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Indiana Law's Clinical Program

With a total of 16 innovative courses, projects, and programs, Indiana Law is in step with some of the nation's top clinical programs. Second- and third-year students gain practical experience under the guidance of outstanding, highly-regarded professors.

Connection with the community and hands-on practice are just two of the programs' invaluable rewards. Students complete important research and work on real cases under the supervision of top-notch faculty, practicing lawyers, and judges with the added benefits of collaboration with a top-tier research institution.

"Most classes teach the law, but very little about being a lawyer," Matthew Melick, a second-year Conservation Law Clinic student, says. "It gave me a chance to communicate complex legal material to the client. During the spring semester, I drafted numerous client memos, conducted two client initial interviews, and gave two final client presentations."

Clinics

Clinics are courses offering academic credit. Students receive intensive instruction on-site from full-time faculty members and spend time working with community members on important legal issues.

• Community Legal Clinic (B688)

  This clinic provides legal services, primarily in the family-law area, to low-income clients. Third-year students develop and practice skills by representing clients under the Indiana Student Practice Rule. Students are introduced to client interviewing and counseling, fact investigation, drafting, negotiating, trial techniques, and preparing for and conducting trials and administrative hearings.

  Read more about the Community Legal Clinic

• Conservation Law Clinic (B558)

  Clinic students work with staff attorneys from the Conservation Law Center, Inc. and with experts in the biological sciences, ecology, agriculture, and forestry to provide legal services to clients in support of natural resource conservation. Students gain experience in research, advocacy, traditional litigation, legislative drafting, regulatory proceedings, and the broader application of environmental law, with a focus on conservation law issues.

  Read more about the Conservation Law Clinic

• Elder Law Clinic (B583)

  Students offer legal assistance to clients age 60 and older on a wide range of civil legal problems in areas like housing, public benefits, consumer law, tax, advance directives, and family law. Students develop and deliver one community presentation on an issue of significance to the elder community.

  Read more about the Elder Law Clinic

• Entrepreneurship Law Clinic (B561)

  This capstone experience, jointly-sponsored by the IU Kelley School of Business and Indiana Law, gives third-year law students and fourth-year JD/MBA joint-degree students the unique opportunity to assist start-up, high-growth ventures with legal issues including: financial planning, organization, licenses, agreements, regulatory and zoning compliance, and intellectual property matters.

  Read more about the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic

• Family and Children Mediation Clinic (B691)

  Second- and third-year law students benefit from the clinic and its partner course in Domestic Relations Mediation (B563). Through the endeavor, they become registered domestic relations mediators in Indiana and have the opportunity to mediate real-life family law cases involving custody, parenting time, child support, and related disputes for families with children. Training in the clinic and the course focuses on the development of students' mediation skills and exploration of advanced mediation topics.

  Read more about the Family and Children Mediation Clinic

• Federal Courts Clinic (B698)

  Students work one day per week during the academic semester in the chambers of federal judges or magistrate judges in Indianapolis. They draft opinions, perform legal research, help prepare jury instructions, and screen motions in order to advise judges. The students' work is supervised by the judges' senior law clerks, reviewed by the faculty member supervising the clinic, and directed by the judges.

  Read more about the Federal Courts Clinic

Externship Programs

Externships are primarily supervised by practicing lawyers in an off-site setting, with secondary supervision from full-time faculty members. Academic credit is available for Indiana Law's externship opportunities.

• Independent Clinical Projects (B710)

  Create your own clinical project under the supervision of an individual Indiana Law faculty member.

• Indiana Legal Services Externship (B562)

  ILS permits students to work with low-income clients at the Bloomington office. Students interview clients and prepare them for administrative hearings under the supervision of ILS attorneys.

• Public Interest Internship Program (B547)

  The Public Interest Internship Program encourages students to explore careers in the public interest by permitting academic credit for internships and experience in public service venues. Internships include legal work assigned by the attorney-supervisor, and an academic component assigned by the faculty member that is designed to encourage reflection on issues of ethics and practice. Most first-year class members utilize this program in the summer before second-year.

  Read more about the Public Interest Internship Program

• Student Legal Services Externship (B679)

  In this externship, students work at Student Legal Services (SLS), a nonprofit law office offering advice and representation to IU-Bloomington students. Funded by student fees, SLS helps students with many different legal issues, including landlord-tenant relations and consumer complaints. Students enroll for credit for one semester (typically their first), then move to paying positions in subsequent semesters.

Clinical Projects

Projects provide an opportunity for valuable practice experience with a lesser time commitment. Academic credit is not granted for participation in a project.

• Inmate Legal Assistance Project

  Students work under attorney supervision on intra-institutional problems of federal prisoners at the Terre Haute penitentiary.

• Pro Bono Project

  The Pro Bono Project is a cooperative program between the Law School and the Indiana bar and bench to provide civil legal assistance to people who could not otherwise afford it. The Indiana State Bar Association serves as a clearinghouse for private lawyers who need research assistance in pro bono cases; the law school coordinator matches interested students with the lawyers. Students work closely with volunteer lawyers on a wide variety of civil legal matters including family law, housing, credit, and public benefits.

• Protective Order Project

  The Protective Order Project brings together law students, members of the bar, and a local domestic violence shelter to assist victims of domestic violence in obtaining protective orders from the courts. Students and attorneys represent clients in civil cases.

• Tenant Assistance Project

  Students are trained to assist tenants in eviction proceedings and gain valuable experience with court procedures and landlord-tenant law. Students represent tenants at the preliminary stages of the process, identifying defenses and other issues, assisting in negotiations with landlords, and referring tenants with more complex cases to lawyers or legal services organizations.

Practicum

Indiana Law's new practicums are add-ons to existing courses that provide students with a significant clinical experience.

• Intellectual Property (B567)

  This practicum differs from the usual clinic in that students do not represent individual clients themselves, but rather work with an experienced intellectual property lawyer in the legal work associated with creative projects such as a major project in film, music, or other arts. Students advise clients, negotiate agreements, develop strategies, and draft legal documents.

• Immigration Law (B556)

  This companion to Immigration Law (B669) focuses on representation of asylum applicants and of businesses seeking to bring skilled labor to the United States. Students also gain experience in the work of obtaining immigrant and non-immigrant visas.