Pre-Approved Law Courses
Street Law – Public Education
Under faculty supervision, students in two-person teams will teach law in urban high schools. An underlying principle of the course is that one of the best ways to learn is to teach. There will be weekly seminars and field performances supervised by the instructor. Students will develop skills in: practical application of legal concepts; substantive topics in federal and Colorado law; teaching techniques; classroom management; and the multifaceted roles of lawyers in the community. Each student will participate in researching, drafting and presenting a course in a particular field of substantive law.
Street Law – Department of Corrections
Under faculty supervision, students in teams will teach law in Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) facilities while also mentoring 1 or more teams of students in the Street Law I program. There will be weekly seminars and field performances supervised by the instructor. Students will develop skills in: practical application of legal concepts; substantive topics in federal and Colorado law; teaching techniques; classroom management; and the multifaceted roles of lawyers in the community. Each student will participate in researching, drafting and presenting a course in a particular field of substantive law.
Trial Practice III: Mentor’s Practicum
Trial Practice III: Mentor’s Practicum is a year-long, skills-based course for law school students seeking to refine their trial skills, and improve their understanding and application of evidence and criminal procedure, through teaching these skills to local area high school mock trial students. The course consists of two classes a week. The first takes place at the law school and is facilitated by Professors Schott and Webb. This weekly class involves case analysis and evidentiary discussion, resulting in the law students preparing their lesson plans to be taught to the high school students. Lesson plans will include trial topics such as case analysis and evidentiary discussions, direct and cross-examination, objections and the rules of evidence, opening statements, closing arguments, and development of theme and theory.
The second weekly class takes place at a local area high school, where the law students act as mentor-coaches to high school mock trial teams participating in the Fall Providence Cup Mock Trial Tournament and the Spring Colorado Bar Association’s mock trial competition. Admission to the class is by permission of the professors. While preference will be given to students who have completed Evidence, Criminal Procedure, and Trial Practice I and II, consideration will also be given to students who have not completed all those courses but have experience gained through participation in a Student Law Office clinic, STLA moot court competitions, ABA or TYLA trial team, or an externship that involved attorney-supervised trial work.
Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (in the Graduate Tax Program)
Using a focused series of classes related to issues facing individual low income taxpayers embroiled in conflict with the Internal Revenue Service or in litigation before the United States Tax Court (innocent spouse relief, earned income credit, dependency exemptions, appeals of audits and collection due process issues, tax litigation), this course first prepares tax students to represent taxpayers regarding such issues, then provides the opportunity to practice before the IRS and in the Tax Court. In a year-long clinical setting, students are trained in all facets of practice before the IRS and the Tax Court. Once trained, under the supervision of clinical staff, the students undertake representation of low income taxpayers in tax audits, appeals, collection proceedings, and, if necessary, before the Tax Court. All facets of client representation, including initial client meetings, representation agreements, client advocacy, and ending the representation, are experienced by each clinic participant. The clinic is open to joint degree (J.D. and L.L.M.) candidates and students may earn up to 4 quarter hours. Contact the Graduate Tax Program at 303-871-6239 for registration information.
Wills Lab
This lab is designed to provide students with practical experience with interviewing and drafting for a real client while under the close supervision of a practicing attorney. Clients come primarily from Legal Aid. Each student is individually supervised by a volunteer attorney or by Prof. Marsh. The attorney goes with the student to the first interview with the client to assist the student if any difficulties come up in the interview. Then the student drafts the appropriate documents from scratch, and the attorney helps the student determine what revisions are necessary. When documents are in final form the attorney assists the student in having the documents properly signed. Documents include will, living will, and medical or financial powers of attorney, as appropriate. Letter grades are given by Prof. Marsh. Note that no student is allowed to drop the Wills Lab after the first interview with the client unless there is a severe medical emergency. There will be one introductory meeting scheduled during lunch time. All the rest of the work is scheduled individually by the student, supervising attorney, and client.
International Criminal Law Practicum
The practicum is designed to give students a taste of the legal work at an international criminal tribunal on a complex war crimes, genocide or crime against humanity case.
The students begin by working collaboratively with the other students in the class to analyze the prosecution and defense theories of a tribunal case with the aim of creating a simple yet robust case outline that facilitates the analysis of the evidence. Then, each student will be assigned a number of witnesses who testified in the case and will be responsible for: 1) mastering that evidence; 2) analyzing and summarizing it; and 3) allocating the analysis to the appropriate legal issues.
The practicum will be responsible for analyzing the witness testimony and exhibits and creating a proof chart for the legal team. All of our work will be synchronized into a single work product using collaborative case analysis software — so a comfort level with computers is required.
For further information, contact Professor David Akerson at dakerson@law.du.edu.