also enroll in Prosecutorial Ethics, whenever it is offered. For more information, contact Professor Suzanne Valdez at 785-864-9268 or suzmac@ku.edu. KU LAW HANDBOOK 10
Elder Law Field Placement Professor Marilyn Harp
Students in the Elder Law Field Placement (Law 901) work under the supervision of attorneys from Kansas Legal Services assisting seniors with a variety of legal issues, including income maintenance, access to health care, housing and consumer protection. Students interact with clients and prepare documents, such as durable powers of attorney, powers of attorney for health care decisions and living wills. Students are placed with Kansas Legal Services, a private, nonprofit law firm with 12 field offices that serve senior citizens in all Kansas counties and operates the Kansas Elder Law Hotline. Each office has a Senior Citizens Law Project that serves counties in the vicinity of the office. Generally, students work in the Kansas City or Topeka offices. Arrangements can be made to be placed in Wichita or Manhattan.
Eligibility: Students are eligible to apply for the Elder Law Field Placement program after successful completion of their first year of law school. Students earn 3 credit hours per semester and can participate in either the fall or spring semester. Students can also choose to participate for both semesters.
Pre- or Co-Requisites: Successful completion of the first year of law school.
For more information, please contact Marilyn Harp, Executive Director of Kansas Legal Services, at harpm@klsinc.org.
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Field Placement Program Professor Jennifer Schmidt
The Field Placement Program (Law 894) provides students the opportunity to earn credit for legal work performed under the supervision of a practicing attorney outside of Green Hall. It’s an excellent opportunity to learn from practicing attorneys working on actual cases and legal issues. Students are responsible for finding their field placements, which must be with a governmental agency or nonprofit. To earn course credit, the student must perform primarily legal work, be supervised by an attorney and may not receive monetary compensation from the employer. For listings of available internships, please check Symplicity. Feel free to consult Professor Schmidt and the CSO for field placement ideas and leads. Past field placements include: the United Nations, JAG Corps, Colorado Attorney General’s Office, Kansas Attorney General’s Office, EPA, Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, ACLU Kansas, Spencer Museum of Art, and the Kansas Department of Revenue. In order to receive credit, students work 42.5 hours for each hour of credit, complete a goals memorandum, maintain weekly journals of their experience, complete online classroom work and write a final reflective paper. They also must attend an orienation and professionalism session. Eligibility: Students are eligible to apply for the Field Placement Program after successful completion of their first year of law school. The application is available on the KU Law website and must be submitted to Yolanda Huggins in the front office by the deadline. You will be notified upon acceptance and given an enrollment code. Pre- or Co-Requisites: None For more information, please contact Professor Jennifer Schmidt at schmidtj@ku.edu.
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Judicial Field Placement Program Professor Pam Keller
Students in the Judicial Field Placement Program (Law 933) serve as interns with federal and state judges. Under the supervision of a judge, law clerk or staff attorney, interns perform research, draft documents and observe courtroom proceedings to expand their knowledge of how our court systems operate. Eligibility: Students are eligible to apply for a Judicial Field Placement after the successful completion of the first year of law school. To participate, students can apply to the following: 1) Summer internship through the law school: This internship is open only to summer and fall starters
finishing their first year of law school and requires that students submit a Judicial Field Placement
Application packet to Professor Keller. Summer interns earn 6 credit hours.
2) Fall-Spring internship through the law school: This internship is open to all second- and third
year law students and requires that students submit a Judicial Field Placement application packet
to Professor Keller. Fall-spring Field Placement is a full academic-year commitment with 3 credits
per semester.
3) Independently secure an internship: For students who locate their own judicial internship, credit
may be obtained by submitting an application to Professor Keller along with a letter of interest
from the judge that confirms the internship and explains the work that will be performed. The
work must consist of research and writing and observation of hearings, trials and chamber
conferences. Students must complete significant written work.
