Note: There will be mandatory in-person Appellate Litigation Clinic Skills Training and Orientation from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday to Friday, January 13 to 17, 2025. Accepting a placement in the clinic requires your agreement to attend.
The Appellate Litigation Clinic is a one-semester, seven-credit clinic. The clinic will meet on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 1:20 to 3:10 p.m. in the spring 2025 semester. Students taking the clinic must register for both the seminar component (three credits) and project component (four credits). The one-semester clinic satisfies Columbia Law School’s experiential-credit requirement for J.D. students.
Requirements
The clinic takes on civil appeals across a range of social and economic issues that affect everyday New Yorkers.
Applicants to the clinic should demonstrate that:
- They want to deepen their understanding of preparing written and oral legal arguments.
- They are excited about engaging in their personal and professional development, both in school and outside of the classroom.
- They are committed to fighting for the public interest, broadly defined.
Students with all levels of experience are invited to apply; no specialized background or degrees are needed and there are no prerequisite or co-requisite courses.
Seminar
Clinic students attend semi-weekly seminars, bridging theory and practice, and building on their fieldwork. Students in seminar reflect on their pending cases and broaden their view of appellate practice, learning how to make the appellate system fairer for the communities that it serves.
Projects
Students in the clinic are paired with clients and placed on appeals based on their personal preferences. Students engage in start-to-finish representation of those clients, from briefing through argument. Throughout the semester, students have the opportunity to take on more complex appellate cases and other appellate-reform projects.
Apply
Applications for the spring 2025 semester open in fall 2024. Students apply through the Law School’s process for experiential learning courses. The clinic does not normally conduct interviews, but may do so. Applicants are encouraged to use the standard application form to articulate their personal goals and how the clinic connects with those goals. Students with questions should reach out to Associate Clinical Professor of Law Dennis Fan.