To earn this certificate, JD students must complete both a doctrinal and experiential component for a minimum of 14 total credit hours. The experiential component requires that students complete the equivalent of one academic year of supervised legal work addressing the needs of the poor and marginalized. The doctrinal component focuses on the legal and policy frameworks that structure rights and access for the poor and marginalized.
**Please note: Not all courses are offered every semester.**
A. Required Experiential Components (7-10 credit hours)
- One semester of LAW-L897 Clinical Seminar–Live Client Clinic (5 hrs.)
- One semester of any of the following:
LAW-L833 Street Law
LAW-L886 Environmental Law Seminar: Enforcement Policy Advocacy
LAW-L897 Clinical Seminar–Live Client Clinic (Additional Semester)
LAW-L900 Academic Externship (minimum 2 hrs.)
LAW-L924 Human Rights Advocacy Project
LAW-L926 Death Penalty Defense
LAW-L976 Environmental Law and Policy Lab
- 50 hours of public service work, which must be outside of Clinical Seminar and pre-approved by the Pro Bono Administrator, Professor Judson Mitchell. Public service work is broadly defined to include work performed for a stipend, in addition to pro bono work. Pro bono hours completed to satisfy the Law and Poverty requirement may also be used to satisfy this specialization. All public service work towards the specialization requirement, both compensated and uncompensated, must be reported through the Pro Bono Reporting database, online at http://loyolalawtech.org/probono/.
B. Required Doctrinal Components (4-8 credit hours)
- LAW-L781 Law and Poverty or LAW-L782 Law and Poverty Seminar (2 hrs.)
- One of the following pool courses (2-3 credit hours)
- LAW-L782 Law and Poverty Seminar: Tax and Social Justice
- LAW-L784 Diversity in the Legal Profession
- LAW-L802 Law and Education Seminar
- LAW-L814 Incarceration Law and Policy
- LAW-L818 Labor Law
- LAW-L820 Employment Discrimination
- LAW-L832 Immigration and Citizenship Law
- LAW-L834 Environmental Justice
- LAW-L837 Property & Land Use Seminar: Property, Land Use, and Justice
- LAW-L839 Civil Rights Actions § 1983
- LAW-L862 Criminal Law Seminar (w/Prof. Campbell) or Criminal Law Seminar: Death Penalty or Criminal Law Seminar: Criminal Juries
- LAW-L877 Constitutional Law Seminar: Race and the Law or Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and the Law
- LAW-L884 International Law Seminar: Human Rights Advocacy in the U.S.
- LAW-L885 Gender Law in Practice
- LAW-L886 Environmental Law Seminar (all topics allowed)
- LAW-L902 Elder and Disabled Law
- LAW-L903 Election Law
- LAW-L911 Introduction to American Indian Law: Overlapping Jurisdictions
- LAW-L917 Public Health Law
- LAW-L932 Immigration Law Seminar
- LAW-L933 Asylum and Refugee Law
- LAW-L934 Detention and Removal Defense
- LAW-L936 Immigration Justice: Practice, Policy & Process: Selected Problems
- LAW-L938 Health in Immigration and Citizenship Law
- LAW-L955 Advanced Constitutional Law: 14th Amendment
- LAW-L976 Environmental Law and Policy: Florida Keys
AND
3. An additional pool course if a student completes less than 10 credit hours under the experiential component.
C. Performance
Students must maintain a G.P.A. average of 3.0 or better in all classes taken to satisfy the course requirements for the certificate, while also graduating with an overall G.P.A. of at least 2.50, in order for this distinction to be noted on their official transcript.