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Faculty members highlight clinical opportunities

USC Gould School of Law • March 27, 2006
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Professors summed up for students the five clinical opportunities at USC Law during a March 21 lunchtime panel. The clinics often fill quickly with students seeking real-world experience under the faculty members’ supervision, but each of the professors advised that students may still be accommodated if they sign up on the wait lists. Anyone with further questions about the clinics may contact the appropriate faculty member.

Professor Jennifer UrbanIntellectual Property Clinic Jennifer Urban, director

The newest of the law school’s clinics, IP differs from traditional clinics in that students work with clients representing a number of different industries, but who all have concerns about the regulation of information, innovation and speech. Students recently counseled a small-time local playwright about whether he needed to worry about copyright; they also submitted testimony to a legislative proceeding looking at a new copyright law.

“The students learn a tremendous amount of law and get a lot of practice,” says Professor Jennifer Urban (pictured above).

Children’s Project Lee Campbell, director

Prof. Lee CampbellBetween four and six students are accepted into the two-semester Children’s Project, with the second semester dedicated almost exclusively to casework. The students act as a “little law firm,” working closely with Public Counsel, a Los Angeles pro bono law office, representing low-income families in adoptions, guardianship cases, special education proceedings, or even expulsion and disciplinary hearings, according to Professor Lee Campbell (pictured right). Many of the cases students see appear to be about one issue but may involve an expanding series of problems that have burdened the children for years, Campbell says. “Almost none of the kids we deal with are where they need to be in terms of education or psychological development,” she said. Employer Legal Advice Clinic Noel Ragsdale, director

Professor Noel Ragsdale was looking to give students a different clinical experience when she created the Employer Legal Advice Clinic.

“I thought it would be a good idea to have students in the counseling and advice-giving role, instead of the litigating role,” Ragsdale said.

While the clinic initially worked with the USC Marshall School of Business to help “mom and pop” shops regenerate after the 1992 L.A. riots, its client base now primarily comprises nonprofit organizations. Students handle two clients each during one semester and choose an issue to work on during their first meeting with the clients. This year, students worked with homeless shelters, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and organizations providing assistance to the mentally ill, among other groups.

Immigration Clinic Niels Frenzen, director

Clients who seek assistance from students in the Immigration Clinic are mostly African citizens who are seeking asylum. Last week, a student represented a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, according to Professor Niels Frenzen.

Students handle live cases and often get to represent clients before the Immigration Court. Such proceedings involve administrative trials before an immigration judge, where the government is represented by a prosecutor with the Department of Homeland Security. Some students have represented clients before trial court, or even the federal court of appeal.

Prof. Michael BrennanPost-Conviction Justice Project Michael Brennan, co-director Carrie Hempel, co-director

The Post-Conviction Justice Project, USC’s longest-running clinic, was created to represent male and female inmates who have exhausted their direct appeal rights. Today, students generally represent female inmates at the California Institute for Women located in Corona, according to Professor Michael Brennan (pictured above).

Between 20 and 25 students participate in the two-semester course, representing clients at parole hearings before the state’s Board of Prison Terms, or drafting habeas corpus petitions in state or federal courts.

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