Review #1:
You should definitely do it. I loved it! It was incredibly rewarding to represent real people who genuinely needed my help. You get to negotiate with opposing counsel, go to court, and counsel clients. It makes you feel like a real lawyer. I helped someone avoid eviction. I helped another person escape a wrongful debt collection action. I helped another person charged with a criminal misdemeanor.
The clinic is also engaged in a long-term criminal appellate impact project that I worked on during clinic and then exclusively when I did advanced clinic the next semester.
I think clinics are great overall because they offer a nice change of pace from traditional classes and you learn practical skills. I think the CCLC is particularly cool because of the wide-variety of work you get to do.
It definitely felt lighter than seven credits of normal work, but it also is a little bit all encompassing. Based on the nature of the cases, sometimes you feel very busy and other times you feel pretty chill. They did ask us for our interest. Kim Thomas runs that project and she will likely solicit students to be part of it since it is different from the normal CCLC work. I volunteered and got it.
Review #2:
You don’t really get to choose [your cases], but I think we have a good mix of cases! My partner and I have two longer term criminal cases that aren’t very active, two landlord tenant cases that are now settled, and one new one that’s a civil suit! We also do a criminal mock trial.
I’m not sure that I would say it’s MORE than 7 hours except maybe at first when there’s a ton going on or if you have two super active cases at once. It really depends. The clinic profs are really good about trying to balance your caseload, and if you’re overwhelmed they’re pretty receptive to talking it over with you. One thing to be aware of is that you have to have clinic office hours each week on top of the seminar class times. They fit it in around you and your partner’s other classes and usually just make it 2x a week – so our clinic are 9-1PM on Tuesday’s and 1-3PM on Wednesday’s.
Also I said you don’t get to choose, but they do ask for your preferences at the beginning of the semester! They just don’t always have a ton of control over who ends up coming through the clinic that semester.
Review #3:
Love this clinic! it’s a ton of work, so I’d recommend only taking one doctrinal with it. I’m in 16 credits right now including the clinic and it’s definitely a little much. Overall though it has been a great experience. One thing I didn’t realize I would get out of this clinic is negotiation experience–that is honestly how most civil cases end so we negotiate a lot. I’ve done a lot more civil than criminal cases, but I think that varies year to year, and you have the opportunity to tell them what type of cases you are interested in. Hope that helps! Happy to answer any other questions.
Review #4:
The workload is definitely pretty high, it’s probably more work than any other clinic. The in class assignments, outside of the work you do for your client, will take up a lot of time. But it’s very front loaded – I’m like already starting to wind down in terms of how much work I have.
I’m in one doctrinal right now and I think that’s much more manageable than taking two, which I think would be pretty rough. If you only took one doctrinal, I don’t think it would matter if it’s considered “hard” or “easy,” especially because you’ll have PLENTY of time to study for finals.
As for specific classes, you don’t NEED to take anything with it but of any class I would suggest evidence just to know some of the rules instead of constantly looking them up like I do.
Review #5:
I’m in the clinic now and love it. I think it’s great experience on a variety of short-term and longer-term cases. For reference, my partner and I have worked on two tenant-landlord cases, a garnishment case, a juvenile life-without-parole resentencing, and a constitutional challenge to a state law. I’ll give a couple pros and cons below. If you want the two-sentence version of my thoughts, it’s this: CCLC is a crushing workload sometimes, but an amazing experience. Definitely take it, but arrange the rest of your schedule wisely.
Pros:
1. You get to work on some amazing cases and really develop good litigation skills like client interviewing, negotiation and settlement, motion and brief writing, etc.
2. The faculty is incredible: David, Allison, and Kim are all rockstars with their own styles. Each of them is easily in the top half of my favorite professors so far. I learn a lot from them and enjoy how clinic facilitates making more personal relationships rather than just teacher-student.
3. Clinic work is so much more fulfilling than even my most interesting doctrinal classes.
4. Relationships in the clinic are tight. You spend so much time around each other that you inevitably become close to the other people in the class.
Cons:
1. This is by far the most intense 7 credits I’ve ever taken. Short days for clinic are often 5-6 hrs. Long days can be as much as 10 solid hours of clinic work. This includes both the clinic itself and the seminar component, but to be honest, I have rarely been able to do the assigned readings. Doing every single assignment and the reading and the client work would add another couple of hours. CCLC often feels like a full time job after which I try to figure out how to deal with my other 7 units of classes.
