Guide to Clinics & Skills
Experience hones skills, expands understanding, imbues confidence, and sets the stage for success. At University of Miami, award-winning skill-building programs are one reason the School of Law has such a strong job placement rate.
These clinics, externships, and public interest programs reach across a range of interests, populations, and services.
An overview:
Clinics
Bankruptcy Assistance Clinic. This clinic offers pro bono legal services to low income individuals dealing with bankruptcy. Under the supervision of faculty who are practicing bankruptcy lawyers, students interview, counsel, and represent clients in Chapter 7 and 13 cases in this two-semester, six-credit elective.
Children & Youth Law Clinic. A statewide project, the clinic serves children and adolescents aging out of the foster care system.
Community Economic Development & Design Clinic. A community-based program, the clinic provides economic-development aid, litigation support, and self-help advocacy training to low-income neighborhood groups.
Health & Elder Law Clinic. An integrated teaching, research, and community service program, the clinic provides health and elder rights representation to underserved communities in cooperation with the University’s School of Nursing and Health Studies and the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine.
Immigration Clinic. This newest clinic enables students to advocate on behalf of low-income immigrants and obtain hands-on experience in an area of public interest law. The clinic plays a key role in the wider immigrant and human rights advocacy community in South Florida and the nation.
Externships
Litigation Skills. About 70 percent of the School’s students take the six-credit Litigation Skills I class. Through Litigation Skills II, student can get hands-on experience at one of about 50 agencies in South Florida or through summer placements with agencies in their home states.
Public Interest Programs
Public interest work and public service is a core value at the School of Law. We host a wide range of programs for students—including financial assistance for students who have a passion for public interest work.
Take a look at our array of programs, fellowships, and awards. With everything from summer opportunities to our interdisciplinary Center for Ethics and Public Service, the School of Law reaches out to vulnerable populations, such as youth; supports individuals and group efforts to provide legal services and education; and celebrates achievements in significant work for the public good.
Note that the Career Development Office frequently helps graduating students obtain post graduate fellowships in public interest as well.
Ethics & Professional Responsibility Program. A project of the Center for Ethics & Public Service, the program develops and presents continuing legal education (CLE) ethics training to the South Florida legal community.
Environmental Law Project. This new program focuses on environmental law, regulation, and preservation from the vantage point of policy-makers as well as advocates.
Joint Program on Law, Public Policy, and Ethics. A program of the Center for Ethics & Public Service, this effort provides interdisciplinary colloquia and undergraduate seminars, and internships.
Miami STREET LAW Program. The program disseminates information about law, public policy, and ethics through classes in the public schools, colloquia on campus, and undergraduate courses.
HOPE Public Interest Resource Center. For more than 10 years, the HOPE Center has provided pro bono services to the underserved in areas such as criminal justice, elder law, and domestic violence. Be sure to learn about both HOPE fellowships and the Miami Scholars Program.
Center for the Study of Human Rights. The center supports scholarship and colloquia on international human rights.
Wrongful Convictions Project. The project has three components: representation, research, and public education. Students work with faculty and cooperating attorneys to investigate possible wrongful convictions, contributing through fact investigation, interviewing defendants and witnesses, and legal research and analysis. Students may also research, draft, and file motions and appear in court on behalf of those wrongfully convicted.
