120 Years of Clinical Training

120 Years of Supporting Those in Need
120 Years of Leading the Way in Experiential Learning
 

In 1904, Dean Lucius W. Hoyt had the foresight and vision to recognize that underserved communities need legal help, and that law students could provide that assistance while simultaneously learning important practical skills. Thus, opened as a “legal aid dispensary” 120 years ago, the University of Denver was the first school in the nation to offer law students academic credit for representing lower income community members. Today, the Sturm College of Law’s Student Law Office succeeds in offering educational opportunities where students can develop lawyering skills while providing substantial representation to those in need.

While considered unusual in 1904, clinical legal education is now a critical part of all law schools’ curricula. Today, the University of Denver’s Clinical Program, ranked 5th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, includes seven main in-house clinics focusing on civil litigation, civil rights, criminal defense, community economic development, environmental law, immigration law and policy, and our newest clinic which seeks to advance racial justice. In fact, the Advancing Social Change Clinic, now in its third year, was developed specifically as a clinical offering for students in our Part-Time JD Program.

Now, more than a century later, our legal aid dispensary has grown in size and scope with our Student Attorneys providing over 40,000 hours of pro bono legal assistance annually to underserved community members in Colorado and beyond. DU's Clinical Program offers vital assistance to their clients while students develop the crucial practical skills needed for a successful legal career. The vast majority of our students credit their time in the SLO as the most impactful part of their law school experience. 

Clinic Highlights
 

Advancing Social Change Clinic

The Advancing Social Change Clinic (ASCC) is completing its third semester at the Sturm College of Law. The ASCC focuses on movement lawyering and policy work. Working under the supervision of Associate Professor Lindsey Webb, Ronald V. Yegge Clinical Director, students in the ASCC use their legal training and skills to support community organizations and social movements outside of traditional litigation. Read more

Civil Litigation Clinic

The academic year started off with a bang for Denver Law's Civil Rights Clinic (CLC). On the second day of class, Denver County Court Judge Nicole Rodarte administered the oath of admission to this year's cohort of Students Attorneys. Within days, half of the CLC students found themselves in court. Students in the CLC have remained busy, litigating a host of cases including civil protection order, housing, immigration, replevin and family law matters. Read more

Civil Rights Clinic

In January 2024, Civil Rights Clinic Student Attorney Kaity Tuohy argued a case to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of a CRC client who has an intellectual disability and serious mental illness. The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) confined the client at the ADX for more than a decade, without providing him sufficient accommodations for his disability.  Read more
 

Community Economic Development Clinic

The Community Economic Development Clinic is making a significant impact across Colorado by providing pro bono transactional legal services to entrepreneurs, small businesses, and non-profits. The CEDC's student attorneys have much to celebrate as they deliver high-quality transactional legal services to underserved communities. Read more

Criminal Defense Clinic

The Student Law Office welcomes Visiting Assistant Professor Amanda Savage, who will be teaching the Criminal Defense Clinic (CDC) starting in Spring 2025. Professor Savage joins us from a career as an Assistant Public Defender with the Maryland Office of the Public Defender in Baltimore City and the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender in Essex County. Read more
 

Environmental Law Clinic

This fall Environmental Law Clinic (ELC) students attended oral arguments in Center for Biological Diversity v. EPA at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The opening and reply briefs for this case, about approval by the EPA of Colorado's State Implementation Plan for Ozone, were written by 2023-24 ELC students and discussed Colorado’s failure to meet ozone reduction goals required by EPA. Read more

Immigration Law and Policy Clinic

Led by Visiting Assistant Professor Elizabeth Jordan, the Immigration Law and Policy Clinic (ILPC) remains focused on detained removal defense for noncitizens in ICE custody in Aurora, Colorado, and its docket has a variety of merits, appeals, and federal litigation for clients from around the world. This year, ILPC student attorneys have taken particularly complex cases of vulnerable and marginalized people.  Read more

Low Income Taxpayer Clinic

In 2024 the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic enrolled 24 students who represented 167 clients before the Internal Revenue Service and Colorado Department of Revenue. Our students reduced their clients’ tax liabilities by $370,235 while obtaining an additional $206,272 in refunds, gave presentations on tax topics to 18 community organizations and provided tax education to more than 150 Colorado taxpayers. Read more

Legal Externship Program

The Legal Externship Program grew yet again this past academic year, hosting a total of 699 externships, our highest to date, with 53% in the public sector and 47% in the private sector. And, as one of the first schools to allow paid externships, about half of the placements are now compensated. Significantly, 38% of students in the class of 2023, the most recent data available, are directly employed at a placement where they externed. Read more