Law Clinics

Delaware Civil Law Clinic

Offered Only in Fall

The Delaware Civil Law Clinic (DCC) provides free legal services to survivors of domestic violence seeking civil legal protection from abuse, as well as child custody, visitation, and divorce matters; engages in social justice reform; and prepares wills, powers of attorney, and health care directives for survivors of domestic violence, the elderly, and terminally ill clients. The DCC operates in conjunction with Delaware Volunteer Legal Services, Inc. (DVLS), the pro bono arm of the Delaware State Bar Association.

What Students Do: Third year clinic students are admitted to the limited practice of law, as Certified Legal Interns, pursuant to Delaware Supreme Court Rule 56. Interns represent survivors of domestic violence in Delaware Family Court, as well as provide estate planning assistance to clients. Interns also engage in social justice reform through public policy work, which includes legal research, advocacy and drafting legislation. DCC interns learn practical legal skills while working in the clinic, including interviewing clients and witnesses; counseling clients; negotiating; investigating cases; marshalling evidence (such as photographs of injuries, 911 calls, witness statements, and social media); legal research; writing legal memorandum; drafting pleadings (petitions, motions, etc.); writing client letters; preparing for trial (direct examination, cross examination, opening, closing, etc.); applying the rules of evidence, rules of civil procedure, rules of professional conduct, and statutes; and representing clients in court.

Credits and Hours Required: Students in their third year of law school enroll in the clinic for six (6) credits and are expected to spend an average of 20 hours per week working on clinic cases. Students work collaboratively with their DCC colleagues and meet with their supervisors throughout the week regarding their work. The DCC may also accept second year students for two (2) credits, depending on space availability, to do limited work in the clinic for approximately seven (7) hours per week.

Delaware Bar Clerkship Requirement: Students enrolled in the DCC are able to satisfy some of their Delaware Bar Clerkship requirements and all work is supervised by a Delaware-barred attorney (5+ years).

Orientation, Hearing Dates and Clinic Seminar: Students must be available throughout the semester every Friday during business hours for mandatory orientation, trainings, and meetings necessary to prepare for trial. In addition, students must attend a weekly seminar. The seminar is considered a law firm meeting, due to the professional skills, substantive law, and procedure taught. Seminar attendance is mandatory. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the DCC Clinic Director, Professor Cathy Zwolak Kilian ([email protected]).

Dignity Rights Clinic

Offered in Fall & Spring

The Dignity Rights Clinic helps bend the arc of the law toward human dignity – the inherent, inalienable, and equal worth of every person, everywhere. The Clinic focuses on law reform through education, advocacy and litigation in domestic and international fora. We do not represent individuals in court; instead, we work with advocates and lawyers to help shape the law so that the human dignity of marginalized and vulnerable people is respected. The clinic is offered for 3 credits in the fall and spring semesters.

What Students Do – Clinic students will work with lawyers and others on dignity-advancing matters. They will conduct research on individual cases, speak with lawyers and clients (or potential clients) in person or remotely, and help develop arguments, briefs and reports, and other materials to persuade courts and others that the law should respect the human right to dignity.

The Clinic Class – The clinic meets weekly in a seminar format. The first part of the class involves learning the basics of dignity law, as it has developed in the US and abroad and in international and regional human rights instruments. In the second part of the class, students will conduct legal and factual research and produce a work product.

Application and Enrollment – Students in their second semester, second year or later may apply for the Clinic. ED students and students who have previously taken the Clinic are welcome to apply. Others may apply with permission from the Clinic Director. Please contact Dwayne Bensing at [email protected].

For more information, visit https://delawarelaw.widener.edu/current-students/jd-academics/experiential-courses/clinics/dignity-rights-clinic/

Environmental & Natural Resources Law Clinic

Offered Only in Spring

The Environmental & Natural Resources Law Clinic provides free legal representation to individuals and organizations confronting environmental issues arising under federal, state, and local environmental laws. The Clinic handles cases such as appeals of regulatory decisions and enforcement of environmental laws, analyzes and develops policy proposals, and advises clients who seek advice, educational, or legislative assistance.

