Appellate Litigation Clinic

The Appellate Litigation Clinic, which received the Ninth Circuit's 2018 Distinguished Pro Bono Service Award, offers students an opportunity to work with the professor in litigating pro bono appeals in the Ninth Circuit - up to and including oral argument before the court.

Students receive hands-on training in legal research and writing as well as substantive law as it applies to the cases. Students participate in every step of the process, including review of the file; meeting with the client; assessing possible claims; researching case law; proposing arguments; drafting, revising, and proofing the opening brief; reviewing the answer brief; drafting, revising, and proofing the reply brief; negotiating possible settlement; and preparing for oral argument.

One or two students (out of four) per case will be chosen to argue in the Ninth Circuit. Oral argument is guaranteed unless we win on the briefs or settle. The class meets once a week in the fall semester to discuss the research and writing tasks for the upcoming week as well as talk about litigation strategy in general.

Students will meet with the professors and classmates in the spring semester to draft and revise the reply brief, to learn about oral advocacy, and to moot each other and audition for the oral argument in front of the Ninth Circuit. The spring semester meetings will be set individually with each student or small groups of students.