The Civil Rights Clinic is a 6-credit, one-semester course offered once each semester that allows students to work on important, interesting civil rights issues pending before state and federal appeals courts.
Clinic students have the opportunity to engage in both amicus curiae and direct representation on a variety of important equal justice issues. Clinic students have drafted briefs challenging the racially arbitrary application of the death penalty and advocating for changed legal standards to account for implicit bias in the criminal trial process as well as at sentencing. The clinic is taught by Professor Melissa Lee and Professor Jessica Levin, who co-direct the Center for Civil Rights and Critical Justice.
Students interested in the clinic should email Professors Melissa Lee, leeme@seattleu.edu, and Jessica Levin, levinje@seattleu.edu, at least 48 hours before the lottery to confirm:
- That you have completed Legal Writing II and Constitutional Law I and that you meet the grade requirements of B or above in either Constitutional Law I and B+ or above in Legal Writing II. Students who have not earned such grades may request a waiver of these requirements from the clinic instructors. The Civil Rights Clinic requires a good foundational understanding of Constitutional Law and the principles of good legal writing.
- If you do not meet the above grade requirements and wish to request a waiver, describe your prior writing experience in a class (other than legal writing), law office, or other setting in which you have been asked to write memos, briefs, reports, or other documents (not short letters or emails) that have required research, analysis, timely production of work product, and solid writing skills. In addition, please identify the person who supervised your prior writing experience, as well as your Constitutional Law I and Legal Writing II professors, together with permission for us to speak with them.
- For those who do not yet have grades in Constitutional Law I or Legal Writing II at the time of your application, identify your Constitutional Law I and LWII professors and authorize the clinic instructors to contact them to assess your work in those classes.
- That your schedule will permit you to complete 15 office hours per week during regular business hours.
Prerequisites: Constitutional Law (CNLW-200) and Legal Writing II (WRIT-200).
Experiential Learning: This course counts toward the experiential learning requirement.
