Clinical Programs & Skills Training

Golden Gate takes pride in its reputation as a provider of excellent hands-on legal training.

The School of Law boasts one of the most extensive clinical programs in the country. Clinics give law students practical experience working with both attorneys and clients.

Susan Rutberg, Director of Externship Programs, oversees the school's field placement clinical courses. Those courses include Judicial Externships as well as clinics offered in the following fields: Civil Law, Criminal Litigation, Environmental, Real Estate, Tax, and two collaborative programs: Homeless Advocacy (with the Bar Association of San Francisco) and Post-Conviction Capital Defense (with the California Appellate Project). A new Family Law field placement program will begin in Spring 2010. Prof. Rutberg will continue to teach the Criminal Litigation Clinic, Trial Advocacy, Wrongful Convictions: Causes and Remedies and other courses.

Find out more about law clinics at Golden Gate University. Golden Gate hosts three on-site clinics, which operate as law office staffed by faculty and students. Cases are often developed with outside co-counsel, providing students with the opportunity to work in collaboration with some of the best practitioners in San Francisco.

• Environmental Law and Justice Clinic
• Women's Employment Rights Clinic

In field-placement clinics, students work under faculty supervision for academic credit in private law firms, government offices, and nonprofit agencies. Please see our Field-Placement Clinics page. Students work in judges' chambers at all levels of state and federal courts with a full range of judicial assignments. Golden Gate offers an extensive variety of skills training courses, including Alternative Dispute Resolution, Lawyering Skills, eResearch, Criminal Litigation, Trial Advocacy and International Intellectual Property. Golden Gate participates in more than ten major competitions each year, including the National Mock Trial, the Jessup International Law Moot Court, and the National Environmental Law Moot Court competitions. This JD program is a challenging alternative for students who want to maximize their legal work experiences while in law school.
» Find out about the Honors Lawyering Program Qualified international students with valid visa status may obtain practical training by participating in clinical programs, legal internships and externships, and law clerk positions.