What Students Do – Clinic interns, operating under the direct supervision of the Clinic Director, assist in representing and advising clients. This may involve working with administrative agencies, scientists and engineers, conducting factual and legal research, drafting memoranda and pleadings, and otherwise developing and implementing legal strategies.

The Clinic Class – The Clinic meets weekly in a seminar that includes a Firm Meeting (in which Clinic Interns discuss and address substantive and procedural problems encountered by students in their work for Clinic clients) as well as working on the development of skills to become practice-ready. Students are expected, over the course of the semester, to work 40 hours of combined live client and Clinic time per credit hour taken.

Application and Enrollment – Students in their second semester, second year or later may apply for the Clinic. ED students are welcome to apply.

Innocence Delaware Legal Clinic

(3L/4L ED and RD students encouraged to apply)

THIS IS A FULL YEAR COMMITMENT (6 total skills credits: 3 in the Fall & 3 in the Spring Semester). POST-CONVICTION REMEDIES IS A PRE OR CO-REQUISITE.

The Innocence Project Delaware Legal Clinic partners with the non-profit organization Innocence Project Delaware (IPD) in providing legal representation to people unjustly incarcerated in Delaware for crimes they did not commit.

What Students Do – Students assist Innocence Project Delaware in their mission by learning post-conviction law and practicing innocence work. Students work under the supervision of Clinic Director Romie Griesmer and the IPD legal team. Innocence work may involve comprehensive case reviews, interviewing clients or witnesses, conducting investigations, performing legal research, writing memoranda of law and preparing legal pleadings.

Credits – Students are enrolled for six (6) total skills credits, three (3) in the Fall Semester and three (3) in the Spring Semester.

Clinic Seminar and Clinic Hours – There is a weekly seminar where students study the causes of wrongful convictions. Students will work on innocence cases and attend supervision sessions with Professor Griesmer and the IPD legal team. Students are expected to spend an average of 10 hours per week on clinic work. If you have any questions about our program, please email Jessica Auletta at [email protected].

Application & Enrollment – Only rising 3L/4L students are eligible to apply by completing the online Experiential Application Form. Six (6) students will be selected after submission of application and interview.

Prerequisites - Post-Conviction Remedies (offered in the fall semester) is a pre or co-requisite. Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure I, Evidence and Professional Responsibility are course prerequisites. Preference will be given to students who have taken ITAP, Trial Methods: Criminal, Pretrial Methods: Criminal and/or Criminal Procedure II.

Pennsylvania Criminal Defense Clinic

(Only rising third year students are eligible to apply)

Offered for Fall

The Pa. Criminal Defense Clinic represents people in Chester County who are indigent and charged with misdemeanor crimes in state court. Our clients are referred to us by the Chester County Public Defender’s Office.

What Students Do – Students are certified by Pennsylvania Supreme Court to represent clients in court under the direct supervision of Clinic Director Romie Griesmer. Students represent clients through all stages of criminal cases: initial client interview, investigation, plea bargaining, preliminary hearings, pretrial motions, trials, and appeals.

Credits and Hours Required – Students are enrolled for six (6) Credits and are expected to spend an average of 20 hours per week working on clinic cases, 10 of those hours must be spent in the clinic workroom. Students work with an assigned partner and have a weekly meeting with Professor Griesmer regarding their casework. Once enrolled in the Clinic, students may not withdraw from the clinic without specific written authorization from Professor Griesmer.

Orientation and Clinic Seminar – In order to have students begin client representation as soon as possible there is a mandatory orientation prior to the start of classes. The seminar meets once a week, usually Wednesdays from 2 - 4 p.m. Due to the importance of the professional skills, substantive law and procedure being taught, seminar attendance is mandatory-- no absences are allowed. If you have any questions about the program, please feel free to email Professor Griesmer at [email protected].

Application & Enrollment – Only rising third year students are eligible to apply by completing the online Experiential Application Form. Students will be selected after submission of application and interview.

Prerequisites - A grade of C or better in the following courses: Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure I, Evidence and Professional Responsibility is required. Strong preference will be given to applicants who have taken one of the following trial skills courses: Pre-Trial or Trial Methods: Criminal, Criminal Procedure II or ITAP. ITAP is a one-week trial advocacy course offered immediately following the spring semester.

