Clinics and Externships

Working under the supervision of clinic faculty and staff attorneys in Legal Aid's Durham office, students directly represent clients in matters that include actions arising from unsafe housing, landlord-tenant disputes, foreclosures, incidents of domestic violence, and unemployment and food stamp benefit claims. Doing so allows them to develop practical litigation skills that are transferable to a wide range of cases and practice areas, while addressing the critical lack of legal representation among low-income North Carolinians. Students appear as primary counsel before courts and administrative agencies and work with teams of attorneys and peers on other cases. During a weekly seminar at the Law School, they discuss techniques and strategy as well as substantive law relevant to their caseloads.

‘It Does Something to Your Soul When Everyone Losing Their Homes Looks Like You’

In a feature story in POLITICO Magazine, Civil Justice Clinic Supervising Attorney Jesse McCoy discusses how he brings his personal conviction to the clinic's innovative Eviction Diversion Program, which was launched in 2017 to help low-income Durham residents avoid being kicked out by landlords.