Clinics

"I felt like we could really take ownership of the case and that the professors weren’t dictating what arguments we should make or what strategy we should use. They enabled us to think through the issues and craft the arguments on our own — aided by their expertise, which we needed, but with freedom to work creatively and sharpen our lawyering skills as a team."
Libby Magee '08, who worked with four other law students on U.S. v. Weymouth

Appellate Litigation Clinic

The Appellate Litigation Clinic allows students to develop litigation skills by preparing and presenting appeals in appellate courts including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The courts appoint the supervising professors as counsel of record in appropriate cases filed by parties who are not represented by counsel. Students review the trial court record for the cases, conduct legal research, draft and file appellate and reply briefs, prepare the excerpts of record for the court of appeals, prepare for oral argument, and argue the case, with permission of the court and consent of the client. The clinic provides Duke Law students an extraordinary opportunity to develop their legal skills at the same time that they provide critical legal services to people who would otherwise be unrepresented.

Clinic News