Enrollment Procedures for Clinical Courses

In clinical courses, students engage in front-line legal work, representing clients and working on actual cases under close faculty supervision while participating in a weekly seminar study of the subject areas and essential lawyering skills.

All clinical courses (“Clinics”) are one semester. Students may enroll in either a clinic or an externship for a semester, and students may take more than one clinic but not simultaneously. Students in their 3L year receive priority for enrollment, but 2L students may also enroll. However, to be certified under the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Student Practice Rule to represent clients in state court, students must complete three semesters of law school, which means that students’ first opportunity to enroll for certain clinics (see names in bold below) will be the second semester of their 2L year.

Advocacy for Racial and Civil Justice Clinic
Civil Practice Clinic
Criminal Defense Clinic
Detkin Intellectual Property and Technology Clinic
Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic
Interdisciplinary Child Advocacy Clinic
Legislative Clinic
Transnational Legal Clinic

General Enrollment Procedures for Clinics:

Students will be enrolled in Clinics in the same manner as any other courses (e.g., JD students should request the clinic during advance registration, and 3L students are given enrollment priority). An exception is the Detkin Intellectual Property & Technology Legal Clinic, which requires a separate application.
Please read the course descriptions carefully since individual Clinics may have their own specific enrollment requirements or preferences.
Though students register for Clinics (except the IP Clinic) the same way as any other course, once enrolled, students will have a limited amount of time to confirm and commit to the Clinic spot. Additional instructions will be provided via email after enrollment. After students confirm and commit, students will be fully enrolled in the clinic and may not drop without permission from the instructor and the Dean of Students. Please note that a clinical course is not just a class but a professional commitment to clients, peers, and faculty.
All Clinics continue through the end of the Law School’s examination period. Though seminars will end on the date that regular classes end, students will be responsible to complete their client casework through the end of the examination period.
Students who request a Clinic as a primary request during advance registration but do not secure enrollment are placed on a waitlist. The Clinic or the Registrar’s Office will reach out by email to students on the waitlist if space becomes available. Students will have a limited amount of time to respond to the waitlist offer before the seat is offered to the next student on the list.
Students who elect to use their enrollment in a Clinic toward their Public Service requirement may be able to receive one less credit for the Clinic in exchange for 35 hours of pro bono credit. Students should contact the Toll Public Interest Center Office about the necessary paperwork.
Students may not enroll in a Clinic if they are responsible for one or more incomplete grades at the beginning of the semester, unless permission is explicitly granted by the instructor.

Clinics for LLM Students

Procedures for Enrolling in Clinics

LLM students are eligible to enroll in the following Clinics:

Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic
Transnational Legal Clinic
Detkin Intellectual Property and Technology Clinic

Please note that these Clinics may have only one or two seats available for LLM students and may not be open for LLM enrollment every semester. LLM students are not permitted to enroll in any Externships and may not enroll in more than one Clinic per semester. Before enrolling in a Clinic, LLM students must request an interview with the Clinic faculty.

LLM students will receive an email during the summer regarding the deadline for requesting an interview with the faculty for each Clinic of interest and for providing a CV/resume and an English writing sample. LLM students approved by the Clinic faculty will be entered in a lottery for the limited number of seats available for each of the specified Clinics.

After the interviews, students will receive an email notifying them whether or not they have been selected through the lottery for enrollment in a Clinic. The Registrar’s Office will help students make course changes to their schedule.

Please note: Because LLM students are not guaranteed a seat in clinical courses, LLM students should create their initial schedules without including the clinical course.

Please contact clinic@law.upenn.edu if you have any questions.

LLM students will receive an email in the fall regarding the deadline for requesting an interview with the faculty for each Clinic of interest and for providing a CV/resume and an English writing sample . LLM students approved by the Clinic faculty will be entered in a lottery for the limited number of spots available for each of the Clinics for which the LLM students interviewed.

LLM students who interviewed for, but did not enroll in, a fall semester Clinic may be considered for the same Clinic in the spring semester without interviewing again. However, the students must email clinic@law.upenn.edu to ask to be entered in the spring semester lottery for that Clinic.

Please contact clinic@law.upenn.edu if you have any questions.

Registrar

General Enrollment Procedures for Clinics:

Clinics for LLM Students

Procedures for Enrolling in Clinics

Overview

Fall Registration

Spring Registration