Civil Practice Clinic (5 credits)
Leon D. Lazer, Professor of Law
Touro's Civil Practice Clinic allows students to work in a wide variety of law office placements: private law firms; corporate law departments, government offices, public interest organizations, and non-profit settings—while examining the professional, ethical, personal, and financial pressures inherent in the practice of law. The clinic is designed to give students insight into the workings of legal institutions and the legal system; to provide hands-on experience in the varied and complex skills required to practice law; and to emphasize the importance of counseling and planning to a successful professional career. Their experiences enable them to begin to set for themselves standards of professional skill and demeanor, as well as client and colleague relationships.
Clinic students work twelve (12) to fifteen (15) each week and attend a three-hour weekly seminar. Each student works with an experienced attorney supervisor who acts as a mentor, guiding the novice and encouraging his/her transformation to a lawyer with professional skills and values. Because participation in this clinic allows exploration of a potential career choice, a student may designate a preferred type of practice setting or substantive area of law. Students' responsibilities are as varied as the offices they join, and may include attending court proceedings, business transactions and closings; interviewing, negotiating, and counseling; preparing government filings; and researching and drafting documents for litigation.
The weekly seminar provides a forum for exchanging experiences and thoughts about practicing law and about professional identity. While experienced lawyers with varied types of practices and responsibilities bring their insights and experience to seminar classes, students explore those same issues through a weekly journal.
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