Clin­ics

Clin­ics at Michi­gan Law

Michi­gan Law has long been known for its dis­tinc­tive edu­ca­tion­al blend of lead­ing schol­ar­ship and legal prac­tice. In today’s com­pet­i­tive envi­ron­ment, it is more impor­tant than ever for new grad­u­ates to hit the ground run­ning in the prac­tice of law. We are so com­mit­ted to this for­ma­tive expe­ri­ence that we guar­an­tee every stu­dent at least one upper-lev­el clin­ic, with many tak­ing more.

Our clin­ics cov­er a remark­able array of prac­tice areas, includ­ing trans­ac­tions, lit­i­ga­tion, and every­thing in between. Stu­dents rep­re­sent chil­dren, fam­i­lies, small busi­ness own­ers and non­prof­it agen­cies, the wrong­ly con­vict­ed, human traf­fick­ing vic­tims, asy­lum seek­ers, star­tups and mak­ers, orga­ni­za­tions bring­ing busi­ness solu­tions to some of the world’s most press­ing prob­lems, and indi­vid­u­als in need of core civ­il and crim­i­nal legal services.

Build­ing Prac­tice Competencies

With clin­i­cal fac­ul­ty as super­vi­sors, stu­dents pre­pare for each aspect of their cas­es, from inter­view­ing clients and wit­ness­es to nego­ti­at­ing with oppos­ing coun­sel, draft­ing plead­ings, con­duct­ing tri­als, and han­dling a wide vari­ety of legal trans­ac­tions. Michi­gan Law’s clin­i­cal edu­ca­tion pro­vides a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty for train­ing stu­dents to think crit­i­cal­ly and strate­gi­cal­ly about all aspects of client rep­re­sen­ta­tion and prac­tice by pro­vid­ing hands-on expe­ri­ence in all the core com­pe­ten­cies of the prac­tice of law.

Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Opportunities

Our clin­i­cal pro­grams are infused with Michi­gan Law’s inter­dis­ci­pli­nary empha­sis. The Child Advo­ca­cy Law Clin­ic, found­ed in 1976, incor­po­rates the work of psy­chol­o­gists and social work­ers; the Envi­ron­men­tal Law Clin­ic coor­di­nates its class­es with the School of Nat­ur­al Resources and Envi­ron­ment; busi­ness and engi­neer­ing stu­dents work side-by-side with law stu­dents on trans­ac­tions sup­port­ed by the Entre­pre­neur­ship Clin­ic and Inter­na­tion­al Trans­ac­tions Clin­ic; and the Pedi­atric Advo­ca­cy Clin­ic part­ners with health care cen­ters to address the legal issues that impact the health of low-income chil­dren and their fam­i­lies. Most oth­er clin­ics fre­quent­ly rely on, or work with, experts in oth­er fields in the course of rep­re­sent­ing clients.

Cross-bor­der Experience

The Law School’s com­mit­ment to a glob­al per­spec­tive also per­me­ates the clin­ics, pro­vid­ing stu­dents with expe­ri­ence in inter­na­tion­al pol­i­cy and cross-bor­der trans­ac­tions. In the Human Traf­fick­ing Clin­ic, stu­dents col­lab­o­rate with law­mak­ers and inter­na­tion­al human rights orga­ni­za­tions to com­bat mod­ern-day slav­ery. The Inter­na­tion­al Trans­ac­tions Clin­ic — which rep­re­sents clients in Tajik­istan, Rus­sia, Europe, Africa, and the Unit­ed States — puts stu­dents on accel­er­at­ed paths to becom­ing inter­na­tion­al-deal lawyers by giv­ing stu­dents hands-on expe­ri­ence in, among oth­er things, draft­ing cross-bor­der invest­ment doc­u­men­ta­tion and advis­ing clients on how to com­ply with the laws of mul­ti­ple nations.

Pub­lic Ser­vice Commitment

Clin­ics allow stu­dents to gain hands-on expe­ri­ence help­ing clients who would not oth­er­wise have access to high-qual­i­ty legal rep­re­sen­ta­tion, and to be a cat­a­lyst for trans­for­ma­tion in clients’ lives. As an exam­ple, our non-DNA Inno­cence Clin­ic has already won the release of 10 wrong­ful­ly accused peo­ple in its six years of exis­tence. Pub­lic ser­vice is a foun­da­tion­al val­ue of the Law School, and pub­lic ser­vice on behalf of the broad­er com­mu­ni­ty is an inte­gral part of our clin­i­cal program.