Clinics

1L Advocacy Clinic

The 1L Advocacy Clinic is the only clinic at the University of Michigan Law School—and among the only law clinics in the country—offering first-year law students the opportunity to handle cases.

AI Law and Policy Clinic

Students will represent courts, community-based organizations, legal service providers on AI-driven tools aimed at enhancing access to justice, streamlining legal processes, and addressing systemic justice issues.

Child Advocacy Law Clinic

The Child Advocacy Law Clinic is the oldest law clinic of its kind in which law students represent clients in foster care proceedings.

Child Welfare Appellate Clinic

Students in the Child Welfare Appellate Clinic represent parents facing the permanent termination of their parental rights.

Civil Rights Litigation Initiative

The Civil Rights Litigation Initiative provides students with the unique opportunity to work on important civil rights cases in a clinical setting.

Civil-Criminal Litigation Clinic

Students in the Civil-Criminal Litigation Clinic learn litigation skills by taking “first chair” responsibility in civil and criminal cases under the guidance of clinical faculty.

Community Enterprise Clinic

Students in the Community Enterprise Clinic provide legal services to nonprofits, community organizations, small businesses, social enterprises, and cooperatives.

Criminal Appellate Practice Clinic

Students in the Criminal Appellate Practice Clinic have the opportunity to represent convicted felons on appeal under supervision of practicing attorneys.

Entrepreneurship Clinic

The Zell Entrepreneurship Clinic is an innovative clinical law program that helps U-M and non U-M innovators and startups launch and grow their businesses.

Environmental Law and Sustainability Clinic

The Environmental Law and Sustainability Clinic provides a unique opportunity for students to learn how to practice environmental and related areas of law.

Federal Appellate Litigation Clinic

The Federal Appellate Litigation Clinic offers students hands-on experience in various stages of federal appellate litigation.

Human Trafficking and Immigration Clinic

Students provide direct representation to survivors of forced labor, and develop disruptive, systemic solutions to reduce vulnerability to trafficking, specifically, assisting responsible business entities address forced labor in their operations.

International Transactions Clinic

The International Transactions Clinic provides students with real-world international transactions experience working for clients around the globe.

Juvenile Justice Clinic

Students in the Juvenile Justice Clinic represent youth charged with violations of criminal law and status offenses in Michigan’s family courts.

Low Income Taxpayer Clinic

Students who join the LITC advocate administratively before the IRS and litigate in United States Tax Court on behalf of low income people with tax controversies.

Michigan Innocence Clinic

Our students investigate and litigate cases on behalf of prisoners who may actually be innocent of crimes for which they have been convicted.

Pediatric Advocacy Clinic

Students in the Pediatric Advocacy Clinic collaborate with healthcare providers and represent low-income families on a wide variety of legal issues connected to child health and well-being.

Transactional Law Clinics Program

We provide Michigan Law students the opportunity to develop the skills and values needed to be effective and ethical transactions attorneys.

Veterans Legal Clinic

Students learn to litigate while representing Michigan veterans in a wide variety of civil legal cases. Students regularly appear in court and leave the clinic competent, confident legal advocates able to litigate cases from beginning to end.

Clinics at Michigan Law

Michigan Law has long been known for its distinctive educational blend of leading scholarship and legal practice. In today’s competitive environment, it is more important than ever for new graduates to hit the ground running in the practice of law. We are so committed to this formative experience that we guarantee every student at least one upper-level clinic, with many taking more.

Our clinics cover a remarkable array of practice areas, including transactions, litigation, and everything in between. Students represent children, families, small business owners and nonprofit agencies, the wrongly convicted, human trafficking victims, asylum seekers, startups and makers, organizations bringing business solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems, and individuals in need of core civil and criminal legal services.

Building Practice Competencies

With clinical faculty as supervisors, students prepare for each aspect of their cases, from interviewing clients and witnesses to negotiating with opposing counsel, drafting pleadings, conducting trials, and handling a wide variety of legal transactions. Michigan Law’s clinical education provides a unique opportunity for training students to think critically and strategically about all aspects of client representation and practice by providing hands-on experience in all the core competencies of the practice of law.

Interdisciplinary Opportunities

Our clinical programs are infused with Michigan Law’s interdisciplinary emphasis. The Child Advocacy Law Clinic, founded in 1976, incorporates the work of psychologists and social workers; the Environmental Law Clinic coordinates its classes with the School of Natural Resources and Environment; business and engineering students work side-by-side with law students on transactions supported by the Entrepreneurship Clinic and International Transactions Clinic; and the Pediatric Advocacy Clinic partners with health care centers to address the legal issues that impact the health of low-income children and their families. Most other clinics frequently rely on, or work with, experts in other fields in the course of representing clients.

Cross-border Experience

The Law School’s commitment to a global perspective also permeates the clinics, providing students with experience in international policy and cross-border transactions. In the Human Trafficking Clinic, students collaborate with lawmakers and international human rights organizations to combat modern-day slavery. The International Transactions Clinic—which represents clients in Tajikistan, Russia, Europe, Africa, and the United States—puts students on accelerated paths to becoming international-deal lawyers by giving students hands-on experience in, among other things, drafting cross-border investment documentation and advising clients on how to comply with the laws of multiple nations.

Public Service Commitment

Clinics allow students to gain hands-on experience helping clients who would not otherwise have access to high-quality legal representation, and to be a catalyst for transformation in clients’ lives. As an example, our non-DNA Innocence Clinic has already won the release of 10 wrongfully accused people in its six years of existence. Public service is a foundational value of the Law School, and public service on behalf of the broader community is an integral part of our clinical program.