Gain Skills Through Real-World Experience
The commitment to ensuring that our graduates are practice-ready directs the Catholic Law experience. Recognizing that classwork and textbooks alone do not quite complete the transformation of student to lawyer, all academic programs include transition-to-practice requirements. Many also require participation in clinics, externships, trial or moot court teams, or other hands-on experience.
Through "live client" and simulated lawyering experiences, students learn practical trial techniques, research and writing skills, and other important lawyering skills, such as counseling, interviewing, negotiating, and mediating.
Clinics
Clinical skills lie at the heart of how the law functions as a tool to help and protect others, especially society’s most vulnerable. The Law School’s clinical options offer students invaluable, firsthand experience in representing real clients with real legal problems in real courts, under the supervision of faculty members.
- Columbus Community Legal Services
- Families and the Law Clinic
- Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Clinic - Criminal Defense Clinic
- Criminal Prosecution Clinic
- D.C. Modern Prosecution Program
- Nonprofit Advocacy Clinic
- Religious Liberty Clinic
- Trusts and Estates
Externships
Catholic Law’s externship program is among the most extensive in the nation. Students earn class credit and priceless real-world experience in a vast array of legal practice settings that include government, private firms, the judiciary, think tanks, agencies, and many other places.
Pro Bono
The Pro Bono Program at Catholic Law is on the spectrum of experiential learning opportunities available to students throughout their tenure here. Pro bono projects enable students to apply lessons learned in the classroom out in the community, advancing their professional development while benefiting those in need of services. Participation is voluntary, and the range of options available to Catholic Law students being situated in the nation's capital is extensive.