-
Contract Negotiation: Outsourcing
LAWS 79913
- 01
(3)
s, u, x
This class will provide students with the opportunity to participate in a simulated contract negotiation for the outsourcing of services. Students will be divided into "buyers" and "sellers" and then paired up to draft, review, revise, negotiate and finalize a contract with their opposing counsel partner(s) by the end of the quarter, with a focus on risk assessment and risk mitigation in the contract. Instructors will act as the clients for the two sides of the transaction, providing necessary business and legal guidance to their students/counsel over the course of the simulation. The simulation will require not only in-class participation, but also negotiation sessions to be scheduled by the teams between class meetings. The simulation may begin with a Request for Proposal ("RFP") and/or term sheet, and continue through the drafting and completion of an agreement.
Grades will be based upon class participation (including the ability to work with others in a collaborative and effective manner) and the instructors' review of the final agreement(s) reached by the parties.
Group work outside of class is required.
Winter 2013
David Zarfes, Joan E. Neal
-
Contracts and Commercial Transactions
LAWS 91553
- 01
(3)
s, x
The objective of this course is to familiarize the student with contracts as used by sophisticated parties. Accordingly, this course will explore "real-world" contracts actually entered into by "real-world" companies—the Coca-Cola's, Microsoft's, and HP's of the world. Through this course, the student will attain a certain facility with agreements, their organization and structure, their language, and their provisions (and the interaction of these provisions). In addition to looking at contracts through the eyes of parties and practitioners, the course will pay considerable attention to how courts have treated various contractual provisions, exploring areas of substantive law—including, and in addition to, contract law—to the extent relevant. Readings will include comments from leading practicing attorneys (from law firms such as Sidley, Kirkland, and Cravath, and from legal departments at companies such as Microsoft, Accenture, and JPMorgan).
The student's grade will be based on in-class participation as well as a mid-term exercise and a take-home final exam. The mid-term exercise will involve substantial time spent outside of class negotiating and drafting an agreement and writing a memorandum analyzing this agreement. The take-home final exam will require the student to apply the tools and concepts developed by reviewing and working with contracts throughout this course to an agreement not presented in class or the materials. The course will require substantial out of class work and class participation will count toward the grade. Students will be negotiating and drafting contracts outside of class. This course is highly recommended for those students interested in taking other transactional offerings at the Law School, including (but, of course, not limited to) the Corporate Lab: Transactional Clinic.
Autumn 2012
David Zarfes, Michael L. Bloom
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Corporate Lab: Transactional Clinic
LAWS 91562
- 01
(3)
+, a, s, x
This transactional clinic provides students with a forum for working closely with legal teams at various major companies (including those in the technology, consulting, telecommunications, finance, healthcare, insurance, and emerging-business sectors). The Corporate Lab aims to teach practical legal skills and knowledge both by having students work on actual projects and through classroom instruction and discussion. In addition, students will have the opportunity to hear from, and interface with, seasoned practitioners from leading law firms. This class mirrors a real-world work experience: Students will receive hands-on substantive and client-development experience and will be expected to manage and meet expectations (e.g., deadlines) while exercising a high level of professionalism. As a result, this class is likely to involve a significant time commitment (with a substantial amount of work to be completed outside of class), and students will get out of the Lab what they put into it.
Student grades will be based upon participation in the classroom, appropriate attention to client service, collaborative efforts within a team environment, and quality of work product. This offering will not count toward seminar restrictions. Please note that students who register are expected to remain in the course for three consecutive quarters, and that students may not take the Corporate Lab for more than nine credits. Students may be required to sign nondisclosure agreements with participating companies. While certainly not a prerequisite, “Contracts and Commercial Transactions” (offered in Autumn quarters) is strongly recommended for all students to take prior to, or concurrent with, taking this class. LL.M. students by instructor permission only.
