School of Law Clinics

NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW 

OFFICE OF CLINICAL PROGRAMS 
CLINIC APPLICATION INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS 


Professor Hemanth C. Gundavaram, the Director of Clinical Programs, h.gundavaram@northeastern.edu
James Tracey, Administrative Coordinator of Clinical Programs, j.tracey@northeastern.edu

The law school’s clinics have the dual mission of educating the next generation of social impact lawyers while providing high quality legal advice and representation to underrepresented populations. By participating in our clinics, students will develop the skills needed to become an effective lawyer and receive the opportunity to improve client lives.  

Our clinical program typically has eight clinics and practicums running twice each during an academic year. More information about each of these opportunities is listed below. Each year, well over 100 students participate in our clinics, contributing more than 25,000 hours of free legal assistance. U.S. News & World Report regularly ranks our clinical program in the top 25 in the country. 

For questions about the clinics, email lawclinics@northeastern.edu, rather than contacting ASA. James Tracey, the Administrative Coordinator of Clinical Programs, is available at j.tracey@northeastern.edu by email. Professor Hemanth C. Gundavaram, the Director of Clinical Programs, is available at h.gundavaram@northeastern.edu and 617.373.6802.  

Clinic Names, Directors, and Course Descriptions 

Here is the official course description for each clinic and practicum. There is fundamentally no important distinction between clinics and practicums. The two differences are that: (1) clinics are supervised by full-time faculty while practicums are supervised by part-time faculty; and (2) clinics and practicums sometimes have different credit allocations.  

Of note, all clinics and practicums satisfy the law school’s Public Interest Requirement for graduation.  

Civil Rights & Restorative Justice Clinic (CRRJ) [LAW 7597] 

  • Course Description: CRRJ engages students in legal research, litigation and legislative initiatives relating to anti-civil rights violence in the United States. CRRJ clinic students assist law enforcement agencies considering criminal investigation and pursue civil litigation against government entities. One of CRRJ’s projects, Reconstructing Cases of Racial Violence, involves researching cases where criminal prosecution may not be an option. Students reconstruct legal proceedings and conduct factual investigations. The project focuses on practical legal research skills and helps students integrate the law of torts, civil procedure, federal courts, criminal law, and constitutional law. Faculty will provide individual supervision of each student. 
     

Community Business Clinic (CBC) [LAW 7610] 

  • Course Description: Offers a unique opportunity to develop lawyering skills through the real-world experience of helping low-income and underserved entrepreneurs achieve their transactional goals and supporting community-led growth. Students, prepared and supported by an intensive seminar and close faculty supervision, assume the role of lawyers for their clients and their clients’ community businesses on the often-complex legal issues that startups, entrepreneurs and small businesses face. 

Domestic Violence Clinic (DVC) [LAW 7410] 

  • Course Description: Offers students an opportunity to develop traditional lawyering skills—including interviewing and counseling clients and preparing and presenting cases in court—in the context of a busy community court that handles thousands of domestic abuse cases each year. The School of Law’s Domestic Violence Institute offers an upper-level clinic focused on violence prevention and criminal intervention at Dorchester District Court. The clinic seeks to train students to participate in a broader community-based response to domestic violence and to work collaboratively in interdisciplinary teams with battered women survivors, advocacy groups, and police and law enforcement personnel. 

Family Violence Immigration Practicum (FVIP) [LAW 7704] 

  • Course Description: Offers students the opportunity to engage in holistic, client-centered representation to family violence survivors in their immigration matters. Cases might involve but are not limited to SIJS, U-Visa, and VAWA applications. Students will gain experience and training in a variety of legal skills, with particular emphasis on trauma-informed interviewing and counseling, litigation before courts and administrative bodies, cross-cultural competency, and self-care. 

Intellectual Property Law Clinic (IPLC) [LAW 7633] 

  • Course Description: Requires students to provide intellectual property-related legal services to students, ventures, and other participants in the university’s entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem under the supervision of clinical faculty and staff. The clinic includes opportunities to address issues related to intellectual property rights, risks, and transactions for individuals and ventures in the university community; to collaborate with faculty and others on intellectual property learning modules, policies, presentations, or workshops for this community; to develop practice skills; and to participate in the organization and operation of a legal services office. 

