In the Classroom
Clinic students attend twice-weekly seminars, bridging theory and practice, that prepare them for clinic work and for legal work after graduation. Students focus on how to practice law as it exists today as well as how to reshape and use law to make society healthier, fairer, and more just.
The seminars include:
Lectures on professional responsibility and substantive law topics (often to provide a foundation for projects).
Student-led presentations on emerging problems in science, technology, and information.
Simulations and problem-solving workshops.
The Science, Health, and Information Clinic is a one-semester, 7-credit clinic. Students taking the clinic must register for both the seminar component (3 credits) and project component (4 credits). The one-semester clinic fully satisfies Columbia Law School’s experiential credit requirement for J.D. students.
Requirements
The clinic seeks to expand ideas of what science and technology law is and who counts as science and technology lawyers. To support that mission, no special degrees or work experience are required, and neither is any experience with any particular area of law. The clinic has only two prerequisites:
- Students must be curious about science, technology, information governance, and/or health care in some way.
- Students must be excited to represent clients who are committed to fighting for the public interest—as defined in diverse ways—in areas of law and policy where corporate and government interests often predominate.
There are no pre- or corequisite courses.
All clinic students, regardless of background, are encouraged to draw on their personal experiences with science, technology, and health care. (Of course, students with work or educational experience in science, engineering, technology, public health, and health care are welcome to apply.)
Projects
Students in the clinic are paired with clients and placed on projects based on their personal preferences. Students can, for example, request a health-related or non-health related project, or litigation- or non-litigation-focused project, and so on.
Apply
Interested Columbia Law School students should apply through the school’s standard process for experiential learning courses. The clinic does not normally conduct interviews. Applicants are encouraged to use the standard application form to articulate their personal goals and how the clinic might serve those goals.