Winter 2013
David Zarfes, Sean Z. Kramer, Naveen Thomas
-
Corporate Lab: Transactional Clinic
LAWS 91562
- 01
(3)
+, a, s, x
This transactional clinic provides students with a forum for working closely with legal teams at various major companies (including those in the technology, consulting, telecommunications, finance, healthcare, insurance, and emerging-business sectors). The Corporate Lab aims to teach practical legal skills and knowledge both by having students work on actual projects and through classroom instruction and discussion. In addition, students will have the opportunity to hear from, and interface with, seasoned practitioners from leading law firms. This class mirrors a real-world work experience: Students will receive hands-on substantive and client-development experience and will be expected to manage and meet expectations (e.g., deadlines) while exercising a high level of professionalism. As a result, this class is likely to involve a significant time commitment (with a substantial amount of work to be completed outside of class), and students will get out of the Lab what they put into it.
Student grades will be based upon participation in the classroom, appropriate attention to client service, collaborative efforts within a team environment, and quality of work product. This offering will not count toward seminar restrictions. Please note that students who register are expected to remain in the course for three consecutive quarters, and that students may not take the Corporate Lab for more than nine credits. Students may be required to sign nondisclosure agreements with participating companies. While certainly not a prerequisite, “Contracts and Commercial Transactions” (offered in Autumn quarters) is strongly recommended for all students to take prior to, or concurrent with, taking this class. LL.M. students by instructor permission only.
Autumn 2012
David Zarfes, Michael L. Bloom, Sean Z. Kramer
-
Corporate Lab: Transactional Clinic
LAWS 91562
- 01
(3)
+, a, s, x
This transactional clinic provides students with a forum for working closely with legal teams at various major companies (including those in the technology, consulting, telecommunications, finance, healthcare, insurance, and emerging-business sectors). The Corporate Lab aims to teach practical legal skills and knowledge both by having students work on actual projects and through classroom instruction and discussion. In addition, students will have the opportunity to hear from, and interface with, seasoned practitioners from leading law firms. This class mirrors a real-world work experience: Students will receive hands-on substantive and client-development experience and will be expected to manage and meet expectations (e.g., deadlines) while exercising a high level of professionalism. As a result, this class is likely to involve a significant time commitment (with a substantial amount of work to be completed outside of class), and students will get out of the Lab what they put into it.
Student grades will be based upon participation in the classroom, appropriate attention to client service, collaborative efforts within a team environment, and quality of work product. This offering will not count toward seminar restrictions. Please note that students who register are expected to remain in the course for three consecutive quarters, and that students may not take the Corporate Lab for more than nine credits. Students may be required to sign nondisclosure agreements with participating companies. While certainly not a prerequisite, “Contracts and Commercial Transactions” (offered in Autumn quarters) is strongly recommended for all students to take prior to, or concurrent with, taking this class. LL.M. students by instructor permission only.
Spring 2013
David Zarfes, Sean Z. Kramer, Naveen Thomas, Ellis A. Regenbogen
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Criminal and Juvenile Justice Project Clinic
LAWS 67213
- 01
(1)
+, a, s, x
The Juvenile and Criminal Justice Clinic provides legal representation to poor children and young adults accused of delinquency and crime. The Clinic is a national leader in expanding the concept of legal representation to include the social, psychological and educational needs of clients. Students will learn strategy, pre-trial, and trial skills while applying legal theory. Students will examine the juvenile and criminal justice systems relationship to the poor and marginalized through litigation, legislative advocacy, and public education, including the development of policies for crime and violence prevention and system reform. Students will draft motions, briefs, memoranda, and pleadings in state, appellate and federal courts as required. They will interview clients and witnesses; inspect crime scenes; conduct fact investigations; and develop effective pre- and post-trial strategies, including alternatives to incarceration. Licensed students will appear in court, argue contested motions, negotiate with opposing counsel, and generally second-chair trials. Licensed students may also present oral argument before appellate courts. All students will participate in community, professional and bar association activities. Students work in teams to foster collaboration and ensure continuity in representation. The Clinic social worker and social work students are involved in many of the cases and activities. All students are encouraged to work creatively, and across disciplines. Participation includes a weekly hour meeting. Students wishing to enroll are encouraged to take Evidence in their second year. Other recommended courses: Criminal Procedure, Juvenile Justice, and Intensive Trial Practice Workshop or Trial Advocacy. Students may continue in the clinic throughout their 2 and 3L years: academic credit varies and will be awarded according to the Law School's general criteria for clinical courses and by the approval of the clinical staff.
