408 Appellate Litigation Clinic (Spring)

The Appellate Litigation Clinic is a yearlong clinic that offers students the opportunity to work on federal appeals in civil or criminal cases involving complex, important legal questions. The clinic aims to advance the public interest and help secure access to justice for those who are underserved by the legal system. Because appellate practice focuses largely on legal research, brief-writing, and oral argument, students will receive intensive training in written and oral advocacy as they are practiced in some of the highest courts in the nation. Students will also engage in all the other critical aspects of appellate practice, including: meeting with clients, listening to them, learning to tell their stories, educating them (and any cocounsel) about the pertinent substantive law and appellate practice, developing effective legal strategy, and identifying and addressing ethical concerns. Skills developed in the clinic are the skills of lawyering—not just appellate lawyering. They will be directly transferable to trial-court litigation, regulatory work, government service, and many other career paths in the law.

Clinical students will work in teams of three to review the trial-court record, identify legal issues for appeal, conduct legal research, prepare outlines of arguments, participate in tactical decisionmaking, draft and edit briefs, and prepare for oral argument. Students will also collaborate on the other team’s case and participate in the litigation of a variety of legal issues. Subject to the clients’ permission, court approval, and an argument date during the school year, a student will argue each appeal in court. A weekly seminar will include reflection on case work, instruction in appellate procedure and effective written and oral advocacy, and exploration of how to negotiate workplace power dynamics and ethical issues that new lawyers often face.

Enrollment Policies:

Enrollment is limited to third-year students (i.e., students who have completed four semesters of law school).

To allow students to experience the entire life cycle of an appeal, from the notice of appeal and identification of appellate issues through oral argument, the Appellate Litigation Clinic is a full-year clinic. Students enrolled in LAW 407 will therefore also be enrolled in LAW 408, Appellate Litigation Clinic (Spring). Students will not be permitted to enroll in the clinic for just one semester. Students will receive 5 credits in the Fall semester and 3 credits in the Spring.

As with other clinics, students are required to attend the clinical intensive-training session at the start of the year; and the course may not be dropped after the first class meeting. Students who have previously completed a clinic may skip some portions of the intensive.

International LLM students who wish to enroll in a clinic must seek the permission of the clinic’s faculty director before the enrollment period. Permission is required to enroll but does not constitute entry into the clinic.

Completion of or contemporaneous enrollment in Federal Courts is useful but not required. It is also helpful but not required to have already taken Appellate Practice. Students should not, however, take Appellate Practice and the Appellate Litigation Clinic at the same time.

Course Areas of Practice
  • Civil Litigation: Practice and Procedure
  • Constitutional Law and Civil Rights
  • Criminal Law and Procedure
  • Law, Democracy, and Society
Evaluation Methods
  • Group project(s)
  • Practical exercises
  • Live-client representation and case management
  • Class participation
Degree Requirements
JD elective
JD experiential
JD Standard 303(c)
PIPS elective
PIPS experiential
Course Type
  • Clinic
Learning Outcomes
  • Legal analysis and reasoning, legal research, problem-solving, and written and oral communication in the legal context
  • Other professional skills needed for competent and ethical participation as a member of the legal profession

Sample Syllabi

Spring 2025

2025
Course Number Course Credits Evaluation Method Instructor

408.02 3
  • Group project(s)
  • Practical exercises
  • Live-client representation and case management
  • Class participation
Richard Katskee

Spring 2024

2024
Course Number Course Credits Evaluation Method Instructor

408.01 3
  • Group project(s)
  • Practical exercises
  • Live-client representation and case management
  • Class participation
Richard Katskee

Spring continuation of Appellate Litigation Clinic.

Syllabus: 408-01-Spring2024-syllabus.pdf143.58 KB

Pre/Co-requisites
None

Spring 2022

2022
Course Number Course Credits Evaluation Method Instructor

408.02 2
  • Group project(s)
  • Practical exercises
  • Live-client representation and case management
  • Class participation
Sean E. Andrussier

Spring continuation of Appellate Litigation Clinic.

Pre/Co-requisites
None

Spring 2020

2020
Course Number Course Credits Evaluation Method Instructor

408.01 2 Sean E. Andrussier

Spring continuation of Appellate Litigation Clinic.

