Advising for Students

Clinical and pro bono programs offer a terrific opportunity to gain legal practice experience under the supervision of seasoned attorneys.  Our office is here to help you create the most positive experience possible. We deeply believe in the purpose and value of clinical education, and want you to get the most you can from this educational opportunity

Advising Hours

Students are welcome to schedule an advising appointment with our office to help explore opportunities, find appropriate placements and courses, or discuss any concerns about a supervisor or clinic.  Half-hour advising appointments can be scheduled by emailing clinical@law.harvard.edu and are available at the following times:

• Monday 11:00am-12:30pm & 3:00pm-4:30pm
• Tuesday 2:00pm-4:30pm
• Wednesday 10:00am-11:30am & 2:00-4:00pm
• Thursday 2:30-4:00pm
• Friday 12:30-3:30pm

Why take a clinical course?

The faculty of the Law School recommends "a balanced program," which includes, along with Constitutional Law, Corporations, Taxation and Accounting in the second year, "...one or more courses with a substantial clinical component anytime during the second and third years." Unlike every other profession, law does not require a period of internship or mentored practice experience prior to admission to full licensure. However, the early months and years in the practice of law are critical to establishing a basis for the development of sound skills and judgment and to inculcating rigorous standards of professional ethics and practice. We believe that students learn best under the guidance of experienced professional mentors (clinicians and faculty) whose job it is to teach students but who are also practicing attorneys in their field of expertise. 

Ties to Career Planning

Practical experience through clinical or pro bono work is integral to every student, across all career goals. Clinical and pro bono placements offer the opportunity to try out a different practice setting or explore new areas of the law. You will benefit from getting as much experience as possible in settings designed to train you for practice, and can likely find many clinical placements that are directly relevant to the kind of practice you want to pursue.  Supervisors are also a rich resource of practice and career knowledge readily available to you and worth tapping into to broaden the practice opportunities that you might consider.  

If you are interested in the public service, public interest, or government sector you will find that many employers look for clinical experience on your resume as it represents both a commitment to public service and the development of actual practice skills. Over-worked government and public interest practitioners often don’t have the time or resources to invest in formal training programs for new lawyers, so you benefit from getting as much experience as possible while in law school.

For those planning on joining a firm after graduation, you will find that clinical and pro bono work is a chance to learn how to use a mentor and to get a better sense of how you best learn practice skills and thinking. While firms have the resources to offer simulated training, the increasing demands on senior attorneys limits the amount of mentoring they can provide. Many students who have joined large firms reported that they had a “head start” as compared to peers who had not done clinical work. Clinical work gave them the confidence and experience to seek out the more interesting and challenging assignments, including contact with clients, and to demonstrate that they were ready and able to take on more responsible work sooner.

Learning in a clinical course

Harvard's approach to clinical legal education has three basic components:

1. Direct student responsibility for clients and or/cases in a realistic practice setting: Taking direct responsibility for clients/cases in a realistic practice setting produces intense motivation to learn. You become active and engaged, and are required by the situation to synthesize, to bring many aspects of your law school learning to bear on a particular issue, not as an exercise or test, but because there are real consequences.  (Note: Not all clinics are direct representation settings.)
2. Supervision and mentorship by an experienced professional mentor: With responsibility comes the necessity for mentoring by an experienced practitioner. Clinical opportunities increase the potential for teaching and learning over traditional teaching methods alone and compliment lecture, discussion and even simulation.
3. Companion classroom sessions in which clinical experiences supplement and contribute to further discussion and insight: Harvard Law School's unique approach to clinical legal education requires a classroom component where students and faculty explore doctrinal, practice or policy complexities and subtleties. Also, they begin to sort through the ways in which reflection and intellectual work sharpen and deepen the insights and understandings that percolate in provocative but incomplete ways in and around the practice experience itself.

Clinical Placements

There is a wide realm of practice areas available through the HLS Clinical Program. Please see the Clinical Curriculum to see what kind of placements are offered by certain courses. To find out more about a certain clinical placement, please see our Clinics page.