Registration Guide 2017-2018

Clinical Programs Our nationally ranked clinical law program offers students opportunities to learn about the practice of law while providing essential services to a population largely underserved by the legal profession. Clinic student attorneys become members of Suffolk’s in-house law firms for a full academic year. Students benefit from the instruction of faculty members who are themselves dedicated and experienced legal practitioners. For many, participation in a clinic is the turning point in their education when they realize what it means to represent people who need their help and to serve in the public interest. Students in the full-year, in-house clinics and the Prosecutors Program are certified to practice law under Supreme Judicial Court Rule 3:03, which allows them to represent clients and the Commonwealth without compensation in both civil and criminal cases. Clinics enable tomorrow’s legal professionals to acquire—and practice—the skills and knowledge they need to serve clients and the public in a productive, responsible, and successful way. 1. Only students who will be in their final year of law school are eligible for the Defenders and the Prosecutors Program. For all other full-year in-house clinics, students in their last two years of law school are eligible, although students in their final year will be given preference 2. Admission to a clinic is through a lottery selection process, although individual clinics may give preference to students with relevant foreign language fluency or those who have completed other relevant courses. In order to drop a clinic once a student has registered, the student must obtain the permission of the Clinical Professor teaching the clinic. After add/drop ends, the names of enrolled students are submitted to the Dean's Office by the Clinical Programs Office to be certified for student practice under S.J.C. Rule 3:03. 3. Students must commit themselves to serve in the full-year clinics for both semesters; partial credit is not available for a student who withdraws after one semester. A grade and credit are given at the end of the academic year. 4. No student may be enrolled in more than one clinical program in any semester or receive more than 12 fieldwork credits (which includes credits for any externship fieldwork) during his or her law school career. A student with questions about this limitation, or who seeks to obtain a waiver, should write to the Director of Experiential Programs. 5. Students should not take more than 16 total credits (an overload) during any semester in which they participate in a clinic. The Deans’ Office will presumptively reject overload petitions of clinical students. GENERAL CLINIC REQUIREMENTS

Please review the additional requirements applicable to specific clinics.

To view all clinics click HERE