Pre/Co-requisites
None

Spring 2019

2019
Course Number Course Credits Evaluation Method Instructor

408.01 2
  • Reflective Writing
  • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 10-15 pages
  • Group project(s)
  • Class participation
Sean E. Andrussier

Students working in teams will, under the close supervision of the clinic director, handle appeals. Enrollment is limited to third-year students. Each team is assigned to an appeal. Past appeals for this clinic have all been in federal appellate courts (Fourth Circuit, D.C. Circuit, and Third Circuit), but the venue might vary. Work will include reviewing the trial court record to identify appealable issues, legal research, drafting appellate briefs, preparing the excerpts of record for the court of appeals, preparing for oral argument if argument is scheduled, and arguing the case (only one student on a team can argue any appeal, with client and 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 eight students (unless case load permits larger enrollment, which won't be known until the fall semester commences). In the past, three to four students typically 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 recommended that students enrolling in this course have completed or have enrolled in the federal courts course.

For a practitioner, 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 and winter break. Oral argument preparation often overlaps with spring break. Clinic students represent real clients and operate under court-imposed deadlines; consequently, if scheduling conflicts arise, work on clinic cases must take priority over extracurricular activities (such as moot court).

Like students in all other Duke clinics, appellate clinic students must attend the ethics portion of the all-day clinic intensive held in early September.

Students seeking to enroll in the appellate clinic are strongly encouraged to contact Prof. Andrussier before enrolling.

Pre/Co-requisites
None

Spring 2017

2017
Course Number Course Credits Evaluation Method Instructor

408.01 2
  • Reflective Writing
  • Research and/or analytical paper(s), 10-15 pages
  • Group project(s)
  • Class participation
Sean E. Andrussier

Students working in teams will, under the close supervision of the clinic director, handle appeals. Enrollment is limited to third-year students. Each team is assigned to an appeal. Past appeals for this clinic have all been in federal appellate courts (Fourth Circuit, D.C. Circuit, and Third Circuit), but the venue might vary. Work will include reviewing the trial court record to identify appealable issues, legal research, drafting appellate briefs, preparing the excerpts of record for the court of appeals, preparing for oral argument if argument is scheduled, and arguing the case (only one student on a team can argue any appeal, with client and 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 eight students (unless case load permits larger enrollment, which won't be known until the fall semester commences). In the past, three to four students typically 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 the school's appellate practice course. It is also recommended that students enrolling in this course have completed or have enrolled in the federal courts course.

For a practitioner, 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 and winter break. Oral argument preparation often overlaps with spring break. Clinic students represent real clients and operate under court-imposed deadlines; consequently, if scheduling conflicts arise, work on clinic cases must take priority over extracurricular activities (such as moot court).

Like students in all other Duke clinics, appellate clinic students must attend the ethics portion of the all-day clinic intensive held in early September.

Students seeking to enroll in the appellate clinic are strongly encouraged to contact Prof. Andrussier before enrolling.

Pre/Co-requisites
None

Spring 2016

2016
Course Number Course Credits Evaluation Method Instructor

408.01 2 Sean E. Andrussier

Students working in teams will, under the close supervision of the clinic director, handle appeals. Enrollment is limited to third-year students. Each team is assigned to an appeal. Past appeals for this clinic have all been in federal appellate courts (Fourth Circuit, D.C. Circuit, and Third Circuit), but the venue might vary. Work will include reviewing the trial court record to identify appealable issues, legal research, drafting appellate briefs, preparing the excerpts of record for the court of appeals, preparing for oral argument if argument is scheduled, and arguing the case (only one student on a team can argue any appeal, with client and 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 eight students (unless case load permits larger enrollment, which won't be known until the fall semester commences). In the past, three to four students typically 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 the school's appellate practice course. It is also recommended that students enrolling in this course have completed or have enrolled in the federal courts course.

For a practitioner, 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 and winter break. Oral argument preparation often overlaps with spring break. Clinic students represent real clients and operate under court-imposed deadlines; consequently, if scheduling conflicts arise, work on clinic cases must take priority over extracurricular activities (such as moot court).

Like students in all other Duke clinics, appellate clinic students must attend the ethics portion of the all-day clinic intensive held in early September.

Pre/Co-requisites
None

*Please note that this information is for planning purposes only, and should not be relied upon for the schedule for a given semester. Faculty leaves and sabbaticals, as well as other curriculum considerations, will sometimes affect when a course may be offered.