Course Catalog

Students in the Civil-Criminal Litigation Clinic and Veterans Legal Clinic attend class and practice law together. Students learn the fundamentals of litigation, which are readily transferable to any substantive area of practice or practice setting, from big law to legal services. They do so by litigating multiple real cases as first-chair attorneys on behalf of indigent clients, some of whom are veterans, and all of whom have a disproportionately high need for legal assistance. Students must concurrently enroll in the corresponding 4-credit Clinics course and 3-credit Clinics seminar (LAW 920 AND LAW 921).
The civil caseload changes term to term, but typically includes landlord-tenant, consumer, family law, public benefits, employment and employment discrimination, disability, contracts, torts, public benefits, civil rights, and military discharge cases. We try to keep a wide mix of work, from simple one-issue cases to large, complex cases raising issues of first impression. On the criminal side, students handle misdemeanor cases and post-conviction felony appeals and criminal record expungements.
Students have “first-chair” responsibility for their cases and primary responsibility for their clients. Under faculty supervision, students do all the legal work, including interviewing, counseling, legal research, discovery, negotiation with opposing counsel, motion practice and argument, bench and jury trials, and appeals. Students may handle cases in state district, circuit, and probate courts, as well as the federal district courts, state and federal administrative agencies, and appellate courts.
Both the seminar and fieldwork are graded. The Clinics meet the New York State Bar pro bono requirement (https://www.law.umich.edu/clinical/generalclinic/Pages/default.aspx). The Clinics seminar fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

Students in the Civil-Criminal Litigation Clinic and Veterans Legal Clinic attend class and practice law together. Students learn the fundamentals of litigation that are readily transferable to any substantive area of practice or practice setting, from big law to legal services. They do so by litigating multiple real cases as first chair attorney on behalf of indigent clients, some of whom are veterans. Students must concurrently enroll in the corresponding 4-credit Clinics course and 3-credit Clinics seminar (LAW 920 AND LAW 921).
The Clinics’ seminar component helps students develop fundamental litigation skills. Students participate in multiple simulations covering everything from interviewing to negotiation, multiple simulated courtroom exercises, and a mock jury trial at the end of the term. Other class sessions cover the role of the lawyer, ethical issues in law practice, client-centered lawyering, the adversarial process, issues affecting the Clinics’ client populations, and case rounds. Both the seminar and fieldwork are graded. The Clinics meets the New York State Bar pro bono requirement (https://www.law.umich.edu/clinical/generalclinic/Pages/default.aspx). It also fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

Corporate and White Collar Crime is a vast and rapidly growing field of law. This course explores its core structures, development over time, key substantive areas of regulation and enforcement, the role of prosecutorial discretion, the growth of compliance efforts and internal investigations, and matters of strategy for both prosecutors and defense counsel as well as recent issues and those on the horizon.
Our journey begins by describing the key doctrines of corporate and white collar crime and examining how this field of law has grown historically, politically and comparatively. This will also involve attempting to understand its economic significance. We then explore a number of substantive areas of law that form the primary focus of corporate and white collar crime practice. This includes mail & wire fraud, securities fraud and insider trading, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and bribery more generally, money laundering and financial institution crime, perjury and obstruction, topics in environmental crime, and RICO. Following this we detail the primary procedural and sanctioning issues that arise, including many Constitutional protections that may be implicated. We then delve into the institutional architecture of this field by discussing enforcement practice and the rise of deferred prosecution agreements and certain official U.S. Department of Justice memos describing enforcement policy and practice. This will include discussion of the rise of compliance efforts, internal investigations, and some of the issues these may raise (e.g., Upjohn warnings, attorney-client privilege, systems of information gathering).
We then address issues of strategy for prosecutors and defense counsel through not only readings, but also interactions with those in practice. We conclude by examining both recent issues and those likely to arise in the near future including the globalization of corporate and white collar crime.
Students should have completed #657 Enterprise Organization or #723 Corporate Lawyer: Law & Ethics (or be doing either concurrently with this class) or have obtained prior permission from the instructor to enroll.

