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Clinics and Experiential Programs

South Royalton Legal Clinic

From protecting political refugees to intervening on behalf of an abused child, the South Royalton Legal Clinic at Vermont Law School exemplifies our commitment to the community—and to our students. Our clients are residents from the surrounding area who are unable to afford counsel and who need assistance with issues involving family law, housing, welfare and unemployment, health care, immigration, Social Security, children’s rights, consumer protection, bankruptcy, contracts, wills, and civil rights. Under the guidance of four experienced attorneys, our students represent clients in state court, federal court, and administrative hearings.

For you as a student, the opportunity to help those in need is a valuable, hands-on, real-world experience. As a participant in the clinic, you will be able to develop court cases from start to finish. Working directly with the clients, you will apply your knowledge of civil procedure and substantive law to each case, from interviewing, counseling and negotiation, research, and case and statutory analysis to discovery, writing briefs and motions, preparing the case, and presenting at trial. Our clinic students have also been involved in Vermont Supreme Court and U.S. District Court cases that have set precedents or clarified important points of law.

 

 

Clinical work options

Second- and third-year JD students may work in the clinic full time (13 credits) or part-time (6 credits) for one semester.

Russia's first legal clinic

In 1994, our South Royalton Legal Clinic helped establish the Petrozavodsk State University (PSU) Legal Clinic in Karelia, a northwestern Russian republic bordering Finland. The VLS continues to work with the PSU Legal Clinic, which serves as a model being replicated at other schools throughout Russia.

South Royalton Legal Clinic Statistics