Clinical Programs
For more details and information about how to enroll in
clinics at George Mason University School of Law, contact
the clinic directors or the Registrar. Clinics provide excellent
opportunities for students to gain practical legal experience
and to make contacts in the legal community. Interested
students can pick up additional information on the clinics
in the CDAS office.
Clinic for Legal Assistance to Servicemembers
The Clinic for Legal Assistance to Servicemembers (CLAS)
held its first session during the winter term, 2004. Its
mission is to provide free civil legal services to active-duty
members of the armed forces and their families for whom
hiring counsel would create an undue hardship. The clinic
has established relationships with all military services
and the American Bar Association. There is no similar
clinic existing among American law schools. Matters CLAS
students have considered include the rights of parents
of a soldier wounded in Baghdad combat, and the estate
of a reservist mobilized for duty in Afghanistan. Joseph
C. Zengerle is executive director of the CLAS, drawing
on his background as a Washington lawyer, a teacher of
homeland security law at GMU, and executive director of
the Legal Aid Society in Washington. He can be contacted
at (703) 993-8384 or jzengerl@gmu.edu.
Domestic Relations Legal Clinic
The Domestic Relations Legal Clinic is supervised by
Judge Stanley P. Klein of the Fairfax County Circuit Court
and offers students a unique opportunity to assist pro
se litigants in obtaining uncontested divorces. Student
lawyers are assigned a mentor who is a well-known domestic
relations lawyer and work in the mentor’s office
12 hours per week on all manner of domestic relations
issues and cases. The student lawyers are given their
own case load of clients who seek help from the clinic.
The students meet with clients, draft pleadings, review
documentation and appear in court for ore tenus
hearings before a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge.
Some students may even have the opportunity to argue motions
for support or minor property determinations. To be eligible
to enroll in the clinic, students must have completed
Domestic Relations and have a 3rd Year Practice
Certificate. This clinic is limited to the first 10 students
who apply.
Legal Clinic
Through enrollment in a three-credit Legal Clinic, students
have the opportunity to work in the Fairfax County Circuit
Court Judges' Chambers, the Office of the Public Defender,
the Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney or in a private
attorney's office. The
Honorable Stanley P. Klein of the Fairfax County Circuit
Court supervises the Legal Clinic.
Law and Mental Illness Clinic
The Law and Mental Illness Clinic allows students to
gain experience in the judicial, legislative, academic
and advocacy aspects of laws concerning the treatment
of individuals with severe mental illness. The classroom
component of the course studies the history and development
of laws affecting the mentally ill, while also preparing
the students for representation of petitioners during
civil commitment hearings. Students may also represent
clients and will locate and interview witnesses, appear
at commitment hearings, perform direct and cross-examinations
and present legal argument.
Immigration Legal Clinic
The Board of Immigration Appeals, within the Department
of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review,
is the highest administrative tribunal for the interpretation
and application of immigration and nationality law in
the United States. The Board is seeking law students from
George Mason School of Law to serve as interns for academic
credits. Students are supervised by an Appellate Immigration
Judge and will work on a variety of projects, primarily
including legal research and writing issues in immigration
law.
Public Interest Clinic
This clinic exposes students to a broad area of public
interest law and public policy issues, including the development
of the public interest law movement, the shaping of public
policy through litigation and regulation, and advocacy
strategies. The clinic approaches these issues primarily
from a pro-free enterprise, limited government, and economic
freedom perspective. Students have an opportunity to participate
in "hands on" legal activities in conjunction
with the Washington Legal Foundation Economic Freedom
Law Clinic. Professor Paul D. Kamenar directs the
Public Interest Clinic.
For more information about the clinic, contact
Professor Kamenar at (703) 993-8025 or pkamenar@gmu.edu.
Telemedicine Clinic
The Telemedicine Clinic examines how advanced communications
technologies collide with existing forms of health care
regulation. Students
have an opportunity to participate in legal and public
policy research projects with the Center for Telemedicine
Law and work with counsel at the law firm of Arent Fox
Plotkin and Kahn on projects within the health care forum.
copyright © 2004
last updated:
Jun 15, 2005
