Independent Clinical Work Program

The Independent Clinical program is designed for students interested in a special area of the law not offered in the extensive HLS clinical curriculum. Please note that this is a highly selective program reserved exclusively for projects and work that cannot be done through our existing clinical program. 

Setting up an independent clinical project requires a great deal of work on the part of the student, including finding an appropriate placement that meets the program’s criteria. To receive approval, a student must demonstrate that the proposed project is different from and does not duplicate any of the many clinical opportunities at HLS, and that the project also offers a quality educational learning and practice experience.

To initiate the Independent Clinical application process, you must meet with Liz Solar of the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs to discuss your plans, set up a placement where you will be supervised by a Supervising Attorney, obtain a Faculty Sponsor, and complete an application with a project proposal. If approved, you will be notified by email. 

Once approved, students must meet a number of requirements in order to receive credit. The process is outlined below but please don't hesitate to contact Liz Solar if you have any questions.

Liz Solar
esolar@law.harvard.edu
617-384-9940
6 Everett Street, Suite 3085

Independent Clinical Guidelines

• All Independent Clinicals are graded Credit/Fail.
• All Independent Clinical work is limited to two clinical credits. During Fall and Spring semesters, two clinical credits represents ten hours per week of work. During Winter Term, students must work full-time for the term (40 hours/week) to receive two clinical credits.
• Independent Clinical proposals are not appropriate and will not be approved if the work you seek to do is available through our existing clinical curriculum.
• Students should choose a Faculty Sponsor who is well suited for the project, with special expertise and/or familiarity in the subject matter. If there is a related in-house clinic, students are expected to consult with the director of that clinic about possible sponsorship and development of the Independent Clinical project.
• An HLS faculty member or Clinical Lecturer on Law may sponsor an Independent Clinical. Lecturers on Law who are not part of a clinical program, Clinical Instructors who are not Lecturers on Law, and Visiting Professors are not eligible to be Faculty Sponsors of Independent Clinical work. Exceptions may be made in subject areas not covered by a clinic or for which there is no permanent faculty member only if discussed in advance with the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs.
• Group projects of more than three people are not allowed for independent clinical credit. (Group projects consist of students going to the same placement with the same project.)  Group projects of three or fewer people must have very strong proposals, and each student must submit a separate proposal indicating their specific plans and how their individual participation is essential to the project.
• The Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs (OCP), in consultation with related clinic directors, will determine the suitability of a proposed Faculty Sponsor and the potential overlap with an existing clinic. The OCP will also assess the aptness of the proposed supervisor, based on his or her expertise and availability to the student, in order to ensure a valuable clinical experience.
• To apply, students need both a licensed Supervising Attorney who will work with them at the placement and a Faculty Sponsor at HLS. Only in exceptional circumstances can a Faculty Sponsor also be the Supervising Attorney
• Students must set up individual meetings with their Faculty Sponsor, with their Supervising Attorney, and with Liz in the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs before finalizing the project and submitting a written proposal (set up an advising appointment online or email Liz at esolar@law.harvard.edu).
• An academic paper (at least 15 pages)related to some aspect of the work the student does must be submitted at the end of the semester. The paper cannot be a work product prepared for the clinical placement.
• Students must send weekly emails to the Faculty Sponsor and to Liz Solar (esolar@law.harvard.edu) and Alexis Ditkowsky (aditkowsky@law.harvard.edu) of the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs with a progress report describing the work he or she did that week and providing feedback on the project. Students must also communicate weekly with their Supervising Attorney.

Picking Your Placement 

Students may work at nonprofit organizations, legal services, criminal defense agencies, the judiciary, governmental agencies, or public interest organizations. Projects may include direct client service as well as writing and research. Approval for projects in the private sector will be determined on a case-by-case basis and approved only if the work will be done pro bono, focusing solely on public interest work. 

Independent Clinical projects are not available at placements already offered through a clinical course or at an in-house clinic, or in placements that are duplicative of what is offered in clinics.  Work on political campaigns is not eligible for clinical credit but may be eligible for pro bono credit if it meets the criteria for pro bono credit.

