Introduction to Advocacy (ITA): Skills and Ethics in Clinical Practice
Fall/Spring term, Block G
T,W 3:20 PM - 4:50 PM
Clinical Professor David Grossman
3 classroom credits LAW-39511A (2 Fall + 1 Spring)
5 required clinical credits LAW-39511C (2 Fall + 3 Spring)
This course introduces students to civil law practice and is required for all 2L members of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. Student practice experience at the Bureau is the primary material for all class meetings and discussions. The goals of the course are: (1) to provide a strong foundation for developing lawyering skills; (2) to enhance student understandings of what lawyers do, with particular attention to professional role, values, and ethics; and (3) to develop skills of peer and self-assessment so that students will have the ability to continue to learn in practice after law school. The majority of class meetings will focus on specific lawyering tasks such as client counseling and interviewing, investigation of claims, negotiation, and argument and case presentation. With respect to each skill studied, attention will be paid to the ethical, relational, strategic, and tactical issues involved. Additional class sessions, led by Bureau Clinical Instructors, will provide opportunities for analysis of the substantive and procedural law applicable to the students' clinical practice; development of litigation skills through role-play exercises; and rounds discussions of challenging issues in the students' casework.
There will be no examination but students will be expected to complete a project or paper that addresses an ethical or professional issue in their casework or that arises in the weekly class meetings or course readings. Students may waive one clinical credit in the fall semester and up to two clinical credits in the spring semester. The clinical component is graded credit/no credit.
Enrollment in this clinical course is restricted only to 2L Harvard Legal Aid Bureau members, and will not be in clinical registration. HLAB members in their 2L year in 2009-2010 will automatically be enrolled in this course and clinical once HLAB membership is finalized.
The classroom component of this clinical course satisfies the Law School's professional responsibility requirement. Ordinarily, students may not enroll in two courses that satisfy the professional responsibility requirement. Students who enroll in a clinical course that satisfies the professional responsibility requirement but who have already completed a professional responsibility course may receive one less classroom credit for the second course if there is substantial overlap in professional responsibility coverage. Students who have already taken a professional responsibility course should check with the Vice Dean for Academic Programming to determine if there is overlap and if a credit reduction will apply.