To take this clinic you must have taken Civil Rights Litigation with Professor Steinberg. This is a professor pick class which can be competitive to get into. I took this course without having taken Federal Courts, but I do recommend taking Federal Courts before taking this course, because the course only a cursory review of the underlying law.
The Clinic
Professor: Professor Steinberg is a very nice and caring person. He was the former director of the ACLU of Michigan so he has a lot of experience in the civil rights world.
Structure of Clinic: The clinic was small, consisting of only a few people, which was intimate and nice. We met once a week for ~2 hours. The first week Professor Steinberg assigned teams of 2 people to new or pending civil rights cases. Topics of cases included housing, disability rights, first amendment rights, education, wrongful arrest and incarceration. Although there are a lot of interesting cases, your experience will depend on what case you get assigned. Some people get assigned the more “sexy” cases over others.
The actual class time was spent listening to speakers or random assignments. It really was low pressure, which I preferred, however, if you are looking for a clinic that is teaching foundational real world “lawyering” skills, this may not be for you.
Clinic Work: Professor Steinberg give students a lot of responsibility and so you are fully in charge of the cases you handle, from meeting with the client to any written material that is a part of that case (including drafting complaints, memos, letters, etc). This is really where you get a great educational experience diving in hands first to a real civil rights case. One student even argued a motion to dismiss in Michigan state court (!!!). Professor Steinberg is very helpful with guidance/questions and makes himself extremely unavailable. The only downside is that (like in the Civil Rights Litigation course) he may be a little late with giving comments or feedback on substantive written material.
Overall: Excellent clinic and would recommend x1000000 if you are interested in civil rights work.
MLaw Prof Reviews
To take this clinic you must have taken Civil Rights Litigation with Professor Steinberg. This is a professor pick class which can be competitive to get into. I took this course without having taken Federal Courts, but I do recommend taking Federal Courts before taking this course, because the course only a cursory review of the underlying law.
The Clinic
Professor: Professor Steinberg is a very nice and caring person. He was the former director of the ACLU of Michigan so he has a lot of experience in the civil rights world.
Structure of Clinic: The clinic was small, consisting of only a few people, which was intimate and nice. We met once a week for ~2 hours. The first week Professor Steinberg assigned teams of 2 people to new or pending civil rights cases. Topics of cases included housing, disability rights, first amendment rights, education, wrongful arrest and incarceration. Although there are a lot of interesting cases, your experience will depend on what case you get assigned. Some people get assigned the more “sexy” cases over others.
The actual class time was spent listening to speakers or random assignments. It really was low pressure, which I preferred, however, if you are looking for a clinic that is teaching foundational real world “lawyering” skills, this may not be for you.
Clinic Work: Professor Steinberg give students a lot of responsibility and so you are fully in charge of the cases you handle, from meeting with the client to any written material that is a part of that case (including drafting complaints, memos, letters, etc). This is really where you get a great educational experience diving in hands first to a real civil rights case. One student even argued a motion to dismiss in Michigan state court (!!!). Professor Steinberg is very helpful with guidance/questions and makes himself extremely unavailable. The only downside is that (like in the Civil Rights Litigation course) he may be a little late with giving comments or feedback on substantive written material.
Overall: Excellent clinic and would recommend x1000000 if you are interested in civil rights work.