Frequently Asked Questions
Below you will find answers to many questions you may have about participating in a clinic and/or field placement. Should you have additional questions, contact any of the clinical or field placement faculty or staff members or email lawclinic@lsu.edu.
- What is the difference between a clinic and a field placement?
- What is the LSU Law Clinic?
- What clinical courses are currently being offered?
- Why take clinical courses?
- What do students do in the clinics that are currently offered?
- What type of clients are represented in the clinics? How do they qualify?
- What is the faculty/student ratio in the clinic?
- What field placement opportunities are currently available?
- What do students do in field placements?
- Who may enroll in a clinic or field placement?
- Can students enroll in both clinic and field placements? Can students take more than one?
- Are there any prerequisites for enrolling in clinics or field placements?
- Do students enjoy clinics and field placements?
- Who teaches the clinic and field placements programs?
- Is there a classroom component involved?
- How many credit hours can I receive per clinic or field placement?
- Are clinics and field placements more work than classroom courses?
- How are clinics and field placements graded?
- Are placements into clinics or field placements based on my GPA?
- How do I enroll in a clinic or field placement?
- Where do I go if I have questions about either clinics or field placements?
What is the difference between a clinic and field placement?
Clinics place students in practice as lawyers, legal staff or mediators. Clinic students have greater responsibility as legal professionals or mediators for actual people with real legal issues. It is the “medical school residency” of law schools in that students are engaged in actual practice.
Field placements place students with judges or lawyers working for legal service providers and government agencies. Students work as clerks for the lawyers or judges in those offices and are not responsible for their own clients or parties.
What is the LSU Law Clinic?
The LSU Law Clinic is a legal services office located on the first floor of the Old Law Building. Under faculty supervision, 2L and 3L students represent clients in the community or mediate for parties in conflict. The public Law Clinic entrance is located on the rear southeast corner of the building off of the Faculty Club parking lot and the student entrance is located on the first floor of the Old Law Building (under McKernan Auditorium). Access is limited to students who are enrolled in Law Clinic courses. Clinic faculty offices are located on the central corridor of the first floor of the Old Law Building. LSU Law students enroll in clinic courses and work in the Law Clinic as student attorneys, legal professionals or mediators. This means they assist real clients with real legal issues before various courts and administrative agencies. All of the clients the Law Clinic accepts are indigent and cannot afford legal counsel. Working in the Law Clinic is a great way for students to gain experience practicing law, earn credit towards graduation and provide a service to people in need. Since law school is very hard work, the Law Clinic is a great way for students to practice and improve their skills prior to graduation. Clinics provide opportunities for students to apply the substantive law and procedure learned in class, while serving underrepresented populations.
What clinical courses are currently being offered?
Check the schedule each semester because we are growing the Clinical Program and expect to add new courses. Currently, we offer five clinical courses: The Juvenile Defense Clinic, the Immigration Law Clinic, the Civil Mediation Clinic, the Parole Assistance and Re-entry Clinic, the Prosecution Clinic. Most clinics are offered in both the fall and spring semesters, but it is a good idea to check the schedule each semester for changes.
Why take clinical courses?
The law faculty believe that the LSU Law Center has an obligation to prepare its graduates to practice law. Clinical courses provide students with the practice needed to represent clients with confidence upon graduation. Students will gain valuable experience in interviewing skills, fact development and research, drafting legal documents, and appearing in court. They will be exposed to a law-office environment through the clinical program in which current case management and time-keeping software will be utilized. Although the clinics may focus on a particular area of representation, the skills learned in each clinic will help students become more effective lawyers, regardless of their chosen practice area.
What do students do in the clinics that are currently offered?
The Law Center currently offers clinics in the areas of immigration, juvenile defense, civil mediation, parole assistance, and prosecution.
Students in the Juvenile Defense Clinic represent children in delinquency proceedings in East Baton Rouge Juvenile Court. Students work for child clients who are often accused of committing serious offenses. They represent the clients at all stages of the proceedings, including detention hearings, adjudication (trial) and disposition. Students meet for class at the Law Center on Wednesday afternoons and then do most of their casework at the East Baton Rouge Juvenile Court Complex located near the Baton Rouge airport. Although the focus is on juveniles, students learn substantive juvenile law, criminal law and criminal procedure. Students also learn valuable client skills, case management and trial skills. Most students have numerous opportunities to appear before the judges in the juvenile court.
