Course Descriptions

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Child Advocacy Policy Clinic: I & II (LWVL505)

Instructor(s): Staff

1-3 credit(s), H/P/L/F Graded
Prerequisite(s): Child Rights & Remedies

In this clinic, students work with Staff Attorneys at USD Law’s Children’s Advocacy Institute (CAI) on legislative and regulatory policy advocacy projects, impact litigation, public education, and/or policy research and analysis of issues that affect children, with an emphasis on children in the foster care system. Students are supervised by Professor Jessica Heldman and projects can include working remotely with CAI’s National Policy Advocate in Washington DC, CAI’s California Policy Advocate in Sacramento, or with local San Diego staff. This clinic provides an exciting opportunity to experience how laws and regulations get developed, enacted, and enforced on behalf of an important and vulnerable group of individuals. To participate, students must have completed or be enrolled in Child Rights and Remedies.  Clinic slots are limited; contact Professor Jessica Heldman if interested. 

Note:

This clinic may be applied as the required clinic for the Children's Rights Concentration (JD).

Civil Clinic I (LWVL510)

Instructor(s): Katherine Parker, Joe Villasenor

1-4 credit(s), H/P/L/F Graded
Requirement(s): Experiential
Concentration(s): Civil Litigation (JD)
Prerequisite(s): Civil Procedure, Evidence
Recommended Class(es): Trial Advocacy or Experiential Advocacy Practicum

The Civil Clinic lays the foundation for your litigation career, providing you with the opportunity to fully immerse yourself in real cases pending before the San Diego Superior Court. Students take an active role under supervision of experienced attorneys to handle all facets of litigation including initial client interviews, providing counsel and advice, drafting complaints, discovery, law and motion practice, negotiating settlements, and in some cases even trial practice. Students certified by the State Bar will also have the opportunity to make court appearances and take or defend depositions. The cases tend to focus on vindicating individual consumer rights, consumer fraud matters, and ensuring clients are treated fairly in our judicial system by providing competent representations in just cases typically not taken by the private bar. Students meet weekly for in depth discussion of cases and instruction on the underlying substantive and procedural law. The clinic is graded on a 4-tier Pass-Fail basis.

Note: There are limitations on JD concentration eligibility. Please check the Civil Litigation Concentration web page for more information.
Additional Information: Civil Litigation Concentration

Civil Clinic II (LWVL511)

Instructor(s): Katherine Parker, Joe Villasenor

1-4 credit(s), H/P/L/F Graded
Requirement(s): Experiential
Concentration(s): Civil Litigation (JD)
Prerequisite(s): Civil Procedure, Evidence, Trial Advocacy or Practicum, Civil Clinic I

Clinic II interns refine their skills, working on complex cases and cases already begun as Clinic I interns. Students may mentor first time clinic participants, serve as lead student attorney on cases, and have additional opportunities to appear in court. Supervising attorneys/adjunct professors provide individualized coaching, based on the Clinic II interns needs and interests. Prerequisite: Successful completion of Clinic I in the same clinic. The clinic is graded on a 4-tier Pass-Fail basis.

Note: There are limitations on JD concentration eligibility. Please check the Civil Litigation Concentration web page for more information.
Additional Information: Civil Litigation Concentration

Contract Drafting (Synchronous Distance Education) (LWGC563)

Instructor(s): Monica Sullivan

2 credit(s), Letter Graded
Requirement(s): Experiential OR Writing
Concentration(s): Business and Corporate Law (JD), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (LLMUS), Business and Corporate Law (MSLS)

Transactional drafting is crucial to the legal profession. It refers to the process of creating documents to formalize agreements between parties. This course trains students to be able to use the process comfortably. You will learn to structure agreements, and express them in clear and concise language that will benefit clients and maximize the likelihood of favorable interpretation. The course emphasizes both cooperative and individual drafting work. Each week in class, you will focus on selected components of the drafting process, and prepare a document or exercise requiring you to practice what you learn. You will receive immediate feedback on that days drafting activity, and written comments on individual weekly homework assignments. Visits by attorneys who draft contracts in their practice will provide a view of how the legal profession depends on this skill. This class will use various types of contracts that touch on various areas of substantive law: contracts for the sale of goods, business or property (contract law, commercial transactions); residential and commercial leases (landlord-tenant and real estate law); settlement agreements (torts); employment, non-disclosure and non-compete agreements (employment law); retainer agreements (legal ethics); intellectual property rights (intellectual property); corporate acquisitions (corporations, securities law); entertainment contracts (entertainment law); vendor contracts (sports law). Grades are based on the scores on individual weekly assignments.

