Course Description

This course was offered for the first time in Spring 2010 and again in Spring and Fall 2011. Students learn about the fundamentals of legal practice through observing the work of a solo or small firm practitioner (the "fieldwork attorney"), simulating the case management activities of a small firm, and engaging in real-life client representation.

The course grade is calculated as follows: 40% Fieldwork Report, 30% Course Portfolio (including class participation), 30% client representation case work.

Enrollment is limited and consent of the instructor required. Interested students must complete an on-line application and submit a resume and unofficial law school transcript to Professor Cunningham at cdcunningham@gsu.edu.

Fieldwork Requirement: The major writing assignment in this course is a report in which the student provides a description of the realities of the fieldwork attorney's practice and answer the following questions, with reference to specific examples and quotations drawn from the field work:

1. What is it like to be a solo practitioner or a member of a small firm?
2. What is required to start and sustain a small firm or solo practice?
3. What knowledge, skills, and professional qualities should a law student aim to acquire to prepare for entry into small firm or solo practice?
4. How can law school better assist law students to acquire such knowledge, skills and professional qualities?

The student is required to schedule at least the following interactions with the field placement attorney:
a. An initial in-person interview;
b. At least one follow up visit during which the student observes the attorney at work; and
c. Attorney review of and feedback on an initial and any subsequent report drafts.

The instructor is responsible for arranging the fieldwork placement and will endeavor to place the student with an attorney in a practice area of interest to the student. Students should NOT attempt to arrange their own placement in advance, although students are invited to submit names of possible placement attorneys. The fieldwork placement cannot be with a current or past employer or a family member. In prior semesters part-time students with regular full-time jobs were able to complete the fieldwork requirement and similar efforts will be made to accommodate part-time students this semester.

Client Representation Case Work: Students will work in teams of two (or sometimes more) representing persons seeking Orders of Protection against domestic violence from the Cobb County Superior Court, located in downtown Marietta. Eligible third year students will be certified for courtroom practice under the Third Year Practice Rule and may have the opportunity to conduct direct and cross examinations and closing arguments. Students not eligible for Third Year Practice certification may take the lead for their team in interviewing clients and witnesses, conducting factual investigation,and negotiating with the opposing party. Student performance will be evaluated against the requirements of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct and as to students' effective use of case management practices in the conducting of their case. This is intended to be a very short-term but possibly intensive clinical experience. Students must be able to arrange their schedule (1) to attend court twice during the semester on Tuesday: one day to observe court procedures and the other day for their own hearing and (2) to meet their client at Legal Aid of Cobb County in Marietta on the Tuesday preceding the court hearing.

Course Portfolio: Students will have free access to a leading, web-based case management software called Clio (www.goclio.com) and are required to use this software throughout the semester to record all the time expended for the course and to use the other features of the software for time and task management for their fieldwork and case work. Students will compile a printed portfolio of all their work in the course from the Clio data base (excluding their client representation case work, which is separately evaluated) and be graded based on their competent and thorough use of the software and the diligence of their course work as recorded in Clio.

Required Materials

To be purchased:
Robert C. Smith, Patient-Centered Interviewing: An Evidence-Based Method [Paperback Edition] Lippincott Williams & Wilkins ISBN: 0781732794 [either 2nd or 3rd edition is acceptable]

The following duplicated materials will be distributed at no cost:
Law Practice Management (State Bar of Georgia)
Materials on Georgia Legal Ethics
Manual for Clio Case Management Software

General Information

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