Clinics and Field Work
The School of Law is committed to helping you practice what you learn. Through several outstanding programs—some curricular, some extracurricular, and some co-curricular—our students work, argue, research, write, and practice, often while helping citizens in need. Our approach tightly integrates study, practice, and experience, and it develops great lawyers.
Appellate Advocacy Clinic
The Appellate Advocacy Clinic represents low-income clients in all sorts of appeals, both civil and criminal, and in a variety of appellate courts, including the Fourth Circuit and the Seventh Circuit. Working in pairs, students handle an actual appeal from start to finish, with advice and assistance from their professor, who is counsel of record. Students also travel to Washington, D.C. to observe arguments at the United States Supreme Court.
Domestic Violence Advocacy Center
The center--based in the Legal Services Office--offers student volunteers a chance to represent local victims of domestic violence who can't afford to hire a lawyer. Students participating in the DVAC program not only gain invaluable court experience, they also have a chance to literally save lives through their efforts.
Elder Law Clinic
Responding to the rapid growth of elder law practice, Wake Forest's School of Law and School of Medicine have created the Elder Law Clinic, a unique service that exposes students to both the legal issues and medical aspects of this practice area.
Innocence Project
Beginning in 2007, The Innocence Project® at Wake Forest worked with the Forsyth County District Attorney and the county bar association to recommend prisoners who might benefit from DNA testing to demonstrate their innocence. Volunteer law students work with defense attorneys, prosecutors, and law enforcement officers to identify cases that qualify for DNA testing sponsored by the District Attorney.
Starting in 2008, the Project will begin working with the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence to investigate potential claims of actual innocence, based on any type of reliable evidence.
Litigation Clinic
Featuring a unique, combined focus on both civil and criminal law, the Litigation Clinic is a semester-long "lab" experience with a complementary classroom element.
