Clinical and Experiential Learning
Duke Law's clinical program offers students a carefully structured opportunity to build their own experiential bridge between the classroom and practice. Operating collectively as a public interest law firm in multiple distinct practice areas and housed in its own wing at Duke Law School, the clinical program provides students with challenging opportunities designed to deepen their substantive legal knowledge, strengthen their lawyering skills, and forge distinct professional identities.
Clinical and Experiential Learning Courses
Representative sample only; please see the course browser for a complete list.
- Complex Civil Litigation 315
- Health Justice Clinic 400
- Children's Law Clinic 416
- Trial Practice 420
- Community Enterprise Law Clinic 427
- Civil Justice Clinic 429
- International Human Rights Clinic 437
- Start-Up Ventures Clinic 441
- Environmental Law and Policy Clinic 443
- First Amendment Clinic 435
- Negotiation 460
- Patent Claim Drafting and Foundations of Patent Strategy 465
Externships
The Externship Program is designed to allow a student to receive academic credit for gaining legal experience beyond that available in the classroom setting, by working under the supervision of a licensed attorney in a governmental or non-profit setting. The amount of credit awarded for the field placement component of a student’s externship is based on the number of hours that the student works during the semester in the externship placement, with 1 credit awarded for every 50 hours of work, and a minimum of two credits per placement (totaling about one day per week). Travel time to and from the externship placement does not count towards the 50 hour per credit requirement. Students must work in the externship placement over the course of the entire semester unless they obtain special permission from the Externship Director.