• Type: Upper Class

This is a clinical course in which each student is assigned to help represent an indigent defendant in the appeal of his or her felony conviction, under the supervision of attorneys from Michigan’s State Appellate Defender Office. The focus of the course is on the completion of an effectively written appellate brief on behalf of the client, to be filed in state or federal court. The goal of the course is to develop the student’s understanding and skill in all phases of appellate advocacy. The student will review the trial transcripts and lower court records, interview the client in prison (with the instructor), develop a strategy for appeal, conduct legal research, and help draft the client’s brief on appeal. Feedback is provided by frequent individual meetings with the instructors, as well as oral argument before a panel of attorneys experienced in criminal law. The course gives the student the opportunity to work on a real case with real consequences for the client. While most directly relevant to those interested in criminal law, its lessons in appellate advocacy should be of general interest. Class size is limited to 12 students to assure individual attention to each student.
The Clinic is a 4 credit course and meets the New York Pro-Bono requirement. Students must enroll in the 3 credit clinic and the 1 credit field component, taken concurrently. The 3 credit clinic and 1 credit field component are mandatory graded and ineligible for letter grade conversion to pass (“P”) election.
The Clinic fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.
For students who matriculated in or after May 2016, the Clinic can either fulfill the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, fulfill the upper-level writing requirement, or the credits can count toward the Experiential Learning requirement — it cannot be used to fulfill more than one of these three particular requirements.

• Type: Clinic

This is a clinical course in which each student is assigned to help represent an indigent defendant in the appeal of his or her felony conviction, under the supervision of attorneys from Michigan’s State Appellate Defender Office. The focus of the course is on the completion of an effecitvely written appellate brief on behalf of the client, to be filed in state or federal court. The goal of the course is to develop the student’s understanding and skill in all phases of appellate advocacy. The student will review the trial transcripts and lower court records, interview the client in prison (with the instructor), develop a strategy for appeal, conduct legal research, and help draft the client’s brief on appeal. Feedback is provided by frequent individual meetings with the instructors, as well as oral argument before a panel of attorneys experienced in criminal law. The course gives the student the opportunity to work on a real case with real consequences for the client. While most directly relevant to those interested in criminal law, its lessons in appellate advocacy should be of general interest. Class size is limited to 12 students to assure individual attention to each student.
The Clinic is a 4 credit course and meets the New York Pro-Bono requirement. Students must enroll in the 3 credit clinic and the 1 credit field component, taken concurrently. The 3 credit clinic and 1 credit field component are mandatory graded and ineligible for letter grade conversion to pass (“P”) election.
The Clinic fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.
For students who matriculated in or after May 2016, the Clinic can either fulfill the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, fulfill the upper-level writing requirement, or the credits can count toward the Experiential Learning requirement — it cannot be used to fulfill more than one of these three particular requirements.

• Type: Clinic

This course will consider problems relating to the police role in the administration of criminal justice and judicial enforcement of limitations upon police practices. We will focus primarily on the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments and will answer the following questions: (1) When can the police stop, search, and/or arrest people? (2) When can the police search cars, homes, and offices and for what? (3) What are the laws surrounding police interrogation and confessions? (4) Who has a right to counsel and when and how is it triggered? (5) How are police line-ups and other identification procedures conducted and what are the constitutional limits on such procedures? (6) What remedy does a defendant have if his/her constitutional criminal procedure rights are violated? When is the evidence excluded and when should it be excluded?

• Type: Upper Class

This course examines the application of legal principles as a limitation on the definition of crime; the theories underlying criminal law; and the problems of the imposition and execution of sentences. Also examined are various specific areas of substantive criminal law, including: (1) general principles applicable to all crimes, e.g., mistake, causation, legal insanity, intoxication, and rules of justification and excuse; (2) accountability for the acts of others; and (3) attempt and conspiracy.

• Type: First Year Required

This course focuses on the procedural rules that regulate the use of evidence at trial. The rules covered include those relating to the competence of witnesses, the mode of examination, relevance, impeachment, character evidence, hearsay, expert evidence, privileges, and judicial notice. Particular attention is paid to the Federal Rules of Evidence.