Spring 2013
Herschella G. Conyers, Randolph N. Stone
-
Criminal and Juvenile Justice Project Clinic
LAWS 67213
- 01
(1)
+, a, s, x
The Juvenile and Criminal Justice Clinic provides legal representation to poor children and young adults accused of delinquency and crime. The Clinic is a national leader in expanding the concept of legal representation to include the social, psychological and educational needs of clients. Students will learn strategy, pre-trial, and trial skills while applying legal theory. Students will examine the juvenile and criminal justice systems relationship to the poor and marginalized through litigation, legislative advocacy, and public education, including the development of policies for crime and violence prevention and system reform. Students will draft motions, briefs, memoranda, and pleadings in state, appellate and federal courts as required. They will interview clients and witnesses; inspect crime scenes; conduct fact investigations; and develop effective pre- and post-trial strategies, including alternatives to incarceration. Licensed students will appear in court, argue contested motions, negotiate with opposing counsel, and generally second-chair trials. Licensed students may also present oral argument before appellate courts. All students will participate in community, professional and bar association activities. Students work in teams to foster collaboration and ensure continuity in representation. The Clinic social worker and social work students are involved in many of the cases and activities. All students are encouraged to work creatively, and across disciplines. Participation includes a weekly hour meeting. Students wishing to enroll are encouraged to take Evidence in their second year. Other recommended courses: Criminal Procedure, Juvenile Justice, and Intensive Trial Practice Workshop or Trial Advocacy. Students may continue in the clinic throughout their 2 and 3L years: academic credit varies and will be awarded according to the Law School's general criteria for clinical courses and by the approval of the clinical staff.
Autumn 2012
Herschella G. Conyers, Randolph N. Stone
-
Criminal and Juvenile Justice Project Clinic
LAWS 67213
- 01
(1)
+, a, s, x
The Juvenile and Criminal Justice Clinic provides legal representation to poor children and young adults accused of delinquency and crime. The Clinic is a national leader in expanding the concept of legal representation to include the social, psychological and educational needs of clients. Students will learn strategy, pre-trial, and trial skills while applying legal theory. Students will examine the juvenile and criminal justice systems relationship to the poor and marginalized through litigation, legislative advocacy, and public education, including the development of policies for crime and violence prevention and system reform. Students will draft motions, briefs, memoranda, and pleadings in state, appellate and federal courts as required. They will interview clients and witnesses; inspect crime scenes; conduct fact investigations; and develop effective pre- and post-trial strategies, including alternatives to incarceration. Licensed students will appear in court, argue contested motions, negotiate with opposing counsel, and generally second-chair trials. Licensed students may also present oral argument before appellate courts. All students will participate in community, professional and bar association activities. Students work in teams to foster collaboration and ensure continuity in representation. The Clinic social worker and social work students are involved in many of the cases and activities. All students are encouraged to work creatively, and across disciplines. Participation includes a weekly hour meeting. Students wishing to enroll are encouraged to take Evidence in their second year. Other recommended courses: Criminal Procedure, Juvenile Justice, and Intensive Trial Practice Workshop or Trial Advocacy. Students may continue in the clinic throughout their 2 and 3L years: academic credit varies and will be awarded according to the Law School's general criteria for clinical courses and by the approval of the clinical staff.
Winter 2013
Herschella G. Conyers, Randolph N. Stone
-
Developing Law Practice Skills through the Study of National Security Issues
LAWS 70703
- 01
(3)
+, m, s, x
My purpose is to help students improve the skills required for successful law practice (regardless of setting) through the analysis and oral and written presentation of current national security issues (such as indefinite incarceration, rendition, assassination, Presidential power, electronic surveillance, and cyberwarfare).
Students will form teams of 2-4 persons.
Each team will present a topic to the class, which will be expected to participate on an informed basis.
Students will also write a short research paper.
Prerequisite: Constitutional Law or equivalent.