Pre- or Co-Requisites: None For more information, please contact Professor Pam Keller at pkeller@ku.edu. 13 KU LAW HANDBOOK
KU Medical-Legal Partnership Field Placement Supervising Attorneys Juliann Morland Davee and Lindsey Collins
The KU School of Law Medical Legal Partnership (MLP) is a collaboration between the KU School of Law and two health systems: The University of Kansas Health System and KU Medical Center in Kansas City, and LMH Health in Lawrence. Under the supervision of experienced MLP attorneys, students assist in providing free transactional legal assistance to low-income patients and their families in the following areas of civil law:
I – Income/Insurance (denials of public benefits, Medicaid/Medicare, Social Security benefits)
H – Housing (evictions, issues with public housing, Section 8, poor rental conditions)
E – Education/Employment (IEPs, school conflict, FMLA leave)
L – Legal Status (immigration matters, including naturalization, trafficking/crime victims)
P – Personal/Family Stability (Advance Care Planning – wills, living wills, healthcare and financial
powers of attorney, protection from abuse/stalking orders, guardianships/conservatorships)
MLP interns gain extensive transactional experience conducting intake interviews; developing case strategies; conducting legal research; preparing legal pleadings, briefs, and memoranda of support; and can represent clients in administrative hearings and district court if the student is eligible for a student pursuant license to Kansas Supreme Court Rule 719. Eligibility: Applications are available at law.ku.edu/medical-legal-partnership and are accepted on a rolling basis. Students can participate in either the fall, spring or summer semesters for 3 to 6 credit hours. Students must enroll through the general Field Placement Program (884). Pre- or Co-Requisites: Successful completion of the first year of law school. For more information contact Lindsey Collins, Managing Attorney for the KU MLP at KU Medical Center, lindsey.collins@ku.edu; or Juliann Morland DaVee, Managing Attorney for the KU MLP at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, juliann.davee@ku.edu. KU LAW HANDBOOK 14
6th Semester in Washington, D.C. Program Professor Jennifer Schmidt
The 6th Semester in Washington, D.C. Program gives students work experience and connections within the D.C. legal, political and public interest communities. Through the program, students will meet, learn from and network with influential and accomplished D.C. attorneys from the public and private sectors and have opportunities to develop a network of contacts in the D.C. region. Each student is responsible for securing an internship in the public or nonprofit sector. Past field placements include the House Judiciary Committee, the Senate Agriculture Committee, the Department of Homeland Security, ASPCA, PBS, the National Resource Defense Council and the National Association of Attorneys General. To earn credit, the student must be engaged primarily in legal work, be supervised by an attorney and may not receive monetary compensation. Students complete a goals memo, weekly journals and a final reflection paper in this course. Students can earn between 6 and 9 credit hours. In addition to the field placement, students take courses in D.C. that are offered by KU Law. The Capstone Course is 1 credit hour and features guest lectures on legal issues in federal and legal practice. Eligibility: Students in good academic standing are eligible to participate in the D.C. program during their final semester. Students interested in this program should meet with Professor Schmidt as early in their law school career as possible, preferably during their 1L year. Pre- or Co-Requisites: Be in the last semester of law school; enroll in the Sixth Semester Field Placement and the Sixth Semester Capstone course taught in Washington, D.C. For more information, please contact Professor Schmidt at schmidtj@ku.edu.
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EXPERIENTIAL COURSES
• Experiential requirement • Professional and scholarly writing requirement • law.ku.edu/requiredcourses#experiential The same course cannot be used to fulfill more than one of the requirements. KU LAW HANDBOOK 16
Experiential Course Requirements The required 6 credit hours of experiential course work can be met by participation in a Clinic or Field Placement, or one or more of the simulation courses listed below: • Advanced Litigation • Alternative Dispute Resolution (Ware) • Business Planning Seminar • Collective Bargaining and Dispute Resolution • Comprehensive Civil Mediation • Comprehensive Family Mediation • Contract Drafting • Criminal Practice in Kansas • Deals • Deposition Skills Workshop • Due Diligence Workshop • Electronic Discovery II • Expert Witness Skills Workshop • First Amendment Advocacy • Kansas Supreme Court Research Practicum • Legislative Simulation and Study • Patent Practice • Pretrial Advocacy • Public Policy Practicum • Representing Asylum Seekers • Transactional Law Competition • Trial Advocacy
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PROFESSIONAL WRITING COURSES Students are required to complete three upper-level writing courses. The requirement can be satisfied by taking three professional writing-intensive courses or two professional writingintensive courses and one scholarly writing-intensive course.