2. The work is unpredictable. You can’t really dictate when you’ll get a new client or when that client will have some crisis that requires your immediate attention. On what feels like countless occasions, I’ve thought that I could leave clinic within the hour only to still be in the office 3 hrs later because something came up. This is probably good training for real litigation, but it’s something to be aware of.
Advice if you’re thinking of taking it:
1. Arrange the rest of your schedule wisely. Right now I have two doctrinal classes and a seminar outside of clinic. It’s honestly a fairly light schedule and still often feels like it’s too much. If you can build your schedule with some “fluff” credits, you’ll thank yourself later.
2. Be intentional about picking your clinic partner. My clinic partner is awesome. We learn a lot from each other and have complementary skills. It seems like most of the partnerships in the clinic are also really successful. But we all spend tons and tons of time with our clinic partners. It’s easy to see how, if you pick someone you don’t work well with, the clinic experience could really suffer.
Again, 100% recommend. Just know that it’ll be a really challenging semester filled with far more interesting work than what you’ll get from a casebook.
Review #6:
I also 100% recommend this clinic. It is, without a doubt, the best thing I have done in law school (and I’m very happy with my law school experience).
I took it a year ago and keep signing up for more semesters of advanced work/research, because the work is so rewarding. There’s a decent chance you’ll catch me haunting the clinic office next semester, too. Working directly with clients is a huge privilege and responsibility, and you’ll start doing that within the first week or so. You hit the ground running and learn at a rapid pace the whole time, though the professors are pretty good about winding things down for finals time. I felt mentally and emotionally challenged by this clinic, all the time. But I also came out of it feeling confident and capable, which is kind of rare during law school. It’s easy to make good friends through this clinic, and it’s also easy to form lasting relationships with the professors. I can’t imagine another law school class providing more academic, professional, and personal growth, all at once.
I agree with Patrick about the time commitment and unpredictability. I had to cancel so many other commitments when client stuff came up last minute. I’d recommend letting any student groups/family members/significant others know at the beginning of the semester that you might not be the most reliable person in the world for a few months. And I second Patrick’s recommendation to take a lighter class schedule. I did that, and I have no idea how I would have made it through the semester if I had more classes to deal with.
So yeah. Challenging, time-consuming, and completely, totally worth it. I have approximately 4,000 more things I could say about this clinic.
MLaw Prof Reviews
Writing to share some older reviews from lawopen:
Review #1:
You should definitely do it. I loved it! It was incredibly rewarding to represent real people who genuinely needed my help. You get to negotiate with opposing counsel, go to court, and counsel clients. It makes you feel like a real lawyer. I helped someone avoid eviction. I helped another person escape a wrongful debt collection action. I helped another person charged with a criminal misdemeanor.
The clinic is also engaged in a long-term criminal appellate impact project that I worked on during clinic and then exclusively when I did advanced clinic the next semester.
I think clinics are great overall because they offer a nice change of pace from traditional classes and you learn practical skills. I think the CCLC is particularly cool because of the wide-variety of work you get to do.
It definitely felt lighter than seven credits of normal work, but it also is a little bit all encompassing. Based on the nature of the cases, sometimes you feel very busy and other times you feel pretty chill. They did ask us for our interest. Kim Thomas runs that project and she will likely solicit students to be part of it since it is different from the normal CCLC work. I volunteered and got it.
Review #2:
You don’t really get to choose [your cases], but I think we have a good mix of cases! My partner and I have two longer term criminal cases that aren’t very active, two landlord tenant cases that are now settled, and one new one that’s a civil suit! We also do a criminal mock trial.
I’m not sure that I would say it’s MORE than 7 hours except maybe at first when there’s a ton going on or if you have two super active cases at once. It really depends. The clinic profs are really good about trying to balance your caseload, and if you’re overwhelmed they’re pretty receptive to talking it over with you. One thing to be aware of is that you have to have clinic office hours each week on top of the seminar class times. They fit it in around you and your partner’s other classes and usually just make it 2x a week – so our clinic are 9-1PM on Tuesday’s and 1-3PM on Wednesday’s.
Also I said you don’t get to choose, but they do ask for your preferences at the beginning of the semester! They just don’t always have a ton of control over who ends up coming through the clinic that semester.
Review #3:
Love this clinic! it’s a ton of work, so I’d recommend only taking one doctrinal with it. I’m in 16 credits right now including the clinic and it’s definitely a little much. Overall though it has been a great experience. One thing I didn’t realize I would get out of this clinic is negotiation experience–that is honestly how most civil cases end so we negotiate a lot. I’ve done a lot more civil than criminal cases, but I think that varies year to year, and you have the opportunity to tell them what type of cases you are interested in. Hope that helps! Happy to answer any other questions.