Spring 2013
Robert A. Helman
-
Divorce Practice and Procedure
LAWS 93202
- 01
(3)
+, s, u, w, x
This class provides an exposure to the dynamic process of representing clients in a dissolution of marriage case. The class will familiarize you with the complexities that arise when a family is divided and wife and the parties are dissolving their marriage. Topics are covered in the sequence of an evolving case from the perspective of a practicing lawyer and include: determination of jurisdiction; interstate and international parental kidnapping; domestic violence and property injunctions; temporary and permanent child custody and visitation; temporary and permanent maintenance for spouse and support for children; awards of attorneys fees and costs; exploration of property rights and factors for determining a division; the valuation issues when dividing certain types of property; pre- and post-marital agreements; pretrial discovery; common evidentiary issues; federal tax aspects of marital dissolution and effects of bankruptcy.
Forty percent of the student's grade is based on class participation, and sixty percent on the drafting of legal memoranda.
Writing for this class may be used as partial fulfillment of the JD writing requirement (WP).
Completion of a basic Family Law class is recommended but not required.
Autumn 2012
Donald Schiller, Erika N. Chen-Walsh
-
Drafting Contracts: The Problem of Ambiguity
LAWS 79910
- 01
(2)
m, s, x
This seminar is unique. It is a very interesting, very intellectual, and very practical learning experience. The main features are: 1. Students will learn some extremely useful tools for analyzing and drafting contracts. They will acquire them by an inductive process of reviewing many examples of ambiguity from case law, eminent legal scholars, and the lecturer’s practice. They will learn to identify and eliminate ambiguity in drafting contracts. These tools are the creation of the lecturer and will give students unique practical skills that no other American law students (except the lecturer’s prior students) have. 2. The course materials come from the in-house seminars for the firm’s China Practice lawyers that the lecturer conducted for many years as a partner at Baker & McKenzie and that established the profession’s best practices for China-related contracts. 3. The historical examples of ambiguity in the seminar are of human, as well as intellectual, interest. They show that ambiguity can lead to the hanging of an individual for piracy or treason, a damages award of more than U.S. $10 billion, and even a change in the course of World War II. 4. The seminar facilitates student learning. At the beginning of each class, an audience response system (called “clickers”) provides students immediate, comparative, and anonymous feedback on their understanding of the reading assignment. The course also allows each student to see what he or she has learned in the course by comparing his or her analysis of a specific contract for the first class and for the last class. This contract analysis, like the final exam, gives each student the experience of a practicing lawyer reviewing a contract.
Grades will be based on a proctored final exam.
Winter 2013
Preston Torbert
-
Employment Discrimination Clinic
LAWS 67113
- 01
(1)
+, a, s, w, x
Randall D. Schmidt and his students operate the Clinic's Employment Law Clinic. The Clinic focuses primarily on pre-trial litigation and handles a number of individual cases and class actions. In individual cases, the Clinic represents clients in cases before the Illinois Department of Human Rights and the Illinois Human Rights Commission and seeks to obtain relief for clients from race, sex, national origin, and handicap discrimination in the work place. In the class actions, the Clinic represents groups of employees in employment and civil rights actions in federal court. Additionally, in its individual cases and law reform/impact cases, the Clinic seeks to improve the procedures and remedies available to victims of employment discrimination so that employees have a fair opportunity to present their claims in a reasonably expeditious way. To accomplish this goal, the Clinic is active in the legislative arena and participates with other civil rights groups in efforts to amend and improve state and federal laws.
It is suggested, but not required, that all students in the Employment Law Clinic take the Employment Discrimination Law seminar.
Third-year Students are strongly encouraged to take, prior to their third year, Pretrial Advocacy and either the Intensive Trial Practice Workshop or Trial Advocacy.
Enrollment in the Employment Law Clinic Project is limited and preference will be given to students who take Pretrial Advocacy and the Intensive Trial Practice Workshop.
The student's grade is based on class participation.
Academic credit varies and will be awarded according to the Law School's general criteria for clinical courses as described in the Law School Announcements and by the approval of the clinical faculty.
Evidence is a prerequisite for 3Ls in the clinic.
Pretrial Advocacy and the Intensive Trial Practice Workshop (or an equivalent trial practice course) are highly recommended for 3Ls in the clinic.
Newly enrolling 3Ls need instructor consent.
