Jeff Baker (Pepperdine), 2023 Update From the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law Program of Clinical Education:
Through 2023, our clinical program continues to thrive and grow as we advance our missions of fruitful education, professional formation and access to justice. Our legal clinics are the heart of our enterprise, to prepare law students to become lawyers who bring light and excellence to the world. In a moment of political polarization, global crises, and national upheaval, we commit again to the development of smart, ready, ethical lawyers with hearts and minds for justice and to the rule of just laws to protect democracy and promote human dignity.
This year, our nine clinics provided tens of thousands of hours of pro bono, public interest legal services to worthy clients. Across diverse practice areas and practice styles, our students learn through supervised practice in litigation, trial and appellate practice; civil and tax practice; mediation and family law; corporate and transactional practice; local, national, and international practice. We teach and learn for transfer, so that students may translate all these experiences into their careers in any area of practice.
Prof. Peter Fendel joined our team as the new Director of Externships and Pro Bono Programs. He leads our robust externship program with over a hundred field placements each semester in diverse placements throughout Southern California. It facilitates summer externships throughout the nation and the world, and it collaborates on field placements for the London Program and the Washington DC Externship Semester. Prof. Fendel is also underway in designing new pro bono opportunities for students.
We offered two practicum courses in 2023. The Public Interest Practicum is a partnership with Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County in which students work under expert supervision of brilliant lawyers representing clients in family law, housing, immigration, public benefits, and clean-slate matters. The Therapeutic Justice Practicum is a partnership with the Ventura County Public Defender in which our students work with justice-involved clients who are eligible for diversionary, therapeutic sentencing programs in Collaborative Courts.
We have also expanded our stipend-funded programs. Through generous donations, the law school supports students working on immigration and asylum matters at Public Counsel in Los Angeles and in public-interest placements throughout the nation and the world in the summer term.
In our programs, everything is pedagogy; every client, matter, task, and conversation present opportunities to teach and learn. Our students and faculty serve clients from Skid Row to the Ninth Circuit, from state courts to the IRS, from the US to four other continents, through litigation, mediation, transactions and every step of client-centered advice, counsel, and advocacy. I invite you to read the following stories from the Legal Aid Clinic, Mediation Clinic, Ninth Circuit Appellate Advocacy Clinic, Community Justice Clinic, Restoration and Justice Clinic, Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, Faith and Family Mediation Clinic, Startup Law Clinic, and the Religious Liberty Clinic. Here can also learn more about the Public Interest Law Practicum, the Therapeutic Justice Clinic, and our expansive Externship Program.