 
Immigrant Justice Practicum (IJP) [LAW 7673] 

  • Course Description: Offers students an opportunity to investigate, research, analyze, draft, and learn the necessary skills to zealously advocate for clients at various stages of the immigration process. Examines the challenges facing immigrants and how to assist in the representation of noncitizens in a variety of humanitarian-based immigration matters. Examines new regulations, policies, and rules at the immigration court, the asylum office, and other courts and agencies. Explores the U.S. immigration system and historical context for it at a deeper level. 

Prisoners’ Rights Clinic (PRC) [LAW 7351] 

  • Course Description: Focuses on learning the law and procedures of parole and prisons in Massachusetts. Students handle a parole release hearing for a state prisoner serving a life sentence, with the possibility of parole, before all seven members of the parole board at a public hearing. In preparing one of these cases, students gain hands-on experience in criminal law and procedure, sentencing law, probation, prison classification and disciplinary systems, and often immigration law. Offers students an opportunity to develop and refine important advocacy skills including interviewing and counseling, case strategy development, thorough investigation techniques, witness preparation, and making strong opening and closing statements. The clinic is a mix of seminar class, individualized supervision meetings, and direct casework, which requires approximately a 25-hour weekly commitment. 
     

 Public Health Advocacy Clinic (PHAC) [LAW 7527] 

  • Course Description: This clinic supports the work of the Public Health Advocacy Institute, a Northeastern-based think tank. It provides students with an opportunity to gain experience in public interest law, health law, and the use of litigation to effect changes in public health policy. The clinic’s primary focus will be on tobacco control and on the emerging issue of obesity-related litigation and policy, but students may explore other public health-related topics as well. This clinic also provides a unique opportunity for students to develop their academic legal writing skills; the final project in this course is the equivalent of a law review article. In addition to weekly class readings and discussions, each student will work on a major research project throughout the quarter, meet regularly with the instructor to discuss the project, give an oral presentation to the class, and write a substantial paper discussing his/her research. 

Virtual Legal Advocacy Clinic (VLAC) [LAW 7983] 

  • Course Description: Focuses on developing virtual client representation and advocacy skills to practice law in the tech-connected world. Offers hands-on experience providing legal services to and developing resources for low-income and underserved communities using digital platforms and tools. Under the supervision of clinical faculty and staff, students have an opportunity to enhance substantive legal knowledge, strengthen practical lawyering skills and form ethical professional identities. 
  • Note: FlexJD students have exclusive priority for this clinic. Non-FlexJD students will be considered only if spaces remain after all eligible FlexJD applicants have been admitted. 

Clinic Projected Schedule, Prerequisites, Credits, Hours, & Enrollment 

See below for detailed information about each clinic and practicum, including projected status, prerequisites, credits, hours per week of student work, and number of students per clinic semester.  

Because of professor turnover or family and health leaves, there is no way to guarantee that a given clinic will run as projected and listed below. The best efforts are made to run practicums to fill the gap when a clinic cannot run, so that available clinic slots for students remain constant.  

Clinic Projected Status Prerequisites Credits Hours Students 
CRRJ 1x per year 
(Spring) 		None 6 18 14 
CBC 2x per year 
(Summer & Spring) 		Corporations (7323). Strongly encouraged to take before or concurrently. 8 25 
(8 in office) 		8 
DVC 2x per year 
(Fall & Spring) 		Evidence (7332). Must be taken before or concurrently for SJC 3:03 certification 8 25 
(8 in office) 		8 
FVIP TBD TBD 6 18 8 
IPLC 2x per year 
(Fall & Spring) 		Intellectual Property (7369) or Trademark (7638). Ideally taken before as a prerequisite. Must be at least taken concurrently. 8 25 
(5 in office) 		8 
IJP 2x per year 
(Fall & Spring) 		Immigration Law (7336) or Refugee & Asylum Law (7550). Ideally taken before. Must be at least taken concurrently. 6 18 8 
PRC 2x per year 
(Fall & Spring) 		None 8 25 12 
PHAC 2x per year 
(Fall & Spring) 		None 4 13 8 
VLAC 1x per year (Spring) Exclusive priority for Flex JD students 4 13 8 

Clinic Application Process & Timeline 

Check Your Northeastern Email: All students, and especially those on co-op, should check their Northeastern email regularly to receive up-to-date information on clinic applications. Most students apply to clinics during their co-op semester, which heightens the need to check email at least weekly. Specifically, clinic application information is disseminated through the Weekly Wire, which is sent every Monday to all students. If you do not receive a Weekly Wire on a given Monday, check your spam/junk folder. Late clinic applications are not accepted.  

