Out Placement

Hastings Out Placement Clinics give students opportunities to develop their legal skills under close supervision at approved governmental or public interest law offices. In addition to working in the placements, students co-enroll in a faculty taught course designed to enhance the placement experience. Faculty also monitor placements to ensure their quality as learning experiences. Students assume real-world responsibilities and develop professional contacts and relationships in contexts identical to those in which they may eventually practice.

Criminal Practice

Criminal Practice Clinic students work in selected Bay Area prosecutors' and public defenders' offices where, under careful supervision, they engage in client and witness interviews, case planning and investigation, plea negotiations, motion practice, and witness examinations during evidentiary hearings and trials.

Read more about the Criminal Practice Clinic.

Environmental Law

Students in the Environmental Law Clinic are placed with nonprofit environmental groups and governmental agencies to gain hands-on experience in environmental practice. This experience includes legal research, drafting memoranda and briefs, working with experts from other fields, distilling complex scientific data, dealing with problems of proof, seeking or preventing regulatory approvals, and participating in the presentation of cases and arguments in court and before administrative agencies.

Read more about the Environmental Law Clinic.

Legal Externship Program

The Legal Externship Program will allow students the opportunity to assume professional roles under the close supervision of practicing attorneys at approved governmental or nonprofit legal services organizations. Students will articulate learning objectives that are substantive and skills based and also focus on professionalism. Thus students will learn substantive law, lawyering skills, and professional responsibility in context but also learn to observe, analyze and critique their own abilities and the roles lawyers and institutions play in our legal system.

Legislation Clinic

Students in the Legislation Clinic learn about the role of lawyers in the legislative process by spending a semester in Sacramento, working for a legislative committee, a legislator, or another public entity involved with the legislative process. In the past, interns have been placed with such offices as the Governor's Legislative Affairs Secretary, the Office of the Legislative Counsel, the Assembly Committee on the Judiciary, and the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality. Interns can expect to be involved in every aspect of "working a bill" through the legislative process, from basic legal research and drafting to attending committee and floor sessions.

Read more about the Legislation Clinic.

Local Government Law

Students in the Local Government Law Clinic work with the General Law Team of the San Francisco City Attorney's Office or, less frequently, at city attorney's offices in other Bay Area locations. Interns research and write on substantive issues that range from constitutional and statutory questions about the structure of state and local government, to public meeting and disclosure requirements, to delegation of authority among federal, state, and local governments. Interns may also draft ordinances and accompany city attorneys to public meetings and hearings.

Read more about the Local Government Law Clinic.

Immigrants' Rights Clinic

Immigrants' Rights Clinic students work directly with clients facing immigration issues including defense against removal proceedings, seeking political asylum, and pursuing U.S. citizenship. Students may handle adversarial hearings before immigration judges and participate in policy reform projects on immigration and refugee issues.

Read more about the Immigrants' Rights Clinic.

Workers' Rights

The Workers' Rights Clinic provides free legal information and assistance to low-income workers with employment related issues. The Employment Law Center of the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco trains and supervises students who conduct client interviews and, after consultation with clinic coordinators, provide counseling, legal information, and referrals to low-income workers on a full range of employment-related problems.

Read more about the Workers' Rights Clinic.

For More Information or to Confirm your Placement

Contact Nancy Stuart, Director of Externships and Pro Bono Programs, 415.565.4620 or drop by the Externships and Pro Bono Programs office, room 350, 100 McAllister.