A clinical program in trial advocacy, the D.C. Law Students in Court program offers students an opportunity to develop skills as trial lawyers while representing indigent persons in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Students may participate in either the civil division (which focuses primarily upon the representation of tenants in landlord-tenant actions, but also handles some consumer and other civil matters) or the criminal division (in which student attorneys defend persons charged with misdemeanor offenses and/or juveniles charged with delinquent acts ranging from drug possession to assault with a deadly weapon). Students are responsible for all aspects of litigation under the supervision of clinical instructors. Student attorneys interview clients and witnesses, conduct investigations, prepare pleadings, negotiate settlements and conduct all motions, hearings, trials, and occasional appeals pursuant to the Superior Court’s third-year practice rule. To be eligible to participate in the clinic, students must have completed 41 credit hours and courses in Evidence, Civil Procedure, and (for the criminal division) Criminal Procedure: The Investigative Process. Seminars are held in the civil division on Monday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m. and in the criminal division on Thursday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m. Students in the civil division must set aside one day per week for court appearances. Participating students should plan to devote approximately 20 hours per week to the clinic. This is a yearlong program; students enroll for six credits each for two semesters. No academic credit will be awarded to a student who completes only one semester. Students in the civil division have the option to enroll for either three or six credits in the second semester. In the criminal division, the course must be taken for six credits both semesters. Evening-division students and students who have part-time employment may participate. In the civil division only, students may participate in either the summer session and first (fall) semester or the fall and spring semesters. In addition, some writing in the civil division may be used to satisfy one or more of the three products required for the applied legal writing portfolio option of the upper level writing requirement. This course is offered on a graded basis but a student may elect to take the course on a pass-fail basis. The course is limited to 15 students. An interview with a supervising attorney is required before a student may register. 

Upper-level course for:
XV. General Practice
XXIV. Litigation: Practice and Procedure