Criminal Appellate Defender Clinic

Introduction

Students in the Criminal Appellate Defender Clinic will represent clients appealing their felony convictions to the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department. This Clinic is conducted in conjunction with the Office of the Appellate Defender (OAD). (For more information about OAD, go to the OAD website.) The Clinic seminar consists of lectures and exercises dealing with a variety of aspects of criminal appellate defense. At the same time, students will write an appellate brief on behalf of an OAD client under the supervision of an OAD supervising attorney. Additionally, there may be opportunities for students to be staffed on a reinvestigation case – working with OAD’s Reinvestigation Project on challenging a conviction by means of a post-verdict motion in New York County Supreme Court or Bronx County Supreme Court.

Course Description

Client Representation

Students will represent clients appealing their felony convictions to the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department. Under the active supervision of an OAD supervising attorney, each student will read the hearing and/or trial record, research and select issues, and prepare the opening appellate brief. In addition, each student will communicate with his or her client and, where feasible, visit the client.

While preparation and filing of the reply brief and the oral argument for the case will occur after the end of the semester, where possible, students will have the opportunity - on a voluntary basis - to write the reply brief and orally argue the case.

The Seminar

The seminar will meet weekly at the Office of the Appellate Defender, 11 Park Place, Suite 1601, New York, NY. If Clinic activities will take place outside of the regular time slot, students will be given advance notice of any changes in class schedule.

The seminar portion of the class will cover three broad areas: (1) the lawyering and counseling skills necessary to represent indigent clients appealing their convictions; (2) substantive elements of criminal appellate advocacy (issue spotting, standards of review, the preservation doctrine, harmless error analysis, and remedies); and (3) brief-writing skills (including analysis of a record, issue selection, and developing a theory of the case). There will also be seminar sessions dealing with oral advocacy, challenging a conviction by means of a post-verdict motion in trial court, and other types of advocacy appellate attorneys can engage in on behalf of their clients (for example, parole advocacy, addressing prison-related problems, immigration matters, social work assistance).

Learning Outcomes

By the completion of the clinic, students will demonstrate knowledge, skill, and competence in the following areas:

1. Lawyering and counseling skills necessary to represent indigent clients on appeal, including grounding in client-centered, trauma-informed, and holistic representation; cross-cultural competence; and recognizing and addressing racism and other biases in our legal system;
2. New York and federal procedural and substantive criminal law, including appellate-specific doctrines such as standards of review, preservation, harmless error, and legal remedies on appeal;
3. Brief writing, including case record analysis, issue spotting and selection, and developing a theory of the case;
4. Oral advocacy, focusing on strategies appropriate to New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division and the New York Court of Appeals; and
5. Additional advocacy mechanisms, including collateral attacks, parole advocacy, addressing prison-related problems, immigration matters, and social work assistance.

Qualifications for Applicants

Criminal Procedure is a pre- or co-requisite. Evidence is also preferred as a pre- or co-requisite.

The Office of the Appellate Defender represents indigent defendants in cases from Bronx and New York Counties. To avoid any possible conflict of interest, students who are likely to have pending applications for employment with either the Bronx or New York County (Manhattan) District Attorneys’ Offices may not be able to participate in the clinic.

Application Process

Please submit the standard clinic application, resume and unofficial transcript, using CAMS, the online application system. There will be no interview.

* Consult the Clinics Open to LL.M. Students page to see if the clinic is available to LL.M.s in the current year.
** 5 credits include 3 clinical credits and 2 academic seminar credits.
*** Evidence is also preferred as a pre- or co-requisite.