Veterans Law Clinic

The Veterans Law Clinic (VLC) provides free legal representation to low-income, disabled veterans and their dependents for appeals to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. The clinic handles cases regarding disability compensation, needs-based pension, Section 1151 claims (malpractice-type claims against the VA), VA overpayment waivers, and dependency and indemnity compensation (survivor benefit). The Clinic also handles discharge upgrade applications and wills and related documents. Students also might have the opportunity to assist the National Law School Veterans Clinic Consortium with policy advocacy work.

What Students Do – Students assist clients through all phases of a case: intake and initial interviews, investigation and gathering of documentary evidence, working with forensic experts, filing petitions, representing clients at hearings, and appellate brief writing. Students also attend the Clinic's Free Consultations, in which Clinic attorneys provide one-hour, free consultations to veterans.

The Clinic Class – During fall/spring semesters, the clinic class meets once a week, usually Mondays from 4:15 to 6:15 p.m. Students are enrolled for three to six credits and are expected to spend 10 to 20 hours per week on Clinic work.

Delaware Bar Clerkship Requirement – Students enrolled in the Clinic may be able to satisfy some of their clerkship requirements by working with Professor Morrell, our Delaware-barred attorney. Please let us know if you plan to sit for the Delaware Bar.

If you have any questions about our program, please feel free to contact Professor Jennifer Morrell, Clinic Director at [email protected].

Dignity Rights Advocacy Clinic (Extended Division)

In Dignity Rights Advocacy Clinic, students will learn the essentials of dignity law as it has developed in the United States and around the world and see how courts are reshaping the law to protect the essential dignity in each person. Cases concern everything from elections to environment, criminal law and culture, information and identity, and more. 

What Students Do – Students will work directly with DELREC (Delaware Law Related Education Center), a non-profit organization supported by the Delaware Supreme Court to diversify the legal profession and to expand awareness of the law to young people across the state. Students will develop a set of dignity-based teaching materials to be used as part of the state’s civics and social science curriculum.

Please reach out to Professor Erin Daly at [email protected] with any questions.

Wills for Seniors Clinic (Extended Division)

The Wills for Seniors Clinic is a one semester program. This program provides people in underserved populations with pro bono estate planning assistance that includes wills, advanced directives, and durable powers of attorney. 

What Students Do – Students participating in the program will interview clients about their estates, educate clients about estate planning documents and draft estate planning documents that reflect the clients’ preferences. A weekly seminar will provide training in basic client interviewing, education on working with vulnerable population, discussion of substantive, procedural and ethical problems encountered in clinical work.

Please reach out to Jacki Chacona, Clinic Director, at [email protected] with any questions.

What to Expect When Participating in a Legal Clinic

Practical experience plays an important role in the search for your first legal job. Law clinics present a unique opportunity for JD candidates to put the knowledge they’ve gained in the classroom into action before they graduate, while learning from seasoned attorneys, making court appearances, and building their professional networks.

Law clinics benefit all JD candidates, regardless of whether they envision a career in the courtroom or elsewhere. No matter your career goals, there is no better way to develop your identity as a lawyer than by working on real cases for real clients. In a law clinic, students do everything a practicing attorney does, including working with clients, representing them in a courtroom, gathering evidence, drafting documents, managing caseloads, and managing client expectations, all under the guidance of experienced attorneys. Whether focused on civil or criminal law, each Delaware Law clinic provides a first-hand perspective of how the law works in the real world and an opportunity to develop practice skills that are essential for any successful legal career. Oftentimes, students are representing those who don’t have the resources to pay for legal representation themselves; however, representing clients through the law clinics is much more than volunteer work.

Students earn academic credits for hours spent in a law clinic that count toward the experiential credit requirement of our JD curriculum. Because a certain amount of classroom knowledge is required to participate, law clinics are designed for upper level students. But it’s never too early to start thinking about your future at Delaware Law. Review the requirements for all of Delaware Law’s legal clinics and experiential opportunities.

Learn More About Delaware Law’s Legal Clinics

To learn more about our clinical programs, please contact the director of the clinic you are interested in working with.