Note:

This is a synchronous distance education course for Summer 2025 session.  Classes will be taught via Zoom.

This course may fulfill either the Experiential OR Upper Division Writing requirement. Students will be asked in class at the beginning of the semester to elect which requirement they would like this course to fulfill. The stude

Corporate Counsel Externship I (LWVL591)

Instructor(s): Staff

1-6 credit(s), P/F Graded

The Corporate Counsel Externship Program consists of a work component and a class component and allows students to earn academic credit working in the legal department of a corporation, company or other business entity. Students may also work in other departments of a corporation as long as they are supervised by an on-site licensed attorney. Students must work during the academic session for a minimum of 50 hours per unit of credit and may receive 1-6 credits. For purposes of corporate counsel externship work, the academic session is from the official start of classes to the last day of final exams. No academic credit may be earned for corporate counsel externship work outside this time period.

Academic requirements include: mandatory orientation, student journals submitted to the professor relating to the field placement work; discussion boards on legal practice topics; a four-six page reflective paper at the end of the semester, include a placement evaluation; an externship work product for professor review; and an on-site supervisor evaluation showing satisfactory completion of work experience. The Externship is graded on a Pass-Fail basis.

If you have been offered and have accepted a field placement, meet the eligibility requirements, agree to meet the course obligations and want to register for the Externship course, fill out the Field Placement Form. After you submit the form, the Office of Career and Professional Development will review it and send you an email with directions on how to enroll.

If you have any placements questions, read the FAQ's available at that link.  If the FAQ's do not answer your field placement questions, contact the Office of Career and Professional Development at lawcareers@sandiego.edu.

Note:

Field Placement Form

There are limitations on JD concentration eligibility. Please check the JD concentrations web pages for more information. Contact Law Student Affairs to find out if your work in this clinic qualifies for the concentration.

Corporate Counsel Externship II (LWVL589)

Instructor(s): Staff

1-6 credit(s), P/F Graded

Externship II students refine their skills, with a longer opportunity to specialize their training in a specific area. Externship II is limited to students who have previously worked at a Corporate Counsel Externship placement. Please refer to Corporate Counsel Externship I description for additional requirements.

Additional Information: Field Placement Program Page

Courts, AI, Speech, and International Internet - Madrid (LWIC550)

Instructor(s): M. Margaret McKeown

3 credit(s), Letter Graded
Requirement(s): Experiential
Concentration(s): Intellectual Property (JD), International Law (JD), Intellectual Property (LLMUS), International Law (LLMUS), Intellectual Property Law (LLMG), LLM in International Law (LLMI), Intellectual Property Law (MSLS), International Law (MSLS), Criminal Law (LLMUS), Criminal Law (MSLS)

The Courts Tackle the Digital Age Domestically and Internationally: From the Internet to AI, Social Media, Free Speech, and Copyright 

For more than a century, court decisions have lagged advances in technology.  The advent of the Internet and developments in artificial intelligence, particularly generative artificial intelligence, have accelerated this gap.  This course explores how courts and countries are tackling disruptive technologies and digital challenges, especially the contrast between the United States and Europe.  The focus will be on a few select areas, including artificial intelligence, speech, including hate speech, social media, and copyright, with an introduction to trademark developments, though the lines are often blurred among these topics.  We will look at statutes, rules, and cases that serve as the analytical foundation for these issues and consider contemporary efforts to address the shifting legal and digital landscape in an ambiguous environment. We will also consider the intersection of law and policy. Students will have an opportunity to engage in in-class presentations, debates, and exercises to highlight conflicting approaches in this arena.   One highlight of the class will be the Madrid Scavenger Hunt.  Students will be divided in groups and then dispatched to track down various examples related to course content.