2 or 3 Credits (Clinic)
Law students in this clinical component spend 10 (2-credit) or 15 (3-credit) hours a week in settings that expose them to the practice of family law.
Experience
Most placements are in settings such as legal services offices, including New England Law's in-house clinic, in which students handle family law cases pursuant to Supreme Judicial Court Rule 3:03, the student practice rule. Since most legal services offices take family law cases primarily where there are issues of domestic violence, the family law placements typically expose students to issues covered in the Domestic Violence and Family Law courses. Settings beyond legal services offices are often appropriate placements as well, as long as the substantive work in the field exposes students to issues covered in the courses recognized as the prerequisites/corequisites. Students submit weekly journals, describing and reflecting on their experiences in the field, and meet in a series of seminars with the course instructor and/or the Clinical Director to explore the relationship between the principles covered in the substantive class and their fieldwork. This course also satisfies New England Law’s Experiential Education Requirement.
“My fourth clinic was the Family Law Clinic. I absolutely loved it. Providing legal services to survivors of domestic violence and giving them a voice made this clinic the best experience for me. I was able to see how much an attorney can affect a person’s life, and being part of that is very gratifying.” —Lesly Suriel-Guerrero ’18