Students may do an independent clinical project during winter term. Many choose this opportunity to work at legal organizations overseas. Students may apply for funding for a winter term independent clinical project (see Funding, below).

The possibilities for Independent Clinical placements are large in scope. In the past, students worked in Cape Town, South Africa, for the National Prosecuting Authority; in Phnom Penh for the Documentation Center of Cambodia; in New York for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; and at the Becket Fund, a non-profit public interest law firm that works to protect religious freedom for all religious traditions.

We encourage you to contact Liz Solar to discuss and develop project ideas, and to ask questions about appropriate placements. Resources to find possible placements are:

• HLS Public Service Job Search Database (log in with your HLS email username and password)
• OPIA Job Resources
• International Legal Studies

Important note: Students are responsible for the ethical implications of their research. If a student’s project includes research involving human subjects, including interviews, surveys, or obtaining information by other means, it may require review by the Committee on the Use of Human Subjects. The Law School liaison at the Committee, Jane Calhoun, can determine whether a student’s project requires review, and assist with the application process.

Faculty Sponsor

An HLS Faculty Sponsor is needed for all Independent Clinical projects. The Faculty Sponsor monitors the academic component of your Independent Clinical. You must find a Faculty Sponsor with expertise in the area of law pertaining to your Independent Clinical project. An HLS faculty member or Clinical Lecturer on Law may sponsor an Independent Clinical based on the determination that the project and proposal have educational merit as well as other individual requirements. Please note that Lecturers on Law who are not part of a clinical program and Visiting Professors are not eligible to be Faculty Sponsors of Independent Clinical work. In subject areas not covered by a clinic or a permanent faculty member, exceptions about eligibility for a Faulty Sponsor may be made only if discussed in advance with the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs.

In creating your project proposal, you should discuss the content of your project and the final paper with your Faculty Sponsor. Although on-site attorneys and your Supervising Attorney often provide direct supervision, you should meet regularly with your Faculty Sponsor to check in on your progress. 

You are required to send weekly emails to your Faculty Sponsor and Liz Solar and Alexis Ditkowsky of the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono programs during your Independent Clinical. The Faculty Sponsor is responsible for submitting the grade (credit/no credit) at the end of the term.

Supervising Attorney

Students must have a Supervising Attorney at the student's placement organization who will be responsible for direct supervision throughout the project. Supervisors must be licensed attorneys in their jurisdiction. Supervisors are expected to write a detailed evaluation of student’s work at the end of the semester for submission to the Faculty Sponsor and the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs. Supervisors will receive a Supervisor Handbook from the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs that sets forth the requirements for defining work expectations and goals, conducting regular meetings with students, and evaluating performance. With rare exception, the Faculty Sponsor cannot also be the Supervising Attorney.

Student Responsibilities

A basic premise of clinical legal education is that learning comes about through the self-conscious application of reflection to actual experience. All students doing Independent Clinical work are required to submit the following:

Weekly Progress Reports

You must submit weekly progress reports via email to the Faculty Sponsor and to Liz Solar and Alexis Ditkowsky of our office. Emails should report on your work and reflect on your clinical experience. Faculty are not required to respond to the weekly emails, but are encouraged to do so if they think they have useful observations. We will not share emails or final papers with Supervising Attorneys without your permission, although you are free to do so.

Client Confidentiality

Please be sensitive to issues of client confidentiality when submitting weekly emails and final papers. Client names and any other identifying information should be deleted from these documents prior to submission.

Clinical Placement Evaluation

Your experiences and opinions are extremely important to our continuing efforts to improve the quality of clinical legal education at Harvard Law School and to determine the appropriateness and effectiveness of specific placements. Therefore, at the end of the semester we require all students to complete a Placement Evaluation to assess the placement organization, the supervision received, and the value of the clinical experience. You will help us most by being as frank, specific, and constructive as possible. 

The clinical evaluations are completed online through the Public Service Job Database (log on using your HLS email username and password). You will receive an email from our office at the end of the semester with a web link to the clinical evaluation.

Your responses will not affect grading, as the information reported will not be reviewed outside of the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs until after the semester's grading process has been completed.