• Type: Upper Class

In the Juvenile Justice Clinic, students will represent minors charged with violations of the criminal law and status offenses in Michigan’s family courts. While primarily a litigation clinic, students may from time-to-time handle appellate matters and may be involved in public policy issues such as analyzing proposed legislation.
In the course of clinic, students will develop litigation skills including case investigation, trial preparation, and presenting evidence and argument in the courtroom. Casework, which is supervised by a clinical professor, may involve client interviewing and counseling, legal research and motion drafting, negotiation with prosecuting authorities, and courtroom presentation of the case. In addition to trial advocacy and casework, classroom sessions will also focus on legal ethics, the basics of child development and other topics. The Juvenile Justice Clinic meets the New York Pro-Bono requirement. JJC is a 7 credit course of which all credits are graded.
The Clinic seminar fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

In the Juvenile Justice Clinic, students will represent minors charged with violations of the criminal law and status offenses in Michigan’s family courts. While primarily a litigation clinic, students may from time-to-time handle appellate matters and may be involved in public policy issues such as analyzing proposed legislation.
In the course of clinic, students will develop litigation skills including case investigation, trial preparation, and presenting evidence and argument in the courtroom. Casework, which is supervised by a clinical professor, may involve client interviewing and counseling, legal research and motion drafting, negotiation with prosecuting authorities, and courtroom presentation of the case. In addition to trial advocacy and casework, classroom sessions will also focus on legal ethics, the basics of child development and other topics. The Juvenile Justice Clinic meets the New York Pro-Bono requirement. JJC is a 7 credit course of which all credits are graded.
The Clinic seminar fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

Founded in 2009, the Michigan Innocence Clinic was the first innocence clinic in the country to focus exclusively on non-DNA cases. In the MIC’s fifteen-year history, it has achieved victories in 42 cases on behalf of clients who had been wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit.
Students registered in the MIC investigate and litigate cases on behalf of incarcerated people who are actually innocent of the crimes for which they have been convicted. Students work on all aspects of the cases, including researching claims of innocence and the law pertaining to them, investigating new evidence, writing and editing court briefs and motions, and participating in courtroom activities when there are hearings scheduled in their cases. The clinic also features a seminar component, where students explore in class the legal and policy issues underlying wrongful convictions. There are no exams or papers; students are graded on their preparedness and contribution to class, various in-class exercises, the progress they make in their cases, and the quality of their case-related work product.
The MIC’s docket spans both state and federal courts and is quite diverse and novel. No two cases are the same, and non-DNA innocence litigation continues to be a fascinating challenge within the field of criminal litigation. Students work with supervising attorneys to craft legal strategies and explore evidentiary and procedural avenues for obtaining relief?many of which have been expanded in recent years due to the work of the MIC and other such organizations. Students interested in criminal law/procedure, appellate practice, brief writing, public interest work, innocence litigation, or courtroom advocacy would be especially suitable for the MIC. That said, there are no specific prerequisites (outside of the regular first-year courses), and no prior specialized knowledge of criminal defense or innocence litigation is required or expected.
* Clinic spans fall and winter semesters of one academic year. Students may register during winter of 1L or 2L year for enrollment during 2L or 3L year, respectively.

• Type: Clinic

Founded in 2009, the Michigan Innocence Clinic was the first innocence clinic in the country to focus exclusively on non-DNA cases. In the MIC’s fifteen-year history, it has achieved victories in 42 cases on behalf of clients who had been wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit.
Students registered in the MIC investigate and litigate cases on behalf of incarcerated people who are actually innocent of the crimes for which they have been convicted. Students work on all aspects of the cases, including researching claims of innocence and the law pertaining to them, investigating new evidence, writing and editing court briefs and motions, and participating in courtroom activities when there are hearings scheduled in their cases. The clinic also features a seminar component, where students explore in class the legal and policy issues underlying wrongful convictions. There are no exams or papers; students are graded on their preparedness and contribution to class, various in-class exercises, the progress they make in their cases, and the quality of their case-related work product.
The MIC’s docket spans both state and federal courts and is quite diverse and novel. No two cases are the same, and non-DNA innocence litigation continues to be a fascinating challenge within the field of criminal litigation. Students work with supervising attorneys to craft legal strategies and explore evidentiary and procedural avenues for obtaining relief?many of which have been expanded in recent years due to the work of the MIC and other such organizations. Students interested in criminal law/procedure, appellate practice, brief writing, public interest work, innocence litigation, or courtroom advocacy would be especially suitable for the MIC. That said, there are no specific prerequisites (outside of the regular first-year courses), and no prior specialized knowledge of criminal defense or innocence litigation is required or expected.
* Clinic spans fall and winter semesters of one academic year. Students may register during winter of 1L or 2L year for enrollment during 2L or 3L year, respectively.