Professional Writing-Intensive Courses Students are required to complete three upper-level writing courses. The requirement can be satisfied by taking three professional writing-intensive courses or two professional writing-intensive courses and one scholarly writing-intensive course.
• Appellate Advocacy • Business Organizations
• Project for Innocence and Post-Conviction Remedies
• Chinese Law
• Public Policy Practicum
• Complex Litigation
• Real Estate Finance
• Conflict of Laws
• Representing Asylum Seekers
• Constitutional Topics
• Representing Nonprofit Organizations
• Contract Drafting
• Special Topics: Appellate Advocacy
• Criminal Practice in Kansas
• Transactional Law Competition
• Deals
• Writing for Law Practice
• Electronic Discovery II
• Energy Law and Policy • Environmental Law • Estate Planning: Practice • Federal Courts and the Federal System • Federal Criminal Prosecution • Federal Indian Law • Higher Education and the Law • International Business Law Drafting • International Commerce and Investment • International Law and Literature • Jurisdiction (3-credit version is approved; 4-credit version is not approved.) • Kansas Supreme Court Research Practicum • LGBTQ Seminar • Legislative Process • Media Law Project • Patent Practice
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Scholarly Writing-Intensive Courses • Advanced International Trade Law • Banking Law • Capital Punishment • Comparative Law • Constitutional Topics: • Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability and the Law • Elections and Campaign Finance • Environmental Law Seminar: Climate Change Law and Policy • Food and Drug Law • Global Challenges in Law, Agriculture, Development and Ecology (with 1-hour Independent Research) • Independent Research (2 credits) • Jurisprudence • Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy (2 semesters) • Law Review (2 semesters) • Mass Incarceration • Native American Natural Resources • Sex Crimes • Sovereignty, Self-Determination and the Indigenous Nations • Special Topics: Fair Housing • Special Topics: Feminist Jurisprudence • Special Topics: First Amendment
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Number of credit hours
Actual hours per semester
S
Legal Aid Clinic (Fall or Spring)
6
255
Green Hall
C
Legal Aid Clinic (Summer)
5
212.5
Green Hall
I
Mediation Clinic
6
255
Green Hall
N
Overview of Clinic and Field Placement Courses
Project for Innocence & Post-
8
170
Green Hall
6
255
Green Hall
3
127.5
Green Hall
6 3 per semester
127.5
Varies
Course Name
4 per semester
I
Conviction Remedies (Fall and Spring)
Location
L
Conviction Remedies (Summer)
C
Project for Innocence & Post-
Tribal Judicial Support Clinic
Elder Law Field Placement
3 to 4
Field Placement Program
3 or 6
Judicial Field Placement Program
Judicial Field Placement Program (Summer) KU Medical-Legal Partnership Field Placement (Fall or Spring) KU Medical-Legal Partnership Field Placement (Summer) 6th Semester in Washington, D.C. Program
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Topeka / KC Varies
6 3 per semester
127.5
Varies
6
25-40 hours per week
Varies
3 to 6
3 hours: 127.5 6 hours: 255
LMH or KU Med
3 to 6
3 hours: 127.5 6 hours: 255
LMH or KU Med
6 or 9
6 hours: 255 9 hours: 382.5
Washington, D.C.
P L A C E M E N T S
(Fall and Spring)
3 hours: 127.5 4 hours: 170 3 hours: 127.5 6 hours: 255
F I E L D
Criminal Prosecution Field Placement
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