The Catholic University of America
Clinics, Externships, and Pro bono

Clinics banner

Home  >  Academic Programs  >  Clinics and Practical Training

Gain Skills through Real-World Experience 

The commitment to ensuring that our graduates are practice-ready directs the CUA Law experience. Recognizing that classwork and textbooks alone do not quite complete the transformation of student to lawyer, all academic programs include transition-to-practice requirements. Many also require participation in clinics, externships, trial or moot court teams, or other hands-on experience.
 
Through "live client" and simulated lawyering experiences, students learn practical trial techniques, research and writing skills, and other important lawyering skills, such as counseling, interviewing, negotiating, and mediating.


Clinics

Clinical skills lie at the heart of how the law functions as a tool to help and protect others, especially society’s most vulnerable. The law school’s clinical options offer students invaluable, firsthand experience in representing real clients with real legal problems in real courts, under the supervision of faculty members.

> Columbus Community Legal Services
       • Advocacy for the Elderly Clinic
       • Civil Practice Clinic
       • Families and the Law Clinic
       • Low Income Taxpayer Clinic
> Innocence Project Clinic and
   Clemency Project 
> Criminal Prosecution Clinic
> Virginia Criminal Defense Clinic


Externships

CUA Law’s externship program is among the most extensive in the nation. Students earn class credit and priceless real-world experience in a vast array of legal practice settings that include government, private firms, the judiciary, think tanks, agencies and many other places.
 

> Legal Externship Program
> SEC Student Honors Program

 

Pro Bono

The Pro Bono Program at CUA Law is on the spectrum of experiential learning opportunities available to students throughout their tenure here. Pro bono projects enable students to apply lessons learned in the classroom out in the community, advancing their professional development while benefiting those in need of services. Participation is voluntary, and the range of options available to CUA law students being sited in nation's capital is extensive.
 
CUA Law also has the Office of Law & Social Justice Initiatives (L&SJI), which is dedicated to supporting our community of students, staff, and faculty in their efforts to make a lifetime commitment to service in the common good. L&SJI develops programs, practices, and other initiatives to encourage, facilitate, and promote community service and pro bono publico activities by students, faculty, and alumni of Columbus School of Law. The Office also assists students who wish to pursue post-graduate fellowships and other employment opportunities in public interest and public service settings.
 

> CUA Law Pro Bono Program 
> Law & Social Justice Initiatives