• Type: Clinic

Progressive Prosecution: Law and Policy
Although prosecuting attorneys have typically taken a “tough-on-crime” approach, a growing number of elected prosecutors from across the country are taking a “progressive” approach. These “progressive prosecutors” see their role as combatting overincarceration, eliminating racial and socioeconomic inequity, and changing a criminal legal system that too frequently exacerbates those inequities.
This course, co-taught by Washtenaw County Prosecuting Attorney Eli Savit and Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Victoria Burton-Harris, will explore the theoretical underpinnings behind the “progressive prosecutor” movement; its promises and limitations; and the progress the movement has made over the past several years. During the latter part of the course, students will work on real-world research and writing projects that will be used by the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office to move forward its progressive vision.

• Type: Practice Simulation

Students in the Civil-Criminal Litigation Clinic and Veterans Legal Clinic attend class and practice law together. Students learn the fundamentals of litigation, which are readily transferable to any substantive area of practice or practice setting, from big law to legal services. They do so by litigating multiple real cases as first-chair attorneys on behalf of indigent clients, some of whom are veterans, and all of whom have a disproportionately high need for legal assistance. Students must concurrently enroll in the corresponding 4-credit Clinics course and 3-credit Clinics seminar (LAW 920 AND LAW 921).
The civil caseload changes term to term, but typically includes landlord-tenant, consumer, family law, public benefits, employment and employment discrimination, disability, contracts, torts, public benefits, civil rights, and military discharge cases. We try to keep a wide mix of work, from simple one-issue cases to large, complex cases raising issues of first impression. On the criminal side, students handle misdemeanor cases and post-conviction felony appeals and criminal record expungements.
Students have “first-chair” responsibility for their cases and primary responsibility for their clients. Under faculty supervision, students do all the legal work, including interviewing, counseling, legal research, discovery, negotiation with opposing counsel, motion practice and argument, bench and jury trials, and appeals. Students may handle cases in state district, circuit, and probate courts, as well as the federal district courts, state and federal administrative agencies, and appellate courts.
Both the seminar and fieldwork are graded. The Clinics meet the New York State Bar pro bono requirement (https://www.law.umich.edu/clinical/generalclinic/Pages/default.aspx). The Clinics seminar fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

Students in the Civil-Criminal Litigation Clinic and Veterans Legal Clinic attend class and practice law together. Students learn the fundamentals of litigation that are readily transferable to any substantive area of practice or practice setting, from big law to legal services. They do so by litigating multiple real cases as first chair attorney on behalf of indigent clients, some of whom are veterans. Students must concurrently enroll in the corresponding 4-credit Clinics course and 3-credit Clinics seminar (LAW 920 AND LAW 921).
The Clinics’ seminar component helps students develop fundamental litigation skills. Students participate in multiple simulations covering everything from interviewing to negotiation, multiple simulated courtroom exercises, and a mock jury trial at the end of the term. Other class sessions cover the role of the lawyer, ethical issues in law practice, client-centered lawyering, the adversarial process, issues affecting the Clinics’ client populations, and case rounds. Both the seminar and fieldwork are graded. The Clinics meets the New York State Bar pro bono requirement (https://www.law.umich.edu/clinical/generalclinic/Pages/default.aspx). It also fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

This is a clinical course in which each student is assigned to help represent an indigent defendant in the appeal of his or her felony conviction, under the supervision of attorneys from Michigan’s State Appellate Defender Office. The focus of the course is on the completion of an effectively written appellate brief on behalf of the client, to be filed in state or federal court. The goal of the course is to develop the student’s understanding and skill in all phases of appellate advocacy. The student will review the trial transcripts and lower court records, interview the client in prison (with the instructor), develop a strategy for appeal, conduct legal research, and help draft the client’s brief on appeal. Feedback is provided by frequent individual meetings with the instructors, as well as oral argument before a panel of attorneys experienced in criminal law. The course gives the student the opportunity to work on a real case with real consequences for the client. While most directly relevant to those interested in criminal law, its lessons in appellate advocacy should be of general interest. Class size is limited to 12 students to assure individual attention to each student.
The Clinic is a 4 credit course and meets the New York Pro-Bono requirement. Students must enroll in the 3 credit clinic and the 1 credit field component, taken concurrently. The 3 credit clinic and 1 credit field component are mandatory graded and ineligible for letter grade conversion to pass (“P”) election.
The Clinic fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.
For students who matriculated in or after May 2016, the Clinic can either fulfill the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, fulfill the upper-level writing requirement, or the credits can count toward the Experiential Learning requirement — it cannot be used to fulfill more than one of these three particular requirements.

