The Immigration Rights Clinic is a two semester clinical program
available to second and third year students. St. John’s
University School of Law is partnering with Catholic Charities
Community Services, {Department of} Immigration
Legal Services {and Refugee Services}, to give
students the opportunity to provide direct representation to
immigrants with a focus on refugees and asylees
who are in judicial proceedings. Students
will provide representation in, among other things, asylum cases,
cases under the Violence Against Women Act, and The Victims of
Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000.
Students provide representation from initial client contact
through final resolution of the case. Students will interview
clients, conduct full-scale fact investigations, perform legal
research, develop a case theory that integrates the facts of the
case and the relevant law, and provide representation at
administrative hearings and court proceedings. Students will
develop essential lawyering skills, substantive legal knowledge and
professional responsibility while representing clients.
Casework will be supervised by adjunct professors, who are
experienced immigration rights attorneys from Catholic
Charities.
Clinic students will enroll in the Immigration Rights Clinic
(two credits) and in a seminar component (two credits). The
seminar meets for two (2) hours once a week at either the law
school or Catholic Charities. The seminar will provide the
opportunity for students to learn and develop essential lawyering
skills required in client representation, learn substantive areas
of immigration law, and participate in roundtable discussions and
hear from experts in the field including judges and
practicioners. Lawyering skills classes will include
discussion of interviewing, cross-cultural lawyering, case theory
and strategy, fact investigation, use of and preparation of
experts, and direct and cross-examination. At roundtable
discussions, students will present a client’s case, identifying a
particular complex legal, factual or strategy issue for discussion
by the group.
This two-semester course will maximize each student’s
opportunity to see a case from start to finish. Students will
spend thirteen (13) hours a week working on cases at the Catholic
Charities Office, or in the field investigating a case or appearing
at an administrative or court proceeding. Students will
receive four (4) credits per semester, 2 pass-fail credits for the
clinic component and 2 letter-graded credits for the seminar
component.
Students will be chosen based upon an interview with the
professors.