Final Paper

An academic paper with footnotes of approximately 15 pages in length is due to your Faculty Sponsor, Liz Solar, and Alexis Ditkowsky at the end of your Independent Clinical. This paper cannot be a work product from the clinical placement. The paper should be related to some aspect of the work you did or that the placement organization handles. You should discuss your proposed paper topic with your Faculty Sponsor. Final papers are due by the following deadlines:

• Fall 2011: December 16, 2011
• Winter 2012: January 27, 2012
• Spring 2012: April 27, 2012

Harvard Law School Independence

Although students enrolled in Independent Clinicals receive academic credit, students must understand that their work does not reflect the judgment or opinions of Harvard Law School and that Harvard Law School is not in a position to direct the project. When representing or communicating with individual clients, students must avoid holding themselves out as representatives of Harvard Law School. While it may be appropriate to identify yourself as a Harvard student, it is not appropriate or accurate to suggest to a client that he or she is being represented by Harvard Law School or Harvard University.

Supervisor Evaluations and Grading

We encourage you to meet regularly with your Supervisor for feedback throughout the semester and to initiate an exit interview at the end of the semester to discuss the Supervisor's evaluation.

Supervisor Evaluations

Supervising Attorneys are required to provide two written evaluations of students' work to assess performance, judgment, progress, etc.: 1) Supervisor Mid-Semester Evaluation; 2) Supervisor Final Evaluation. (During the Winter term, supervisors only have to do the Final Evaluation.) Supervisors should submit the evaluations to Liz Solar by the appropriate deadline.

Grading

All Independent Clinicals are graded Credit/Fail. Supervising Attorneys will recommend either a Credit or Fail grade to the Faculty Sponsor, who will also take into account the final paper when assigning the final Credit or Fail grade.

Application

The Independent Clinical program is a selective program with a rigorous application process. Students must set up individual meetings with their Faculty Sponsor, Supervising Attorney, and with Liz Solar in the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs before finalizing the project and submitting an application. Independent Clinical applications require a cover sheet, detailed project proposal, and the signatures of the Supervising Attorney and Faculty Sponsor. Incomplete applications or applications with missing signatures will not be accepted until all parts are submitted. The project proposal should be detailed, focused, realistic, and developed through discussions with a Supervising Attorney at the placement and an HLS Faculty Sponsor. Project proposals must contain the following information:

• Thorough exploration of the nature of the project, including specific responsibilities and projects at the placement.
• A brief description of the placement organization and its mission.
• Explanation of your interest in this subject area.
• Relevance to past or anticipated academic, professional, clinical and other experience. How does this Independent Clinical project fit in with your academic and/or career plans? What kind of opportunity does this project represent to you?
• How is the work you are proposing to do different from practice opportunities available in the clinical curriculum?
• Explanation of your decision of a Faculty Sponsor, and how his or her area of expertise will factor into your project.
• Description of the final paper, as determined by you and your Faculty Sponsor.

Applications are due to Liz Solar in the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs in Austin Hall 102 by the following deadlines:

• Fall 2011: September 1, 2011
• Winter 2012: November 1, 2011
• Spring 2012: January 13, 2012

Download the Independent Clinical application

(Harvard Legal Aid Bureau students must also submit the HLAB Supplemental Approval Form.)

Funding (Winter Term Only)

There is a limited amount of funding available for students participating in an Independent Clinical during the Winter term to offset the cost of travel and lodging. Students must apply for funding, and travel grants will be allotted in a selective process. If a project is contingent upon funding, students should not make travel or work commitments until they have secured a travel grant. Expenses submitted for funding consideration in the application must be reasonable and necessary for the completion of the project. Students must complete the appropriate funding application and submit it with the Independent or Continuing Clinical application. There are different guidelines and applications for international (International Legal Studies Office) versus domestic travel (Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs). For more information, please see our Winter Term Funding page.

Contact

For questions about Independent Clinicals, please contact Liz Solar of the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs. Students must set up an initial meeting with Liz before finalizing the project and submitting an application.

Liz Solar
esolar@law.harvard.edu
617-384-9940
6 Everett Street, Suite 3085