• Type: Clinic

This is a clinical course in which each student is assigned to help represent an indigent defendant in the appeal of his or her felony conviction, under the supervision of attorneys from Michigan’s State Appellate Defender Office. The focus of the course is on the completion of an effecitvely written appellate brief on behalf of the client, to be filed in state or federal court. The goal of the course is to develop the student’s understanding and skill in all phases of appellate advocacy. The student will review the trial transcripts and lower court records, interview the client in prison (with the instructor), develop a strategy for appeal, conduct legal research, and help draft the client’s brief on appeal. Feedback is provided by frequent individual meetings with the instructors, as well as oral argument before a panel of attorneys experienced in criminal law. The course gives the student the opportunity to work on a real case with real consequences for the client. While most directly relevant to those interested in criminal law, its lessons in appellate advocacy should be of general interest. Class size is limited to 12 students to assure individual attention to each student.
The Clinic is a 4 credit course and meets the New York Pro-Bono requirement. Students must enroll in the 3 credit clinic and the 1 credit field component, taken concurrently. The 3 credit clinic and 1 credit field component are mandatory graded and ineligible for letter grade conversion to pass (“P”) election.
The Clinic fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.
For students who matriculated in or after May 2016, the Clinic can either fulfill the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, fulfill the upper-level writing requirement, or the credits can count toward the Experiential Learning requirement — it cannot be used to fulfill more than one of these three particular requirements.

• Type: Clinic

This course will consider problems relating to the police role in the administration of criminal justice and judicial enforcement of limitations upon police practices. We will focus primarily on the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments and will answer the following questions: (1) When can the police stop, search, and/or arrest people? (2) When can the police search cars, homes, and offices and for what? (3) What are the laws surrounding police interrogation and confessions? (4) Who has a right to counsel and when and how is it triggered? (5) How are police line-ups and other identification procedures conducted and what are the constitutional limits on such procedures? (6) What remedy does a defendant have if his/her constitutional criminal procedure rights are violated? When is the evidence excluded and when should it be excluded?

• Type: Upper Class

This course examines the application of legal principles as a limitation on the definition of crime; the theories underlying criminal law; and the problems of the imposition and execution of sentences. Also examined are various specific areas of substantive criminal law, including: (1) general principles applicable to all crimes, e.g., mistake, causation, legal insanity, intoxication, and rules of justification and excuse; (2) accountability for the acts of others; and (3) attempt and conspiracy.

• Type: First Year Required

An analysis of the legal and practical problems presented in the administration of criminal justice from the point of bail to post conviction review. Subjects include: prosecutor’s discretion, preliminary examination, grand jury operations, discovery, joinder and severance of parties and offenses, plea negotiations, acceptance of guilty pleas, selection and role of the jury in criminal trials, selected trial problems, sentencing, appellate and habeas corpus review, and professional responsibilities of the prosecutor and defense attorney.

• Type: Upper Class

This course focuses on the procedural rules that regulate the use of evidence at trial. The rules covered include those relating to the competence of witnesses, the mode of examination, relevance, impeachment, character evidence, hearsay, expert evidence, privileges, and judicial notice. Particular attention is paid to the Federal Rules of Evidence.

• Type: Upper Class

In the Juvenile Justice Clinic, students will represent minors charged with violations of the criminal law and status offenses in Michigan’s family courts. While primarily a litigation clinic, students may from time-to-time handle appellate matters and may be involved in public policy issues such as analyzing proposed legislation.
In the course of clinic, students will develop litigation skills including case investigation, trial preparation, and presenting evidence and argument in the courtroom. Casework, which is supervised by a clinical professor, may involve client interviewing and counseling, legal research and motion drafting, negotiation with prosecuting authorities, and courtroom presentation of the case. In addition to trial advocacy and casework, classroom sessions will also focus on legal ethics, the basics of child development and other topics. The Juvenile Justice Clinic meets the New York Pro-Bono requirement. JJC is a 7 credit course of which all credits are graded.
The Clinic seminar fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

