Fall 2023
Professor(s):
J Anna Cabot (CLINICAL FACULTY [405(b)])
Credits: 6
Course Areas: Practice Skills - Clinics and Externships
Time: 1:00p-2:30p TTH Location: 213
Course Outline: Students will represent clients with asylum cases—people who are seeking protection in the U.S. because they fear persecution at home on the basis of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in another protected group like a sexual or gender minority. Students, with the guidance of professors, will be responsible for every aspect of representation including client interviewing and counseling, fact investigation and development, document and application drafting, working with expert witnesses, and trial advocacy.
The Clinic has a classroom component that meets for three hours each week over the course of the semester. The classroom component will focus on (a) developing students’ lawyering skills, (b) introducing substantive law topics within the Clinic’s practice areas, and (c) reviewing and discussing the Clinic’s active cases.
Students will also meet with their supervisor weekly at a mutually convenient time.
Students must apply to the Clinic by submitting the online application at
https://uhlc.wufoo.com/forms/m1263f5v0xj9tln/.
Students should not attempt to enroll themselves in this course. If you are accepted, the Clinic Program Manager will enroll you via the Office of Student Services. For fullest consideration, please apply before course registration opens
Course Syllabus: Syllabus
Course Notes: (Face-to-Face) The UH registration system instruction mode for this course is listed in parenthesis. After student registration opens, there may be instruction mode changes to this course up through two weeks before the first day of classes for the term, but notice of such changes will be sent to then-registered students. For this instruction mode, instructors and students are expected to normally be physically present in the classroom. If the course has a final examination, it will be in a classroom requiring your physical presence. Other assessment, such as a mid-term exam, may also be in a classroom. Whether this instructor will offer “remote presence” (starting a zoom meeting from the podium computer to enable student remote access on an occasional basis) for part or all of the semester is not known, but students should not rely on an expectation that remote presence will be available.
Quota=18
Accepted students must attend a mandatory 2½ day orientation held from Wednesday to Friday before the first day of classes. A Clinic student group picture will be taken during orientation. Students will receive a separate email with additional information.
The date and time of orientation can be found in the Clinic webpage at
www.law.uh.edu/clinic/clinic-orientation.asp
Course Materials
David Binder et al., Lawyers as Counselors (4th ed. 2019)
Paul Bergman, Trial Advocacy (6th ed. 2016)
Other readings and asynchronous materials will be posted on Sharepoint.
Prerequisites: Yes - Good academic standing.
First Day Assignments:
Final Exam Schedule:
This course will have:
Exam:
Paper:
Satisfies Senior Upper Level Writing Requirement: No
Experiential Course Type: clinic
Bar Course: No
DistanceEd ABA: No
Pass-Fail Student Election: Unavailable (Instructor Preference)
Course Materials
Book(s) Required
Course Materials: David Binder et al., Lawyers as Counselors (4th ed. 2019) 9781640203907 and Paul Bergman, Trial Advocacy (6th ed. 2016) 9781683284277
