Criminal Defense and Reentry Clinic

The Criminal Defense and Reentry Clinic will be offered to 8 students as a year-long, 14-credit fieldwork course and seminar. Students should expect to devote 12-15 hours per week to their fieldwork.

The clinic allows students to explore the ways that defenders can provide zealous, holistic representation to clients charged with criminal offenses. It will also examine ways that defenders can work to address broad, pressing issues in the criminal legal system. 

Course Description

Students will be embedded in two of the premier public defense offices in New York City. Each student will be assigned to work in one of two offices: Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS) and the Bronx office of the Legal Aid Society Criminal Defense Practice. Students will work with the teacher of the clinic and lawyers in those offices on criminal matters facing clients. That work will involve intake, investigation, advocacy at arraignments, working with clients and witnesses, legal research and representation of clients in adult court. 

Learning Objectives

The clinic’s seminar, fieldwork, and simulations are designed to equip students with the full complement of lawyering skills needed to serve as a holistic and zealous advocate on behalf of clients enmeshed in the criminal legal system.