Start Your Legal Career in Silicon Valley: Santa Clara Law Students Work & Innovate at the Law Center

Summary

Santa Clara Law students have the opportunity to participate in innovative activities and gain invaluable practical experience at the law school's new Law Center. The Law Center is designed to provide students the opportunity to hone their legal skills and collaborate with professionals in the legal field.


The Law Center is composed of four distinct components. The first is the Center for Law and Technology, which focuses on the application of legal principles in the digital world. The second is the Center for Business Law, where students develop an understanding of the various legal issues that arise when conducting business. The third is the Enterprise Law Center, where students learn how to structure, finance, and negotiate business transactions. Finally, the fourth is the Center for Social Justice and Public Interest Law, which encourages students to use the law to help individuals, communities, and the environment.

At the Law Center, students engage in meaningful, thought-provoking projects with peers and faculty. These projects include tackling thorny legal issues, researching contemporary topics, and working with experts to develop strategies to resolve complex problems. Through these activities, students are exposed to innovative and creative thinking, as well as gain an understanding of how the legal system works.

Santa Clara Law students also have the opportunity to take part in workshops and seminars led by leading legal professionals. These events allow students to gain valuable insights on topics such as transactional law, critical thinking, and professional ethics. The Law Center also offers internship opportunities, as well as career services support to help students get the most out of their legal education.

The Santa Clara Law Center has become a hub of innovation, offering students the opportunity to work with industry experts and gain invaluable practical experience. It enables students to learn from their peers and develop the skills necessary to become successful legal professionals. It is no wonder that the Law Center has become a popular spot for students looking to gain the most out of their legal education.
 

Santa Clara Law Students Find Creative Solutions at Law Center

Santa Clara University students are innovating in the legal field from the Santa Clara Law Center. The Law Center provides an opportunity for students to gain a hands-on legal education and gain real experience. Santa Clara Law students are able to work on cases, conduct research, and develop solutions that assist clients in need of legal representation. For example, the Law Center recently partnered with the Santa Clara County Public Defender's Office to assist with the defense of a client facing murder charges. The legal team provided pro bono representation during the trial and successfully reduced the client's sentence.
 

Santa Clara Law Students Take Action With Pro Bono Representation

The Santa Clara Law Center provides legal assistance with pro bono representation to individuals who are in need of legal services. By engaging in pro bono work, Santa Clara Law students have the opportunity to work on cases, conduct research, and develop solutions that assist clients in need of legal representation. This can include criminal defense, civil litigation, immigration law, family law, and more. Santa Clara Law students are able to take their legal education and turn it into real experience and make a difference in their community.
 

Santa Clara Law Students Accelerate Their Legal Education With Clinic Programs

Santa Clara Law students are also able to participate in the law school's clinical programs. These programs give students the opportunity to work in a supervised setting to gain experience in a variety of legal fields. Some of the clinic programs offered by the Law Center include the Employment and Consumer Law Clinic, the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic, the Immigrants' Rights Clinic, the Environmental Law Clinic, and the Community Development Clinic.
 

Santa Clara Law Students Address Injustices With Social Justice Clinic

The Social Justice Clinic at the Santa Clara Law Center provides students with an opportunity to work on real cases and advocate for individuals who have been wronged. The clinic enables students to assist clients with civil litigation matters, such as cases involving discrimination, civil rights violations, and other injustices. Through this program, Santa Clara Law students gain real experience with civil litigation and are able to take on a leadership role in defending the rights of individuals who are in need of legal assistance.
 

Santa Clara Law Students Make an Impact with the Consumer Protection Clinic

The Consumer Protection Clinic offers Santa Clara Law students the opportunity to work on cases involving consumer protection and consumer fraud. The Consumer Protection Clinic is an ideal program for students who are interested in gaining experience in this field of law. Through this program, students are able to assist clients with cases involving deceptive business practices, issues with debt collectors, and other consumer protection matters.

The law center was started by members of La Raza Law Students Association in 1993, who volunteered to provide legal services for low-income workers in the community. Originally called the East San Jose Community Law Center, the center added services in immigration and employment law in 1994 and now offers consumer law services as well.

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That first group of law students more than 10 years ago "set up a desk in a bakery" in East San Jose, says Professor Lynette Parker, the center's Supervising Attorney for immigration matters. Now, the center is between San Jose and Santa Clara, making it more accessible to law students, but also on a bus line so clients have access.

The law center is "very much a student-driven place," says the current executive director, Professor Cynthia Mertens. Many of the center's services are provided on an academic credit/clinical model. There are some volunteer opportunities at the center, however. A volunteer workshop-teaching program for first-years was begun at the student level like the center itself.

When Mertens took over as head of the center in 2001, there had been a few workshops led by law students for members of the community on auto fraud, a large issue in the area. A student came to Mertens and suggested a workshop on tenants' rights, and a new program was born.

The program, which was kicked off as a full program in 2004, requires the group of first-year law students to attend a daylong training session with a supervising attorney in October. The first-years learn about issues in workers' rights, consumers' rights, and tenants' rights. Then, two students and one professor go out into the community and speak on these legal issues.

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Mertens and two law students recently went to a homeless shelter, spoke to 40 men on tenants' rights, and provided "very valuable advice" on what to look for when going out and looking for housing, says Mertens. Law students and professors also go to speak to local English classes, as well as other community groups.

Last year, law students and professors in the program gave 61 workshops for 1,536 local people, says Mertens. Now, "1Ls have a wonderful opportunity to give back to the community," she says.

Academic clinical programs at the Santa Clara Law Center allow law students to participate on three levels: in a legal advice clinic, providing legal services to center clients under attorney supervision through a Skills I course, and then continuing that work in a more advanced Skills II course.

The Advice Clinic is usually the first stop for community members, says Mertens, although some are referred directly to the law center's legal services. Participating law students take the Advice Clinic course, which includes an all-day training session at the start of the semester on ethics, interview skills, cross-cultural communication, and working with interpreters, says Parker.

There are four to ten law students who work in the advice clinic. The student conducts the initial interview and then provides the information to a supervising attorney for review, says Parker. Then, the law student passes on the attorney's advice to the client, which can include referrals to other local organizations, as well as referrals to the law center's case services.

Dividing the students and services into those provided by "case-handling students" and "advice clinic students" "works really well," says Parker, with many students participating on both levels.

In the Skills I course, students meet once a week to discuss cases and clients' needs and to learn more about how to serve them. The students work in the law center's clinical programs as they take the course handling all aspects of the center clients' cases, from doing intake interviews to drafting documents to representing clients at hearings while "practicing under close supervision" of attorneys, says Mertens.

Students receive "hands-on training in the work they are going to do as lawyers," says Mertens. The clinical experience provides law students with a "good educational grounding in providing legal services," says Parker.

After graduation, law students who worked at the legal center go on to become consumer advocacy lawyers, immigration attorneys, or workers' rights advocates, says Mertens. Others who were looking for the practical training to go on to large law firms also participate. Serving clients who "wouldn't have help otherwise…makes you feel good about what you're doing," says Mertens.

The center, as it welcomes a new director when Mertens goes back to teaching full time, will not expand its services again soon. Although there are still hopes to add legal services in disability rights for children and expand landlord-tenant services, budget cuts have put those plans on hold, says Mertens. Santa Clara County has given the center $100,000 in funding, but Mertens has just been notified that all civil legal services funding in the county will be cut for next year.

The current programs will continue, however, as Angelo Ancheta, currently director of legal and advocacy programs with Harvard Law's Civil Rights Project and a legal lecturer, joins the Santa Clara University School of Law and the law center in May.

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