Yale Law School Clinics on the Front Lines

At Yale Law School, our students can start taking a clinic in the second semester of their first year of law school.

We want students to have the opportunity to be on their feet in court, representing clients. And at the same time, to be representing community based organizations.

The Yale model is to have students do the actual work of lawyering at an ambitious level for up to five semesters.

As I'm about to graduate, I think what stands out the most to me is the fact that this work will continue when I'm gone.

Clinics, I think, are a fantastic opportunity to get some of that experience that you maybe don't get in classes.

I've navigated a range of issues from agricultural concessions in Liberia, to the travel ban, to Muslim civil liberties. And it's an amazing opportunity to put real education to use.

When my students won a nationwide injunction in the sanctuary city case, I said to them, you know, you never get to work on a case that wins a nationwide injunction. They were a little bit confused because their classmates had just won one in the travel ban case. And they were working on another one in the DACA case.

The supervisors here are knowledgeable in experience, and also patient and kind and are willing to walk us through things.

I never came to law school thinking that I would go work for a big law firm. I really wanted to get the skills that lawyers can use to represent people who don't have a voice.

Our dean, Heather Gerken, to see her in action in practice in a real world setting has been so unique and so rewarding.

We put students first. And we believe they can do anything. These are the best law students in the world. They start full of promise and then they end full of accomplishment. It's a thrilling thing.