Clinics and Field Work
The School of Law is committed to helping you practice what you learn. Through several outstanding programs—some curricular, some extracurricular, and some co-curricular—our students work, argue, research, write, and practice, often while helping citizens in need. Our approach tightly integrates study, practice, and experience, and it develops great lawyers. See an overview of our clinical programs.
Appellate Advocacy Clinic
The Appellate Advocacy Clinic represents low-income clients in all sorts of appeals, both civil and criminal, and in a variety of appellate courts, including the Fourth Circuit and the Seventh Circuit. Working in pairs, students handle an actual appeal from start to finish, with advice and assistance from their professor, who is counsel of record. Students also travel to Washington, D.C., to observe arguments at the United States Supreme Court.
Community Law & Business Clinic
The Community Law & Business Clinic is a new clinical education program within the Wake Forest University School of Law which will launch during the spring 2009 semester. CL&BC will provide law and graduate business students with an opportunity to develop skills needed to practice in the increasingly complex legal and regulatory environment they will encounter as professionals. In addition, CL&BC will bring the resources and expertise of Wake Forest University to enhance community development efforts in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County and regionally.
Domestic Violence Advocacy Center
The center--based in the Legal Services Office--offers student volunteers a chance to represent local victims of domestic violence who can't afford to hire a lawyer. Students participating in the DVAC program not only gain invaluable court experience, they also have a chance to literally save lives through their efforts.
Elder Law Clinic
Responding to the rapid growth of elder law practice, Wake Forest's School of Law and School of Medicine have created the Elder Law Clinic, a unique service that exposes students to both the legal issues and medical aspects of this practice area.
Innocence & Justice Clinic
The Innocence & Justice Clinic is a new clinical offering at Wake Forest University School of Law commencing in Spring 2009. The I & J Clinic has its origins in the Innocence Project where Wake Forest students review and investigate claims of innocence to determine whether DNA evidence exists that could exonerate inmates. The I & J Clinic will expand the mission of the Innocence Project by providing students with the opportunity to review and investigate all types of innocence claims and pursue litigation when appropriate. The clinic offers students the unique opportunity to examine the legal, scientific, cultural and psychological causes of wrongful convictions.
Litigation Clinic
Featuring a unique, combined focus on both civil and criminal law, the Litigation Clinic is a semester-long "lab" experience with a complementary classroom element.