In the Juvenile Justice Clinic, students will represent minors charged with violations of the criminal law and status offenses in Michigan’s family courts. While primarily a litigation clinic, students may from time-to-time handle appellate matters and may be involved in public policy issues such as analyzing proposed legislation.
In the course of clinic, students will develop litigation skills including case investigation, trial preparation, and presenting evidence and argument in the courtroom. Casework, which is supervised by a clinical professor, may involve client interviewing and counseling, legal research and motion drafting, negotiation with prosecuting authorities, and courtroom presentation of the case. In addition to trial advocacy and casework, classroom sessions will also focus on legal ethics, the basics of child development and other topics. The Juvenile Justice Clinic meets the New York Pro-Bono requirement. JJC is a 7 credit course of which all credits are graded.
The Clinic seminar fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

This seminar will examine the socio-political and legal background on the formation of the International Criminal Court, as well as some of the rationales that many African nations were: among the first to become States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court; the first governments to make referrals to the ICC for investigation and possible prosecution; and the first to withdraw from the Treaty. Students will gain an understanding of the types of crimes tried by the Court, read multiple actual case studies, evaluate different arguments, and analyze Court decisions. Students will be expected to write short reaction and thematic papers, work on one or more group projects, and write a longer paper focusing on one or more politico-diplomatic or legal challenges: governments who lack trust in the ICC; the nature and/or power of individual defendants; security of witnesses; evidence; and/or ramifications at the national or regional level of decisions made by the judges.

• Type: Seminar

Founded in 2009, the Michigan Innocence Clinic was the first innocence clinic in the country to focus exclusively on non-DNA cases. In the MIC’s fifteen-year history, it has achieved victories in 42 cases on behalf of clients who had been wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit.
Students registered in the MIC investigate and litigate cases on behalf of incarcerated people who are actually innocent of the crimes for which they have been convicted. Students work on all aspects of the cases, including researching claims of innocence and the law pertaining to them, investigating new evidence, writing and editing court briefs and motions, and participating in courtroom activities when there are hearings scheduled in their cases. The clinic also features a seminar component, where students explore in class the legal and policy issues underlying wrongful convictions. There are no exams or papers; students are graded on their preparedness and contribution to class, various in-class exercises, the progress they make in their cases, and the quality of their case-related work product.
The MIC’s docket spans both state and federal courts and is quite diverse and novel. No two cases are the same, and non-DNA innocence litigation continues to be a fascinating challenge within the field of criminal litigation. Students work with supervising attorneys to craft legal strategies and explore evidentiary and procedural avenues for obtaining relief?many of which have been expanded in recent years due to the work of the MIC and other such organizations. Students interested in criminal law/procedure, appellate practice, brief writing, public interest work, innocence litigation, or courtroom advocacy would be especially suitable for the MIC. That said, there are no specific prerequisites (outside of the regular first-year courses), and no prior specialized knowledge of criminal defense or innocence litigation is required or expected.
* Clinic spans fall and winter semesters of one academic year. Students may register during winter of 1L or 2L year for enrollment during 2L or 3L year, respectively.

• Type: Clinic

Founded in 2009, the Michigan Innocence Clinic was the first innocence clinic in the country to focus exclusively on non-DNA cases. In the MIC’s fifteen-year history, it has achieved victories in 42 cases on behalf of clients who had been wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit.
Students registered in the MIC investigate and litigate cases on behalf of incarcerated people who are actually innocent of the crimes for which they have been convicted. Students work on all aspects of the cases, including researching claims of innocence and the law pertaining to them, investigating new evidence, writing and editing court briefs and motions, and participating in courtroom activities when there are hearings scheduled in their cases. The clinic also features a seminar component, where students explore in class the legal and policy issues underlying wrongful convictions. There are no exams or papers; students are graded on their preparedness and contribution to class, various in-class exercises, the progress they make in their cases, and the quality of their case-related work product.
The MIC’s docket spans both state and federal courts and is quite diverse and novel. No two cases are the same, and non-DNA innocence litigation continues to be a fascinating challenge within the field of criminal litigation. Students work with supervising attorneys to craft legal strategies and explore evidentiary and procedural avenues for obtaining relief?many of which have been expanded in recent years due to the work of the MIC and other such organizations. Students interested in criminal law/procedure, appellate practice, brief writing, public interest work, innocence litigation, or courtroom advocacy would be especially suitable for the MIC. That said, there are no specific prerequisites (outside of the regular first-year courses), and no prior specialized knowledge of criminal defense or innocence litigation is required or expected.
* Clinic spans fall and winter semesters of one academic year. Students may register during winter of 1L or 2L year for enrollment during 2L or 3L year, respectively.

