Students of the Complex Federal Litigation Clinic and the Prison Legal Services Clinic usually work in teams, with at least one partner, and are supervised by clinical professors. Analytical, research, and writing abilities are developed through students’ case work, which includes among other tasks: research and writing complaints, motion practice, depositions, and trial work. Students also work directly with clients, which enables students to cultivate their interpersonal skills, explore the attorney-client relationship, as well as understand the complex but critical rules of professional responsibility.
Additionally, students benefit from the program’s collaboration with lawyers and staff from the Connecticut Public Defenders Habeas Unit and with forensic fellows from the Law and Psychiatry Program.
Because of the client-driven nature of the work, it is difficult to predict with precision the full range of experiences that a student will have in her or his time in the clinics. In recent semesters, students have argued at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, filed petitions for certiorari, deposed defendants, lead settlement negotiations, filed complaints, and published law review articles based on their clinical work.
Both the Complex Federal Litigation clinic and the Prison Legal Services clinic hold weekly class sessions. These seminar-style sessions focus on the procedural and substantive law relevant to federal and state prisoners’ rights cases. A number of class sessions are also dedicated to acquiring the skills necessary to interview a client, investigate the facts, frame a legal claim, and develop and present evidence in court. Additionally, many special guests, such as lead attorneys in pioneering prisoners’ rights litigation, come to discuss their work with students.