College of Law :: Georgia State University

Litigation Externship-- ACLU of Georgia

LAW 8177

Description

(3) semester hours, one semester requirement. A strong interest and background in civil liberties and civil rights preferred. Constitutional Law II is recommended, but not required. The ACLU of Georgia is a non-profit law firm dedicated to protecting civil rights and individual liberties. The ACLU focuses on impact litigation involving a variety of constitutional concerns in a wide variety of contexts. These include church-state, religious freedom, free speech, drug and AIDS testing, employment, public schools, police misconduct, government discrimination based on disability, age, sex, race, sexual orientation, etc. Interns spend their time either evaluating potential cases or assisting with cases currently in various stages of litigation. Each intern will be responsible for one or two potential new cases each month - corroborating and developing the facts, and conducting preliminary legal research into the substantive issues raised. The intern will present and make recommendations concerning their cases to members of the ACLU legal committee at its monthly meeting. This accounts for about 30% of an intern's time. The remaining 70% of an intern's time involves work on cases in all phases of litigation, including client interviews, discovery, trial preparation and appeals. Interns should plan to attend the legal committee meetings held at 5:30 p.m. on the first Monday of each month. All students who have not previously taken an externship must attend a classroom component at the law school. Consent of the Lawyer Skills Program faculty is required for enrollment.

Credit hours: 3