Experiential Requirement

This course will offer students the opportunity to expand their skills in using primary and secondary legal sources and research the types of issues encountered in the practice of law. The course covers a range of topics, including in-depth statutory and case law research, legislative history, and administrative law research. Additionally, California practice materials and specialized topical resources will be examined. Students will be exposed to real-life situations, including the ethics of legal research and cost-effectiveness.

The proposed Clinic provides Southwestern Law Students with the opportunity to learn lawyering skills and provide high quality legal assistance to a vulnerable and underserved population in a community-based learning environment. Under the close supervision of an adjunct faculty member, students will offer legal advice and counsel to clients in the area of asylum law. Students will apply the research and writing skills learned in LAWS and build on those skills by researching country conditions and other evidence required in an asylum case.

This course is designed to teach aspiring trial lawyers about the jury selection process in civil trials and how to effectively select a fair and impartial jury at trial for their clients. Through a combination of lectures, written materials, videos, and interactive group exercises, students will not only learn about the critical role the jury selection process plays in civil jury trials but also develop practical methods and skills they can utilize during voir dire when they start trying cases on their own after graduation.

This course will offer students the opportunity to expand their skills in using sources in the specialized area of international law. The course covers a range of topics, including sources of international law, how international legal research differs from domestic U.S. legal research, treaty and international case law research, and researching of law of international and supranational organizations.

Appellate Advocacy - Mock Supreme Court: In this skills-oriented course, students will hone their written and oral advocacy skills. Students will practice by writing a portion of an appellate brief and engaging in oral arguments defending and opposing the arguments in their brief. Besides working with factual arguments, students will be exposed to statutory construction arguments, policy arguments, and other types of arguments frequently before the United States Supreme Court. This course will be divided into two components: intensive written and oral.

This course introduces students to the theory and practice of negotiation and dispute resolution. Through weekly reading, lectures, and class discussions, students will gain a solid foundation in negotiation principles and techniques developed by leading negotiation experts, as well as the ethical and practical issues that arise when lawyers negotiate on behalf of their clients. Students will have the opportunity to apply these techniques - and develop their own negotiation methods - through a series of intensive negotiation exercises focused on a range of legal and practical issues.

This is a five-unit clinical course in which law students represent low-income tenants being evicted or at risk of being evicted from their homes. In general, students will attend a classroom component and engage in legal work under the supervision of ICLC Professors and Inner City Law Center (ICLC) attorneys experienced in eviction defense litigation and trial. Clients reside in Los Angeles County and most trials take place at the Pasadena, Norwalk and Stanley Mosk Courthouses.

The Project for the Innocent externship is a year-long externship (fall and spring semesters) with the Loyola Law School's Project for the Innocent, which is dedicated to the exoneration of the wrongfully convicted. Externs play a central role in the investigations that LPI undertakes. Responsibilities include: investigating claims of innocence; interviewing witnesses; meeting with prosecutors; visiting prison inmates.

Drafting, Negotiating, and Understanding Real Estate Transacations will be structured around a fictional deal, that we follow from the term sheet phase, to the execution of a purchase agreement and due diligence, then the negotiation of a joint venture, the obtaining of financing, and ultimately, acquisition and operation including leasing and construction management.

The externship provides training in federal disability law (the SSI and SSDI programs), as well as the CAPI program (an SSI-like program from the State of California for certain eligible legal residents). Students will represent homeless individuals throughout LA County in SSI, SSDI, and CAPI appeal hearings. Range of work will include initial client interview; research and writing; drafting hearing brief; representing client at hearing (before ALJ). Short projects in addition to case work.