Winter 2013
Randall D. Schmidt
-
Employment Discrimination Clinic
LAWS 67113
- 01
(1)
+, a, s, w, x
Randall D. Schmidt and his students operate the Clinic's Employment Law Clinic. The Clinic focuses primarily on pre-trial litigation and handles a number of individual cases and class actions. In individual cases, the Clinic represents clients in cases before the Illinois Department of Human Rights and the Illinois Human Rights Commission and seeks to obtain relief for clients from race, sex, national origin, and handicap discrimination in the work place. In the class actions, the Clinic represents groups of employees in employment and civil rights actions in federal court. Additionally, in its individual cases and law reform/impact cases, the Clinic seeks to improve the procedures and remedies available to victims of employment discrimination so that employees have a fair opportunity to present their claims in a reasonably expeditious way. To accomplish this goal, the Clinic is active in the legislative arena and participates with other civil rights groups in efforts to amend and improve state and federal laws.
It is suggested, but not required, that all students in the Employment Law Clinic take the Employment Discrimination Law seminar.
Third-year students are strongly encouraged to take either the Intensive Trial Practice Workshop or another trial advocacy course.
Enrollment in the Employment Law Clinic Project is limited and preference will be given to students who take Pretrial Advocacy and the Intensive Trial Practice Workshop.
The student's grade is based on class participation.
Academic credit varies and will be awarded according to the Law School's general criteria for clinical courses as described in the Law School Announcements and by the approval of the clinical faculty.
Evidence is a prerequisite for 3Ls in the clinic.
Pretrial Advocacy and the Intensive Trial Practice Workshop (or an equivalent trial practice course) are highly recommended for 3Ls in the clinic.
Newly enrolling 3Ls need instructor consent.
Spring 2013
Randall D. Schmidt
-
Employment Discrimination Clinic
LAWS 67113
- 01
(1)
+, a, s, w, x
Randall D. Schmidt and his students operate the Clinic's Employment Law Clinic. The Clinic focuses primarily on pre-trial litigation and handles a number of individual cases and class actions. In individual cases, the Clinic represents clients in cases before the Illinois Department of Human Rights and the Illinois Human Rights Commission and seeks to obtain relief for clients from race, sex, national origin, and handicap discrimination in the work place. In the class actions, the Clinic represents groups of employees in employment and civil rights actions in federal court. Additionally, in its individual cases and law reform/impact cases, the Clinic seeks to improve the procedures and remedies available to victims of employment discrimination so that employees have a fair opportunity to present their claims in a reasonably expeditious way. To accomplish this goal, the Clinic is active in the legislative arena and participates with other civil rights groups in efforts to amend and improve state and federal laws.
It is suggested, but not required, that all students in the Employment Law Clinic take the Employment Discrimination Law seminar.
Third-year Students are strongly encouraged to take, prior to their third year, Pretrial Advocacy and either the Intensive Trial Practice Workshop or Trial Advocacy.
Enrollment in the Employment Law Clinic Project is limited and preference will be given to students who take Pretrial Advocacy and the Intensive Trial Practice Workshop.
The student's grade is based on class participation.
Academic credit varies and will be awarded according to the Law School's general criteria for clinical courses as described in the Law School Announcements and by the approval of the clinical faculty.
Evidence is a prerequisite for 3L's in the clinic.
Pretrial Advocacy and the Intensive Trial Practice Workshop (or an equivalent trial practice course) are highly recommended for 3L's in the clinic.
Newly enrolling 3Ls need instructor consent.
Autumn 2012
Randall D. Schmidt
-
Entrepreneurship and the Law
LAWS 61902
- 01
(3)
m, s, x
This seminar examines how the legal landscape and structural choices shape entrepreneurial enterprises, particularly micro-enterprises in the US. The seminar explores the position of the entrepreneur in society, in the economy, and in our constitutional framework, in order to analyze the entrepreneur's fundamental legal needs. The seminar then surveys legal questions particular to start-ups, including strategies for structuring a business organization, financing, and protecting intellectual property. Assignments require students to research hypothetical issues and analyze strategies for counseling entrepreneurial clients.
