Students who would like to learn how to practice law while they are in law school should apply for the in-house clinical education program, LAW OFFICES. Applications are now available for the summer.  Students may apply for Law Offices after they have completed the equivalent to their first year of law school (27 credits). To be considered for a place, ALL students must complete and return a completed Law Offices application.   The Registration date has not yet been set; consequently, the deadline for submitting applications for the summer semester is pending.  We will notify you of the application deadline as soon as we are advised of the Registration period.

Students who have previously taken or who are now taking Law Offices (called Continuing Law Offices Students) and who submit their applications by the due date will be given preference in their same practice group if availability permits.  New students who have submitted their applications by the due date will be selected in the Law Offices lottery. The total number of available places during the summer semester is dependent upon the number of supervising attorneys in each practice group. The number of available new places is dependent upon the number of continuing students and has not yet been determined.

There are seven in-house practice groups from which to choose - employment discrimination/civil rights with some general practice, criminal defense, first defense legal aid, health, information technology and entrepreneurship (ITEC), mediation and other ADR procedures, and tax (prerequisites are Personal Income Tax and Tax Procedure).

In three of the in-house programs - employment discrimination/civil rights litigation with some general practice program, the criminal defense litigation program, and ADR program - students are given the option of enrolling for three or four credits.  Students who enroll for four credits put in a minimum of thirty-two hours per week, and students who enroll for three credits put in a minimum of twenty-four hours per week during the eight-week semester.  In the health law litigation program, ITEC, and the tax litigation program students enroll for three credits and put in a minimum of twenty-four hours per week.  Students in FDLA enroll for two credits and put in a minimum of sixteen hours per week.

For more information, you may talk to the clinical professors who supervise the various practice groups -  Professors Gonzalez (room 629) and Leader (room 625) for labor and employment law; Professors Kling (room 613), and Thomas (room 609) for criminal defense; Professor Kraus (room 627) for health law; Professor Williams (room 623) for ITEC, Professor Kentra (room 611) for mediation & other ADR procedures; and Professor Decatorsmith (room 621) for tax.  Professor Walz is off campus and may be reached at (773) 292-9780, and  Professor Laser (room 631) is also available to answer your questions.
 
 

THIRD YEAR STUDENTS ONLY:

 Do you wish to develop your legal skills, gain practical legal experience in a specialized area of law with a corporation, firm or government agency, and make yourself more marketable to prospective employers upon graduation?  If so, consider applying to the Legal Externship Program for Summer or Fall 2001 Semester.

 The Legal Externship Program is a 4-credit hour non-graded program.  The program is open to students in their last two semesters of law school.  The student selects the area of law in which he/she wishes to extern.

 For the fieldwork component, an extern is placed in a private or public, civil or criminal practice and is required to work a minimum of 32 hours a week for Summer Semester or 16 hours a week for Fall Semester at his/her designated placement.  Externs interested in civil law may select to work under the supervision of general counsel in major corporations or under the supervision of designated teaching lawyers in well-known firms or specific government agencies.  Externs may specialize in such diverse legal areas as tax, commodities, securities, corporate, health care, medical malpractice, general corporate law, etc.  Those interested in criminal law may select to work with the States Attorney's Office, Public Defender's Office, or the U.S. Attorney's Office.  Many externships offer the externs opportunities to obtain a 711 license and appear in court. 

 Information about the program and an accompanying application form will be available in the Law Offices reception area and in the Career Services office as of Monday, March 19, 2001.  Applications should be turned in to Room 612 by 12:00 P.M. on Friday, April 6, 2001.

 All applicants must have scheduled and completed an interview with Professor Gross prior to turning in their applications. 

 If you are interested in learning more about externship opportunities or in applying to the program, please see Professor Vivien Gross in Room 617.
 
 

The Law Offices of Chicago-Kent offers nine long-standing programs in live-client clinical legal education which accommodate over 150 students in the fall and spring semesters and over 50 students in the summer semester. 

For a complete description of all clinical programs, please visit the Law Offices' Home Page at www.kentlaw.edu/academics/clinic. 
 
 
 

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