Course Number
407
Credits
3
JD Graduation Requirements
This course typically satisfies all or some of the following JD graduation requirements:- Professional Skills
Appellate Litigation Clinic (Fall)
Students will, under the close supervision of faculty, brief and argue appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. Circuit and in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Work will involve reviewing the trial court record to identify appealable issues, legal research, drafting and filing appellate briefs, preparing the excerpts of record for the court of appeals, preparing for oral argument, and arguing the case, with court permission. In addition, faculty will meet with the students in a seminar setting early in the year to discuss appellate advocacy and the procedural and substantive law necessary to handle the appeals. Enrollment is limited to ten students (unless case load permits larger enrollment, which won't be known until the fall semester commences). In the past, three to five students have been assigned to each case.
Because of the time necessary to handle an appeal from briefing through argument, this is a year-long seminar offering 3 credits in the fall and 2 credits in the spring, and you must be enrolled in both semesters to get credit. Students must be in at least their fourth semester of law school to enroll in the clinic. It is strongly recommended that students enrolling in this course have completed or have enrolled in the school's appellate practice or federal courts courses.
The appellate process focuses largely on researching and writing; thus most of the work in this clinic will entail researching and writing. Because of tight court-imposed deadlines and the demands of appellate practice, this course requires students to be exceedingly flexible with their schedules and to dedicate significant amounts of time in the briefing process and in preparing for oral argument. The briefing schedules overlap with fall break, Thanksgiving break, and winter break. Oral argument may overlap with spring break. Clinic students represent real clients and operate under court-imposed deadlines; consequently, if scheduling conflicts arise, your work on clinic cases must take priority over your extracurricular activities (such as moot court).
In lieu of the training portion of the all-day clinic intensive required of other clinics in early September, the appellate clinic meets at its scheduled class time during the first few weeks of the fall semester for instruction (before cases are assigned in late September). Attendance is mandatory. While these seminar sessions replace the training portion of the all-day clinic intensive, appellate clinic students nonetheless must attend the ethics portion of the all-day clinic intensive.
Because of the time necessary to handle an appeal from briefing through argument, this is a year-long seminar offering 3 credits in the fall and 2 credits in the spring, and you must be enrolled in both semesters to get credit. Students must be in at least their fourth semester of law school to enroll in the clinic. It is strongly recommended that students enrolling in this course have completed or have enrolled in the school's appellate practice or federal courts courses.
The appellate process focuses largely on researching and writing; thus most of the work in this clinic will entail researching and writing. Because of tight court-imposed deadlines and the demands of appellate practice, this course requires students to be exceedingly flexible with their schedules and to dedicate significant amounts of time in the briefing process and in preparing for oral argument. The briefing schedules overlap with fall break, Thanksgiving break, and winter break. Oral argument may overlap with spring break. Clinic students represent real clients and operate under court-imposed deadlines; consequently, if scheduling conflicts arise, your work on clinic cases must take priority over your extracurricular activities (such as moot court).
In lieu of the training portion of the all-day clinic intensive required of other clinics in early September, the appellate clinic meets at its scheduled class time during the first few weeks of the fall semester for instruction (before cases are assigned in late September). Attendance is mandatory. While these seminar sessions replace the training portion of the all-day clinic intensive, appellate clinic students nonetheless must attend the ethics portion of the all-day clinic intensive.
Please note that course organization and content may vary substantially from semester to semester and descriptions are not necessarily professor specific. Please contact the instructor directly if you have particular course-related questions.