Academic Calendar

Course Descriptions

Clinical Programs

Golden Gate has one of the most extensive clinical legal education programs in the country. Students earn academic credit while working under the supervision of a full-time faculty member and a practicing attorney.

Handbooks: View the Clinic Student Handbook. View the Clinic Supervising Attorney Handbook.

The on-site clinics operate as law offices within the School of Law, providing legal representation to low-income individuals and community groups who would not otherwise be able to afford legal counsel.

Environmental Law and Justice Clinic (ELJC)
Clinic Acting Director: Associate Professor Helen Kang
Supervising Attorney: Brent Plater, Visiting Assistant Professor and Litigation Staff Attorney
Students provide direct representation to community groups and environmental organizations in low-income and minority communities disproportionately impacted by environmental degradation.

Women's Employment Rights Clinic
Clinic Director: Professor Marci Seville
Supervising Attorney: Hina Shah, Visiting Professor and Clinical Staff Attorney
Students represent clients in employment disputes including unemployment insurance appeals, race and sex discrimination, sexual harassment, family and medical leave, and wage and hour claims. Capital Post-Conviction Defense Clinic
Civil Field Placement Clinic
Criminal Litigation Clinic
Environmental Law Clinic
Environmental LLM Externship
Immigration and Refugee Policy Clinic
Judicial Externships
Landlord-Tenant Law Clinic
Lawyering Skills: Client Advocacy
Pro Bono Tax Clinic
Real Estate Clinic

In field placement clinics, students work under faculty supervision and the supervision of judges and attorneys in government agencies, law offices, counsel offices, and judges' chambers. Students also attend a seminar to share experiences and insights and to focus on the substantive nature of their work.

LAW 896J Capital Post-Conviction Defense Clinic
Faculty supervisor: Adjunct Professor Patricia Kern (contact: pkern@capsf.org or phone (415) 495-0500)
Students attend a weekly seminar and work on capital cases at the California Appellate Project, a non-profit serving the largest population of condemned individuals in the country. Students research and draft pleadings and investigate post-conviction claims for death row inmates. To apply mail, fax, or email a completed application form, found in the back of the Clinical Legal Education Program Student Handbook, and a resume to the attention of Patricia Kern, Deputy Director of the California Appellate Project (CAP), 101 Second Street, Suite 600, San Francisco, California 94105; fax: (415) 495-5616.

LAW 896A Civil Field Placement Clinic
Faculty supervisors: Adjunct Professors Susan Schechter, Cheryl Stevens, and Jennifer Wyllie-Pletcher
Students work in private or non-profit law offices, government agencies, or business legal departments as law clerks, working on civil litigation or engaging in transactional work. Students also attend seminar class meetings. Students may work in a wide variety of areas such as civil rights, corporate law, entertainment law, family law, intellectual property law, international law, and personal injury law. Formerly Civil Practice Clinic, Family Law Clinic, and Public Interest/Government Counsel Clinic.

LAW 896F Criminal Litigation Clinic
Program Director: Professor Susan Rutberg; Adjunct Professor Lisa Dewberry (contact: lisa_dewberry@dewberrylaw.com )
Students work as law clerks in a variety of trial and post-conviction prosecution or defense agencies supervised by experienced criminal lawyers and faculty. Students certified by the California State Bar may appear in court under supervision. Students also attend a weekly seminar to explore broader criminal justice issues and to learn from guest practitioners and each other.

LAW 834I Environmental Law Clinic
Clinic director: Professor Clifford Rechtschaffen
Faculty supervisor: Adjunct Professors Danielle Fugere and Christopher Sproul
Students work in government agencies, public interest groups, or environmental organizations engaged in environmental practice.

LLM 375E Environmental LLM Externship
Faculty supervisor: Professor Alan Ramo
LLM Environmental students work at an organization, agency or firm engaged in environmental law.

LAW 842E Immigration and Refugee Policy Clinic
Faculty supervisor: Adjunct Professor Mark Silverman
Students work on an asylum case, which involves research, preparing the application, preparing documentation, or preparing a brief for the hearing or appeal.

LAW 896C Judicial Externships
Faculty supervisors: Associate Dean Susanne Aronowitz and Director Jody Lerner
Students work in judges' chambers at all levels of state and federal courts with a full range of judicial assignments including courts handling civil trials, family and juvenile law, bankruptcy, law and motion, criminal law, and appellate matters.

LAW 896B Landlord-Tenant Law Clinic
Faculty supervisor: Professor Myron Moskovitz
The professor assigns students to clerkships with some of the best civil litigators in the San Francisco Bay Area. Students work with these lawyers for 10 hours a week doing legal research, drafting pleadings and briefs, and attending hearings and trials. Once a week, the class meets with the professor to learn practical aspects of civil practice and discuss cases on which students are working. During these sessions, students share their experiences with the other students, so all students can broaden what they learn from the course.

LAW 824D Lawyering Skills: Client Advocacy
Faculty supervisor: Adjunct Professor Katie Danielson
Students learn counseling, interviewing, and negotiating skills through simulations, then act as advocates for real clients through the Homeless Advocacy Project, which is sponsored by the Bar Association of San Francisco.

LLM 306 Pro Bono Tax Clinic
Faculty supervisor: Professor Kimberly Stanley
Under the direction of the California Board of Equalization, students assist low-income individuals in certain tax disputes before the California Board of Equalization (BOE). Students draft procedural letters, legal memoranda and briefs that are submitted to the BOE. Students may also have the opportunity to argue the client's case at a BOE hearing.

LAW 883 Real Estate Clinic
Faculty supervisors: Professor Roger Bernhardt and Adjunct Professor Christine Tour-Sarkissian
Students work in law firms that specialize in, or do considerable work in, real estate. Working under the direct supervision of attorneys, students interview clients, draft pleadings and motions, and participate in trial preparation and trials. On the transactional side, they draft provisions for leases, sales contracts, closing papers, loan documents, and other real estate instruments.