Clinic Application Questions & Requirements: Be mindful of clinic prerequisites and course offerings. To the extent possible, take prerequisites for clinics you are interested in as soon as possible. You can begin preparing your answers to clinic application questions well in advance, which may be helpful if you anticipate being busy while on co-op. Below you will see representative application questions for each clinic based on previous semesters. While questions are subject to change, it is unlikely that the changes will be significant. For most clinics, you will be asked to submit a resume, course evaluations, and co-op evaluations. You will also be asked to certify that you are available to work the required number of hours for each clinic. Students who apply for more than one clinic must rank their preferences and/or commit to accepting a spot if offered; the ranking must be consistent across applications. 

  • CRRJ: Why are you applying to the clinic? Do you have experience working with a similar community to the one served by this clinic? Have you taken any classes that are particularly relevant to this clinic? Do you have experience in social services or a related field?  
  • CBC: Why do you want to enroll in this clinic? What do you hope to gain from your experience in the clinic? How does the clinic fit into your career and life plans? Why did you select this clinic over other clinics? Any other information you would like to share? 
  • DVC: Why do you want to enroll in this clinic? What do you hope to gain from your experience in the clinic? How does the clinic fit into your career and life plans? Why did you select this clinic over other clinics? Any other information you would like to share? 
  • FVIP: Why do you want to enroll in this practicum? Describe in some detail what previous experience you have in the field, what you hope to gain from your experience, how it fits into your career plans, and other relevant information.  
  • IPLC: Why are you applying to the clinic? Do you have experience working with a similar community to the one served by this clinic? Have you taken or plan to take any classes that are particularly relevant to this clinic (specifically Intellectual Property or Trademark Law)? 
  • IJP: Why are you applying to the practicum? Do you have experience working with a similar community to the one served by this clinic? Do you have experience in social services or a related field?  
  • PRC: Do you have any previous volunteer or work experience in the course topic or in related legal fields such as legal services, criminal law, public defense, or social service fields?  
  • PHAC: Why do you want to enroll in this clinic? What do you hope to gain from your experience in the clinic? How does the clinic fit into your career and life plans? Why did you select this clinic over other clinics? Any other information you would like to share? 
  • VLAC: Why do you want to enroll in this clinic? What do you hope to gain from your experience in the clinic? How does the clinic fit into your career and life plans? Any other information you would like to share? 

Clinic Applications Available: The clinic application process for a given semester begins with the opening of applications to all students in Week 7 or 8 of the preceding semester. You should set a calendar entry for these approximate dates as a reminder to yourself. And remember to check the weekly wire each week.  

  • Summer semester clinic applications – open in mid to late February of Spring semester.  
  • Fall semester clinic applications – open in mid to late June of Summer semester. 
  • Spring semester clinic applications – open in mid to late October of Fall semester. 

Clinic Applications Open: Clinic applications stay open for students to apply for one to two weeks. You may apply to more than one clinic, which involves submitting a separate application to each clinic. But you will only be admitted into one clinic, at most, in a particular semester. If you apply to more than one clinic, you must rank your preferences among those clinics, and your ranking must be consistent across all applications. 

Professor Review of Applications: After the application deadline closes, professors spend approximately two weeks reviewing applications. At their discretion, some professors may conduct interviews. Clinics use an application process because there is often more student interest than the number of available clinic seats. Applying to a clinic does not guarantee acceptance. Decisions are sent from professors to students via email. 

Limited Enrollment Lottery: The time from applications being available to students until decisions are sent by professors is between four and six weeks. This entire process occurs before – and outside of – the limited enrollment lottery process. If accepted into a clinic, ASA will manually register students for the clinics. Once that happens, students can proceed with the limited enrollment lottery process and then after that regular course registration. 

3/12/2025 v.1