The Immigration Law Clinic provides students with the opportunity to represent clients in immigration proceedings. Most of the clients accepted by the immigration clinic are victims of crime and domestic violence in the United States or fled their home countries to escape torture or persecution. The clinic handles a myriad of immigration matters, including asylum, VAWA, Special Immigrant Juvenile cases and U Visa cases. Students also travel to immigration detention facilities around the state and represent clients before the Executive Office of Immigration Review in Immigration Court in Oakdale, La., or New Orleans. Students also represent clients in administrative matters in Citizenship and Immigration Services and on appeal before the Board of Immigration Appeals. Students learn substantive immigration law and procedure as well as develop essential lawyering skills. Although the focus is on immigration, students develop skills important to be effective practitioners in any area of the law.
The Civil Mediation Clinic trains students to mediate resolution of conflict and assist as mediators in civil cases. After training, faculty supervise students in mediating cases referred from the Baton Rouge City Court or other referral sources. The course covers the basics of negotiation theory, the role of the mediator and fundamental norms of mediation, the skills and process of mediation and the ethics of mediation. The Family Mediation Clinic focuses on the mediation skills necessary for effective co-parenting mediation.
The Parole Assistance and Re-entry Clinic focuses on the representation of individual prisoners through the parole hearing process and further assists them with legal issues affecting their ability to re-enter civilian life. Parole hearings are conducted by a panel of members of the Parole Committee and take place at the Department of Correction headquarters and at various correctional institutions.
In the Prosecution Clinic, students work under the supervision of assistant district attorneys in the East Baton Rouge DA’s Office to prosecute misdemeanors and assist in felony cases. Students learn about the prosecution function through experience and have the opportunity to appear in court regularly; interview victims, witnesses and law enforcement; argue motions; conduct plea negotiations; and gain valuable trial experience.
What type of clients are represented in the clinics? How do they qualify?
Clients of the LSU Law Clinic are identified through various agencies in the community who are unable to afford legal representation on their own. Louisiana Supreme Court Rule XX requires that no certified law student can represent any individual whose income is more than 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. Therefore, the Law Clinic represents individuals who are often living in extreme poverty and would have no access to the justice system but for student representation.
What is the faculty/student ratio in the clinic?
The ratio varies, but clinic classes are very small – generally no more than 8:1. The low student ratio means that faculty can work closely with students and are easily available for supervision and consultation on case work.
What field placement opportunities are currently available?
Second- and third-year students can participate in judicial, government or public interest/nonprofit field placements during the fall or spring semesters. Additionally, students may participate in field placements during the summers following their first and second years.
What do students do in field placements?
Students participating in judicial field placements serve as legal externs in the chambers of judges in local, state, or federal courts – typically, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (New Orleans or Lafayette), the Louisiana Supreme Court (New Orleans), the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge), the Louisiana Circuit Court of Appeal for the First Circuit (Baton Rouge), the 19th Judicial District Court (Baton Rouge), or the East Baton Rouge Family Court (Baton Rouge). Students’ experiences vary depending upon the court to which they are assigned, but all placements provide substantive experience for students working in their chambers. The experience includes legal research and drafting memos, writ reports, bench briefs as well as record review and preparing or reviewing draft opinions. Students placed with the district courts and state trial courts often have the opportunity to observe pretrial hearings and trials. Students placed in one of the appellate courts may have the opportunity to observe oral arguments.
Students participating in government field placements have the opportunity to work in a number of local, state and federal government offices. For instance, students may be placed in one of the legal divisions of the Louisiana Department of Justice/Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, the Offices of the District Attorneys for the 19th and 23rd Judicial Districts, the Louisiana Department of Revenue, the Office of the Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service or other government offices as available. Students work with attorneys in these offices, conducting legal research and drafting memoranda, pleadings, trial and appellate briefs, and a variety of other legal documents. Students also have the opportunity to observe a wide variety of court proceedings and hearings, and some will assist attorneys in preparing cases for hearings and trials.
Students participating in a public interest field placement will work under the supervision of attorneys working in the public interest, typically in a non-profit organization. This field placement allows students to choose from several local public interest and nonprofit organizations. Students will gain hands-on experience and develop a wide variety of practical lawyering skills in both litigation and non-litigation practice settings. Public interest field placements vary quite widely, and can range from indigent criminal defense to intellectual property/patent law to collegiate athletics compliance.
Students in summer field placements can be placed with any of the judges or in any of the agencies mentioned above, as well as in approved legal settings outside of the Baton Rouge area. Students in prior summer placements have worked all over the United States and even in international placements.
Who may enroll in a clinic or field placement?
