Experiential education encompasses lawyering activities in which students receive experience outside the classroom—clinics, externships, appellate and trial competitions, and voluntary public service work. Colorado Law’s Experiential Learning Program gives greater coherence to our entire curriculum and builds linkages with faculty involved in experiential education and those involved in traditional classroom teaching.
Colorado Law’s Clinical Education Program started in 1948 and now serves almost 900 clients each year. Clinics are courses that provide practical learning experiences for our students, much-needed assistance to those less fortunate in our community, and invaluable service to the public good. By handling actual cases, students make the transition from legal theory to legal practice, enabling them to take classroom knowledge and turn it into real-world understanding. Under the supervision of expert clinical faculty, student practitioners take primary responsibility for understanding the goals of their clients, and working to represent those clients’ interests persuasively and competently. Clinics are available to all interested students.
Colorado Law is a public institution with a public spirit. The faculty and the students have a passion and deep appreciation of a lawyer’s civic responsibilities to serve the underprivileged and the community. Students who complete a voluntary pledge of at least 50 hours of law-related public service work, not for credit or other compensation, receive recognition on their transcripts. Such service provides students with valuable skills and values, such as legal research and writing, client interviewing, and legal argument development. Students can perform pro bono work for any government agency engaged in legal work (administrative agencies, public defenders, district attorney offices, and judiciary), nonprofit that provides legal services, public interest law firm, or private firm with pro bono projects.
Appellate advocacy, mock trials, and moot court competitions help to develop skills in appellate brief writing and oral argument, and gain valuable trial practice experience. Colorado Law teams have consistently been extremely competitive and participate in and host more competitions each year. Coaching and support come from an experienced group of faculty, fellow students, alumni who recently competed, and judges and lawyers in the community. Students may earn academic credit for their participation.
Students may gain academic credit for performing substantive legal work with government agencies, public institutions, and not-for-profit organizations. Students develop professional lawyering skills, gain insight into various aspects of the legal system and profession, and cultivate a sense of professional responsibility. While uncompensated, students receive credit hours (1 credit hour per 50 hours of work) toward their degrees.