Criminal Defense Clinic: Clinical Practice

Students in the Criminal Defense Clinic become immersed in the world of indigent defense. Each student represents members of our community accused of crimes in the courts of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. Our state misdemeanor cases encompass a wide range of charges, such as drug use and possession, resisting arrest, and theft. Other state case assignments include working for people's pretrial release. Some quarters, our docket also includes federal cases in the Northern District of California. Clinic students are their clients' primary legal representatives in and out of court. Under close faculty supervision, students undertake investigation, interview witnesses, engage in plea negotiations, draft motions, conduct evidentiary hearings, and make other court appearances. Persuasive writing with rigorous faculty edits is a major component of the clinic. The Criminal Defense Clinic is an intensive, fast-paced, and demanding program of education and practical skills, taught through introductory training and ongoing workshops and skills practicums. The Clinic also addresses broader systemic issues such as implicit bias, immigration consequences, economic disparities, and addiction. The goal of the Clinic is to train students how to conduct a criminal case while engaging in thoughtful reflection and providing holistic representation. The Clinic's broader goal is to provide lawyering skills and habits of mind transferrable to any student's chosen field of practice. While the work is often challenging and sometimes heartbreaking, it offers students a unique opportunity to put their skills, intellect, and compassion to use by serving people in a moment of great need. The emotional challenges of the Clinic's work are addressed through an integrated self-care curriculum. Special Instructions: General Structure of Clinical Courses - - The Law School's clinical courses are offered on a full-time basis for 12 units. This allows students to immerse themselves in the professional experience without the need to balance clinical projects with other classes, exams and papers. Students enrolled in a clinic are not permitted to enroll in any other classes, seminars, directed research or other credit-yielding activities within the Law School or University during the quarter in which they are enrolled in a clinic. Nor are they allowed to serve as teaching assistants who are expected to attend a class on a regular basis. There is a limited exception for joint degree students who are required to take specific courses each quarter and who would be foreclosed from ever taking a clinic unless allowed to co-register. These exceptions are approved on a case-by-case basis. Clinic students are expected to work in their clinical office or other locations as directed during most business hours Monday through Friday. Students are also expected to be available by e-mail or cell phone when elsewhere during those hours. Because students have no other courses (and hence no exams or papers), the clinical quarter begins the first day of classes and runs through the final day of the examination period. Students should not plan personal travel during the Monday to Friday work week without prior authorization from the clinical supervisor. The work during a typical week in a clinic is divided into three components. First, as they are for practicing attorneys, most of the hours of any week are taken up by work on client matters or case work (this time includes meetings with instructors to discuss the work). Again, as is the case for practicing lawyers, in some weeks these responsibilities demand time above and beyond "normal business hours." Second, students will spend approximately five-to-seven hours per week preparing for and participating in weekly discussions or other group work in their individual clinic (scheduling varies by clinic). Third, over the course of the quarter each clinic student (with the exception of those enrolled in the Criminal Prosecution Clinic) is required to prepare for and attend a few inter-clinic group sessions. Students will be awarded three separate grades for their clinical quarter, each reflecting four units. The three grades are broken into the following categories: clinical practice; clinical methods; and clinical coursework. Grading is pursuant to the H/P system. Enrollment in a clinic is binding; once selected into a clinic to which he or she has applied, a student may not later drop the course except in limited and exceptional cases. Requests for withdrawal are processed through the formal petition and clinical faculty review process described in the clinic policy document posted on the SLS website. Students may not enroll in any clinic (full-time or advanced) that would result in them earning more than 27 clinical units during their law school career. The rules described here do not apply to advanced clinics for students who are continuing with a clinic in which they were previously enrolled. For information about advanced clinics, please see the course descriptions for those courses. For more information about clinic enrollment and operations, please see the clinic policy document posted on the SLS website. Elements used in grading: Class participation, attendance, written assignments, case work including written or oral advocacy, and professionalism.