• Type: Clinic

Students in the Civil-Criminal Litigation Clinic and Veterans Legal Clinic attend class and practice law together. Students learn the fundamentals of litigation, which are readily transferable to any substantive area of practice or practice setting, from big law to legal services. They do so by litigating multiple real cases as first-chair attorneys on behalf of indigent clients, some of whom are veterans, and all of whom have a disproportionately high need for legal assistance. Students must concurrently enroll in the corresponding 4-credit Clinics course and 3-credit Clinics seminar (LAW 920 AND LAW 921).
The civil caseload changes term to term, but typically includes landlord-tenant, consumer, family law, public benefits, employment and employment discrimination, disability, contracts, torts, public benefits, civil rights, and military discharge cases. We try to keep a wide mix of work, from simple one-issue cases to large, complex cases raising issues of first impression. On the criminal side, students handle misdemeanor cases and post-conviction felony appeals and criminal record expungements.
Students have “first-chair” responsibility for their cases and primary responsibility for their clients. Under faculty supervision, students do all the legal work, including interviewing, counseling, legal research, discovery, negotiation with opposing counsel, motion practice and argument, bench and jury trials, and appeals. Students may handle cases in state district, circuit, and probate courts, as well as the federal district courts, state and federal administrative agencies, and appellate courts.
Both the seminar and fieldwork are graded. The Clinics meet the New York State Bar pro bono requirement (https://www.law.umich.edu/clinical/generalclinic/Pages/default.aspx). The Clinics seminar fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

Students in the Civil-Criminal Litigation Clinic and Veterans Legal Clinic attend class and practice law together. Students learn the fundamentals of litigation that are readily transferable to any substantive area of practice or practice setting, from big law to legal services. They do so by litigating multiple real cases as first chair attorney on behalf of indigent clients, some of whom are veterans. Students must concurrently enroll in the corresponding 4-credit Clinics course and 3-credit Clinics seminar (LAW 920 AND LAW 921).
The Clinics’ seminar component helps students develop fundamental litigation skills. Students participate in multiple simulations covering everything from interviewing to negotiation, multiple simulated courtroom exercises, and a mock jury trial at the end of the term. Other class sessions cover the role of the lawyer, ethical issues in law practice, client-centered lawyering, the adversarial process, issues affecting the Clinics’ client populations, and case rounds. Both the seminar and fieldwork are graded. The Clinics meets the New York State Bar pro bono requirement (https://www.law.umich.edu/clinical/generalclinic/Pages/default.aspx). It also fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.

• Type: Clinic

This is a clinical course in which each student is assigned to help represent an indigent defendant in the appeal of his or her felony conviction, under the supervision of attorneys from Michigan’s State Appellate Defender Office. The focus of the course is on the completion of an effectively written appellate brief on behalf of the client, to be filed in state or federal court. The goal of the course is to develop the student’s understanding and skill in all phases of appellate advocacy. The student will review the trial transcripts and lower court records, interview the client in prison (with the instructor), develop a strategy for appeal, conduct legal research, and help draft the client’s brief on appeal. Feedback is provided by frequent individual meetings with the instructors, as well as oral argument before a panel of attorneys experienced in criminal law. The course gives the student the opportunity to work on a real case with real consequences for the client. While most directly relevant to those interested in criminal law, its lessons in appellate advocacy should be of general interest. Class size is limited to 12 students to assure individual attention to each student.
The Clinic is a 4 credit course and meets the New York Pro-Bono requirement. Students must enroll in the 3 credit clinic and the 1 credit field component, taken concurrently. The 3 credit clinic and 1 credit field component are mandatory graded and ineligible for letter grade conversion to pass (“P”) election.
The Clinic fulfills the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, but does not fulfill the New York State Bar ethics requirement.
For students who matriculated in or after May 2016, the Clinic can either fulfill the Law School’s professional responsibility requirement for graduation, fulfill the upper-level writing requirement, or the credits can count toward the Experiential Learning requirement — it cannot be used to fulfill more than one of these three particular requirements.

• Type: Clinic