This seminar is a prerequisite for participation in the Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship.
Students' grades will be based on active participation and several short writing assignments.
Winter 2013
Elizabeth Kregor, Erika Pfleger
-
Exoneration Project Clinic
LAWS 67413
- 01
(1)
+, a, s, x
The criminal justice system is not perfect. Innocent people are sometimes convicted of crimes they did not commit. When that occurs, the consequences for the lives of the wrongfully convicted and their families are truly devastating. By investigating and petitioning courts to reverse wrongful convictions, our Exoneration Project is dedicated to restoring justice. Our project represents innocent individuals who have been wrongly convicted. Students working in our project assist in every aspect of representation including selecting cases, investigating and developing evidence, as well as in-court litigation of post-conviction petitions, petitions for DNA testing, and federal habeas petitions. Students work closely with our clients and have an opportunity to develop their oral and written advocacy skills by preparing written pleadings and by appearing before trial courts and appellate court panels. Through participation in our project students will explore issues of error and inequality in the criminal justice system, including police and prosecutorial misconduct, the use of faulty scientific evidence, coerced confessions, unreliable eyewitness testimony, and ineffective assistance of counsel. The Exoneration Project is an intensive, rigorous experience designed for students who are committed to providing the best possible representation to deserving clients.
Second-year students wishing to enroll in the Project are encouraged to take Evidence in their second year.
Third-year students are required to complete, prior to their third year, Evidence and the Intensive Trial Practice Workshop.
Students are also encouraged but not required to take Pretrial Advocacy, Criminal Procedure I, and Criminal Procedure II.
Students selected for this project will receive credit for the work they do in accordance with the credit rules for all other clinical programs.
Spring 2013
Russell Ainsworth, Tara Thompson, David Owens
-
Exoneration Project Clinic
LAWS 67413
- 01
(1)
+, a, s, x
The criminal justice system is not perfect. Innocent people are sometimes convicted of crimes they did not commit. When that occurs, the consequences for the lives of the wrongfully convicted and their families are truly devastating. By investigating and petitioning courts to reverse wrongful convictions, our Exoneration Project is dedicated to restoring justice. Our project represents innocent individuals who have been wrongly convicted. Students working in our project assist in every aspect of representation including selecting cases, investigating and developing evidence, as well as in-court litigation of post-conviction petitions, petitions for DNA testing, and federal habeas petitions. Students work closely with our clients and have an opportunity to develop their oral and written advocacy skills by preparing written pleadings and by appearing before trial courts and appellate court panels. Through participation in our project students will explore issues of error and inequality in the criminal justice system, including police and prosecutorial misconduct, the use of faulty scientific evidence, coerced confessions, unreliable eyewitness testimony, and ineffective assistance of counsel. The Exoneration Project is an intensive, rigorous experience designed for students who are committed to providing the best possible representation to deserving clients.
Second-year students wishing to enroll in the Project are encouraged to take Evidence in their second year.
Third-year students are required to complete, prior to their third year, Evidence and the Intensive Trial Practice Workshop.
Students are also encouraged but not required to take Pretrial Advocacy, Criminal Procedure I, and Criminal Procedure II.
Students selected for this project will receive credit for the work they do in accordance with the credit rules for all other clinical programs.
Autumn 2012
Russell Ainsworth, Tara Thompson, David Owens
-
Exoneration Project Clinic
LAWS 67413
- 01
(1)
+, a, s, x
The criminal justice system is not perfect. Innocent people are sometimes convicted of crimes they did not commit. When that occurs, the consequences for the lives of the wrongfully convicted and their families are truly devastating. By investigating and petitioning courts to reverse wrongful convictions, our Exoneration Project is dedicated to restoring justice. Our project represents innocent individuals who have been wrongly convicted. Students working in our project assist in every aspect of representation including selecting cases, investigating and developing evidence, as well as in-court litigation of post-conviction petitions, petitions for DNA testing, and federal habeas petitions. Students work closely with our clients and have an opportunity to develop their oral and written advocacy skills by preparing written pleadings and by appearing before trial courts and appellate court panels. Through participation in our project students will explore issues of error and inequality in the criminal justice system, including police and prosecutorial misconduct, the use of faulty scientific evidence, coerced confessions, unreliable eyewitness testimony, and ineffective assistance of counsel. The Exoneration Project is an intensive, rigorous experience designed for students who are committed to providing the best possible representation to deserving clients.