Review #4:
The workload is definitely pretty high, it’s probably more work than any other clinic. The in class assignments, outside of the work you do for your client, will take up a lot of time. But it’s very front loaded – I’m like already starting to wind down in terms of how much work I have.
I’m in one doctrinal right now and I think that’s much more manageable than taking two, which I think would be pretty rough. If you only took one doctrinal, I don’t think it would matter if it’s considered “hard” or “easy,” especially because you’ll have PLENTY of time to study for finals.
As for specific classes, you don’t NEED to take anything with it but of any class I would suggest evidence just to know some of the rules instead of constantly looking them up like I do.
Review #5:
I’m in the clinic now and love it. I think it’s great experience on a variety of short-term and longer-term cases. For reference, my partner and I have worked on two tenant-landlord cases, a garnishment case, a juvenile life-without-parole resentencing, and a constitutional challenge to a state law. I’ll give a couple pros and cons below. If you want the two-sentence version of my thoughts, it’s this: CCLC is a crushing workload sometimes, but an amazing experience. Definitely take it, but arrange the rest of your schedule wisely.
Pros:
1. You get to work on some amazing cases and really develop good litigation skills like client interviewing, negotiation and settlement, motion and brief writing, etc.
2. The faculty is incredible: David, Allison, and Kim are all rockstars with their own styles. Each of them is easily in the top half of my favorite professors so far. I learn a lot from them and enjoy how clinic facilitates making more personal relationships rather than just teacher-student.
3. Clinic work is so much more fulfilling than even my most interesting doctrinal classes.
4. Relationships in the clinic are tight. You spend so much time around each other that you inevitably become close to the other people in the class.
Cons:
1. This is by far the most intense 7 credits I’ve ever taken. Short days for clinic are often 5-6 hrs. Long days can be as much as 10 solid hours of clinic work. This includes both the clinic itself and the seminar component, but to be honest, I have rarely been able to do the assigned readings. Doing every single assignment and the reading and the client work would add another couple of hours. CCLC often feels like a full time job after which I try to figure out how to deal with my other 7 units of classes.
2. The work is unpredictable. You can’t really dictate when you’ll get a new client or when that client will have some crisis that requires your immediate attention. On what feels like countless occasions, I’ve thought that I could leave clinic within the hour only to still be in the office 3 hrs later because something came up. This is probably good training for real litigation, but it’s something to be aware of.
Advice if you’re thinking of taking it:
1. Arrange the rest of your schedule wisely. Right now I have two doctrinal classes and a seminar outside of clinic. It’s honestly a fairly light schedule and still often feels like it’s too much. If you can build your schedule with some “fluff” credits, you’ll thank yourself later.
2. Be intentional about picking your clinic partner. My clinic partner is awesome. We learn a lot from each other and have complementary skills. It seems like most of the partnerships in the clinic are also really successful. But we all spend tons and tons of time with our clinic partners. It’s easy to see how, if you pick someone you don’t work well with, the clinic experience could really suffer.
Again, 100% recommend. Just know that it’ll be a really challenging semester filled with far more interesting work than what you’ll get from a casebook.
Review #6:
I also 100% recommend this clinic. It is, without a doubt, the best thing I have done in law school (and I’m very happy with my law school experience).
I took it a year ago and keep signing up for more semesters of advanced work/research, because the work is so rewarding. There’s a decent chance you’ll catch me haunting the clinic office next semester, too. Working directly with clients is a huge privilege and responsibility, and you’ll start doing that within the first week or so. You hit the ground running and learn at a rapid pace the whole time, though the professors are pretty good about winding things down for finals time. I felt mentally and emotionally challenged by this clinic, all the time. But I also came out of it feeling confident and capable, which is kind of rare during law school. It’s easy to make good friends through this clinic, and it’s also easy to form lasting relationships with the professors. I can’t imagine another law school class providing more academic, professional, and personal growth, all at once.
I agree with Patrick about the time commitment and unpredictability. I had to cancel so many other commitments when client stuff came up last minute. I’d recommend letting any student groups/family members/significant others know at the beginning of the semester that you might not be the most reliable person in the world for a few months. And I second Patrick’s recommendation to take a lighter class schedule. I did that, and I have no idea how I would have made it through the semester if I had more classes to deal with.
So yeah. Challenging, time-consuming, and completely, totally worth it. I have approximately 4,000 more things I could say about this clinic.