Study

The Appellate Litigation Clinic is a yearlong clinic that offers students the opportunity to work on a federal appeal in a civil or criminal case 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 co-counsel) about the substantive law and appellate practice, developing effective legal strategy, and identifying and addressing ethical concerns. Skills developed in the clinic will be directly transferable to trial-court litigation, regulatory work, government service, and many other career paths in the law.

Clinic students will work in teams to review the trial-court record, identify legal issues, conduct legal research, prepare research memorandums and outlines of arguments, participate in tactical decision-making, draft and edit briefs, and prepare for oral argument. Students will also collaborate on classmates’ cases 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 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 filing the notice of appeal through oral argument, the Appellate 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 receive 4 credits in the Fall semester and 3 credits in the Spring.

As with other clinics, students are required to attend the clinic intensive training session, and the course may not be dropped after the first class meeting.

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 for LLM students to enroll but does not guarantee a spot in the clinic.

Clinics Enrollment Policy

Important:

Students are required to attend the clinic intensive training session. 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 prior to the enrollment period. Permission is required to enroll but permission does not constitute entry into the clinic.

Ethics Requirement

Students are required to have instruction in the Model Rules of Professional Conduct prior to, or during, enrollment in the Appellate Litigation Clinic. Examples of ethics classes that meet the requirement include Ethics in Action: Large Firm Practice (LAW 231), Ethics of Social Justice Lawyering (LAW 237), Ethics and the Law of Lawyering (LAW 238), Ethics and the Law of Lawyering in Civil Litigation (LAW 239), Criminal Justice Ethics (LAW 317) and Ethics in Action (LAW 539).

Spring continuation of Appellate Litigation Clinic.

The Criminal Defense Clinic engages students in the direct representation of indigent clients facing prosecution for criminal charges in Durham District Court. The primary focus of student casework is serving as lead counsel on misdemeanor cases. Students’ trial-level advocacy will be grounded in seminar examination of mass incarceration, the impacts of race and poverty in the criminal justice system, and principles of client-centered and community-oriented defense. Through observation and shadowing, their own in-court experiences, and close faculty supervision clinic students will develop professional skills in client interaction, fact-development, case planning, negotiation, legal writing and argument, and trial advocacy. The semester will conclude with students extrapolating opportunities for systemic reform, derived from their experiences representing individual clients, with an emphasis on creative and interdisciplinary advocacy.

Students are directly responsible for their cases and take the leading role in defining advocacy goals and strategies with their clients. Through the clinic, students can build their litigation skills and develop a better understanding of how to engage in systemic reform campaigns. The Criminal Defense Clinic combines a substantive weekly seminar, case work, and weekly case supervision and preparation meetings. It is a one-semester course offered in both the fall and spring semesters and students will have an Advanced Clinic option.

The Wrongful Convictions Clinic pursues plausible claims of legal and factual innocence made by incarcerated people in North Carolina convicted of serious felonies. 

Students in the clinic study the causes of wrongful convictions, including mistaken eyewitness identification, false confessions, faulty forensic evidence, “jailhouse snitches,” and race. Student-attorneys work under the supervision of faculty to develop, manage, and litigate cases by carrying out a wide range of legal activities, including communicating with our clients, locating and interviewing witnesses about facts, gathering documents and records, drafting a range of legal documents and memos, working with experts, and helping to prepare for evidentiary hearings and oral arguments in state and federal courts. Most clinic cases do not involve DNA.

Many former students describe their time in the clinic, working to exonerate individuals incarcerated for crimes they didn't commit, as their most rewarding experience during law school.

The Advanced Clinic builds on the lectures, training, and work of the Wrongful Convictions Clinic. Students will be assigned to Clinic cases, working more independently than Clinic students, though still under faculty supervision.  Depending on the status of the case, students will interview witnesses, draft legal documents, work with experts, prepare for court, and otherwise take the steps necessary to prove the Clinic client’s claim of innocence and related constitutional claims.  Prerequisite: Wrongful Convictions Clinic or, in the exceptional case, permission of the instructor.