Second-year students wishing to enroll in the Project are encouraged to take Evidence in their second year.
Third-year students are required to complete, prior to their third year, Evidence and the Intensive Trial Practice Workshop.
Students are also encouraged but not required to take Pretrial Advocacy, Criminal Procedure I, and Criminal Procedure II.
Students selected for this project will receive credit for the work they do in accordance with the credit rules for all other clinical programs.
Winter 2013
Russell Ainsworth, Tara Thompson, David Owens
-
Federal Criminal Justice Clinic
LAWS 67513
- 01
(2)
+, a, s, w
The Federal Criminal Justice Clinic zealously represents indigent defendants charged with federal crimes while giving students a unique opportunity to practice in federal district court and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The FCJC is the first legal clinic in the country to exclusively represent clients charged with federal felonies. The clinic’s cases fall into two categories. The first category consists of cases we enter at the time of the arrest, carry through the district court to trial or guilty plea and sentencing, and then carry through appeal and beyond. The second category consists of cases we become involved in at a later stage of the proceedings because they present a novel legal issue or an issue on which there is a circuit split. We raise the legal issue at the district court level, handle or assist in any appeals that arise on the issue, and, if necessary, litigate the issue all the way to the United States Supreme Court. FCJC students are generally assigned to cases in teams of two. Students interview clients and witnesses; meet regularly with clients at the federal jail; conduct and participate in bond hearings, preliminary hearings, arraignments, plea hearings, sentencing hearings, and trials; write and argue motions and briefs; negotiate with prosecutors and probation officers; and participate in investigations. The seminar component includes skills exercises, simulations, lectures, and discussions.
Students enter the FCJC in their 3L year, must spend a full year in the FCJC, and must put a minimum of two credits towards the clinic per quarter (a ten-hour-per-week time commitment). The pre-requisites/co-requisites are Evidence and Criminal Procedure I; these courses may be taken at any time during 2L or 3L year. It is strongly recommended that students interested in joining the FCJC take Professor Siegler’s Federal Sentencing seminar during 2L year, and take the Intensive Trial Practice Workshop at the beginning of 3L year.
Spring 2013
Erica Zunkel, Alison Siegler
-
Federal Criminal Justice Clinic
LAWS 67513
- 01
(2)
+, a, s, w, x
The Federal Criminal Justice Clinic zealously represents indigent defendants charged with federal crimes while giving students a unique opportunity to practice in federal district court and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The FCJC is the first legal clinic in the country to exclusively represent clients charged with federal felonies. The clinic’s cases fall into two categories. The first category consists of cases we enter at the time of the arrest, carry through the district court to trial or guilty plea and sentencing, and then carry through appeal and beyond. The second category consists of cases we become involved in at a later stage of the proceedings because they present a novel legal issue or an issue on which there is a circuit split. We raise the legal issue at the district court level, handle or assist in any appeals that arise on the issue, and, if necessary, litigate the issue all the way to the United States Supreme Court. FCJC students are generally assigned to cases in teams of two. Students interview clients and witnesses; meet regularly with clients at the federal jail; conduct and participate in bond hearings, preliminary hearings, arraignments, plea hearings, sentencing hearings, and trials; write and argue motions and briefs; negotiate with prosecutors and probation officers; and participate in investigations. The seminar component includes skills exercises, simulations, lectures, and discussions.
Students enter the FCJC in their 3L year, must spend a full year in the FCJC, and must put a minimum of two credits towards the clinic per quarter (a ten-hour-per-week time commitment). The pre-requisites/co-requisites are Evidence and Criminal Procedure I; these courses may be taken at any time during 2L or 3L year. It is strongly recommended that students interested in joining the FCJC take Professor Siegler’s Federal Sentencing seminar during 2L year, and take the Intensive Trial Practice Workshop at the beginning of 3L year.
Autumn 2012
Erica Zunkel, Alison Siegler
