Civil Litigation Program

Akram/Diamond

3 credits
Fall

Burdick, et al

Burdick

Burdick, et al

JD 974 (A1)

Trial Advocacy
Employment Rights Clinic

T 4:20-6:20

3 credits
Spring

Burdick, et al

The program gives students the opportunity to use their lawyering skills in all courtroom levels. In addition to gaining important litigation experience, you will interview clients and witnesses, draft pleadings and other legal documents, negotiate with attorneys and conduct research - all under the close supervision of faculty members.  Students work out of the offices of Greater Boston Legal Services in downtown Boston. Students are required to apply and be accepted to the program before they register. 

The Civil Litigation Program offers three different options.  In the first option – Housing, Employment, Family & Disability Clinic (HEFD) (year long program) – students represent tenants in eviction defenses in housing court, claimants in unemployment compensation appeals, parties in divorces in probate court, and claimants in Social Security disability hearings before administrative law judges.  In the second option – Asylum & Human Rights Clinic (AHR) (year long program) – students represent asylum seekers affirmatively in front of the U.S.C.I.S. and in removal proceedings before Immigration Court.  Students also handle other immigration and humanitarian cases.  In the third option – Employment Rights Clinic (ERC) (one semester program, offered fall and spring) – students represent clients in unemployment compensation cases, wage and hour disputes, certified nurse aid appeals, discrimination/sexual harassment cases, and Family Medical Leave Act cases.

In Professional Responsibility you will be asked to analyze the ethical dilemmas you encounter in your field work.  (This component also satisfies the School of Law’s Professional Responsibility requirement.)  The culminating experience of the coursework takes place in mock trials near the end of the spring semester.  This class is mandatory for students in the HEFD and AHR clinics, and is also mandatory for students in the fall ERC clinic who have not already taken Professional Responsibility.

PREREQUISITE/COREQUISITE (HEFD & AHR OPTIONS):  If you have not already done so, you must take Evidence during the first semester to satisfy the student practice rule. If you have already taken Trial Advocacy or Professional Responsibility, you will still need to take the clinical sections. They are closely integrated with your field work.

PREREQUISITE/COREQUISITE (ERC OPTION):  Students must take Evidence and Professional Responsibility concurrently with the Employment Rights Clinic, or students must have already taken these courses.  Students participating in the fall semester Employment Rights Clinic, who have not already taken Professional Responsibility, must take the fall Civil Litigation Program Professional Responsibility course.