Clinical courses are limited to 2L and 3L students. The Prosecution Clinic requires student certification pursuant to Louisiana Supreme Court Rule XX and are thus limited to 3Ls who have also completed/passed Legal Professions (Law 5721). Since Immigration Law and Civil Mediation students and field placement students are not certified to practice law, they are available to second- and third-year students. The Juvenile Defense is open to both 2Ls and 3Ls, with preference given to 3L students. The Parole & Reentry Clinic is open to both 2Ls and 3Ls. All clinics and field placement enrollment is at the instructor’s permission following the online application process.
Can students enroll in both clinic and field placements? Can students take more than one?
Students may not simultaneously enroll in both clinics and field placements, but they can take the opportunity to enroll in a clinic one semester and a field placement in another semester. Students interested in multiple clinic or field placement experiences should speak to either Professor Lancaster or Professor Pittman as early as possible to develop a plan for taking advantage of as many opportunities as possible.
Are there any prerequisites for enrolling in clinics or field placements?
In order to enroll in the Prosecution Clinic students need to have completed The Legal Profession (5721). The prerequisite is required by Louisiana Supreme Court Rule XX. If you are interested in enrolling in this clinics, it is highly recommended that you complete The Legal Profession during your second year. Students who enroll in the Juvenile Defense Clinic as 3Ls need to have completed The Legal Profession. The Legal Profession is not required for enrollment in other clinics.
Students who seek to enroll in field placements must have successfully completed the first-year Legal Writing program.
Do students enjoy clinics and field placements?
Clinic and field placement students consistently comment that these were some of the most valuable experiences obtained while in law school. They require hard work and a considerable time commitment, but the payoff can be invaluable.
Who teaches the clinic and field placements programs?
Clinics are taught by Law Center faculty as well as several extremely talented clinical adjunct professors who are experienced, respected experts in their field. Field placements are supervised by Law Center faculty, and the classroom component, if required, is taught by Law Center faculty. However, students are placed with judges and attorneys in practice who serve as the students’ placement supervisors.
Is there a classroom component involved?
All clinics have a classroom component. The field placements have an online asynchronous course component, which includes one-on-one individual supervision meetings with faculty members.
How many credit hours can I receive per clinic or field placement?
The Immigration Law Clinic and Juvenile Defense Clinic are all five credit courses. Students who take the Juvenile Defense Clinic as 2Ls will receive 2 credits. The Civil Mediation Clinic, the Parole Assistance and Re-entry Clinic, and the Prosecution Clinic, are for three credit hours. All field placement courses are 3 credit courses.
Are clinics and field placements more work than classroom courses?
Not necessarily, but they are a lot of work and require a commitment of time. Unlike other courses that are often designed around a final exam or paper, clinics and field placement courses do not require an exam or paper. Also, most other courses are carefully designed around a syllabus, readings and class discussion, and clinics and field placements are not. Although all clinics and some field placements have a classroom component, most of the students’ learning comes through their work with their clients or their work in the field. Because of this, students have to manage their time compared to other courses. For example, in the clinic, a client receive an emergency call that needs attention immediately. Since the student is the lawyer, the student has a professional obligation to attend to the needs of the client. This obligation is fundamental to the practice of law.
How are clinics and field placements graded?
Please refer to each Clinic or Field Placement home page for information regarding grading.
Are placements into clinics or field placements based on my GPA?
No. Clinics and field placements are open to all students. All students, regardless of past academic performance, are encouraged to apply. The only instance where grades are considered is in applicants for the Judicial Field placement Program because some judges participating in the program request information on grades and review of a transcript or writing sample prior to accepting a student for work in their chambers. The other field placements and clinics do not have that same consideration.
How do I enroll in a clinic or field placement?
You may apply to the clinics or field placements of your choice when the online application opens (you will be able to rank your preferences). Some clinics and field placements will also require a personal interview. You will be notified prior to registration if the instructor has granted permission to the registrar to confirm your enrollment.
What if I have additional questions not answered here?
There are a lot of people here at the Law Center who can answer questions about clinics or field placements and which opportunities may be right for you.
Professor Robert Lancaster is the Director of Clinical Programs and can answer general questions about all of the clinical and field placement offerings. He can be reached in Room W151 or at rlancast@lsu.edu.
Professor Richard Pittman is the Director of Field Placement Programs and he can answer general questions about available field placements. Professor Pittman can be reached in Room W154 or at rpittman@lsu.edu.
You should also feel free to contact the specific professors who teach the clinics and field placements. Contact information may be found on each clinic’s page.
