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Certificate in Public Interest Law & Policy

Certificate in Public Interest Law & Policy

The Certificate in Public Interest Law & Policy is offered through the College of Law Center for Access to Justice. The certificate prepares law students to serve traditionally underserved populations.

Experiential courses and pro bono volunteer opportunities put theory into practice. With real world connections and guidance from faculty conducting research in the Center for Access to Justice, students build a foundation for serving the public interest.

HIGHLIGHTS

6500+

Pro Bono Hours Served By Students

16+

Credits to Complete a PILP Certificate

A+

Public Interest Law
2018 Back to School National Jurist preLaw Magazine

Benefits

  • Faculty guidance: Faculty advisers are assigned to every student enrolled in the certificate program. Advisers can assist with course selection and provide career guidance for professional development.
  • Hands-on learning: Experiential courses and pro bono volunteer opportunities allow students to build on their legal skills and knowledge.
  • Preparation for practice: Certificate students may focus on an area that aligns with their interests and career goals.

Potential Careers

  • Prosecutor
  • Public defender
  • Immigration attorney
  • Civil rights attorney
  • Legal aid lawyer
  • Policy development and advocacy
  • Government agency attorney
  • Staff attorney at nonprofit organization

Atlanta Advantage

Located in the heart of downtown with access to Atlanta’s landmarks, professional sports, global cuisine, cultural events and more.

A FEW STEPS

  • Southern Center for Human Rights
  • Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
  • Atlanta Legal Aid Society
  • Atlanta Immigration Court
  • Georgia Watch
  • Center for Civil and Human Rights
  • State Capitol
  • Federal and state courts
  • Prosecutor and public defender offices

A FEW MILES

  • Georgia Innocence Project
  • Georgia Legal Services Program
  • Department of Veterans Affairs
  • 130 state agencies
  • Four immigration detention centers

Certificate Requirements

(minimum 16 credit hours)

A minimum of 16 hours is required for certificate completion. The total number of credit hours completed will depend on the courses the student elects to take to satisfy the course requirements.

Foundations Coursework

  • LAW 7117: Constitutional Law II: Individual Liberties; and
  • LAW 7010: Administrative Law; OR
  • LAW 7225: Federal Courts

Underrepresented Communities Coursework

Choose ONE of the following:

  • LAW 7006E: Access to Justice: Law Reform
  • LAW 7027: Alternative Visions of Criminal Justice
  • LAW 7180: Disability Discrimination
  • LAW 7245: Immigration Law and Practice
  • LAW 7251: Law and Social Welfare
  • LAW 7252: Human Rights and Children
  • LAW 7283: International Human Rights Seminar: Self-Determination of Indigenous Peoples
  • LAW 7286: Human Rights Seminar Case/Reparations
  • LAW 7327: Crimmigration
  • LAW 7330: Elder Law
  • LAW 7341: Law and Mental Health
  • LAW 7433: Race, Ethnicity and the Law
  • LAW 7434: Racial Justice Seminar
  • LAW 7471: Sexual Identity and the Law
  • LAW 7495: Refugee and Asylum Law
  • LAW 7507: Rights of People in Prison
  • LAW 7515: Women and the Law
  • LAW 7516: Reproductive Justice Seminar

Experiential Learning

Choose ONE of the following:

  • LAW 6040: Landlord Tenant Mediation Clinic I
  • LAW 6041: Landlord Tenant Mediation Clinic II
  • LAW 6050: Capital Defenders Clinic I
  • LAW 6051: Capital Defenders Clinic II
  • LAW 6090: HeLP Legal Services Clinic I
  • LAW 6091: HeLP Legal Services Clinic II
  • LAW 6092: Olmstead Disability Rights Clinic I
  • LAW 6093: Olmstead Disability Rights Clinic II
  • LAW 7094: Bankruptcy Assistance and Practice Program
  • LAW 7247: Health Legislation and Advocacy I
  • LAW 7248: Health Legislation and Advocacy II
  • LAW 7336: Fundamentals of Law Practice/Transition to Practice
  • LAW 7600: Philip C. Cook Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic I
  • LAW 7601: Philip C. Cook Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic II
  • LAW 7607: Immigration Clinic I
  • LAW 7608: Immigration Clinic II
  • Externship with a public interest law and policy organization (to be approved through the externship program)

Electives

Electives – choose TWO of the following (this may include a course listed under another category not already used to fulfill that requirement):

  • LAW 7025: Wrongful Convictions
  • LAW 7026: Problems in Criminal Justice
  • LAW 7027: Alternative Visions of Criminal Justice
  • LAW 7031: Advanced Criminal Litigation
  • LAW 7113: Capital Punishment Law
  • LAW 7116: Constitutional Tort Litigation
  • LAW 7145: Constitutional Law: Survey of First Amendment
  • LAW 7151: Constitutional Law Seminar
  • LAW 7155: Consumer Protection
  • LAW 7156: Voting Rights Law
  • LAW 7165: Criminal Procedure: Investigations
  • LAW 7167: Criminal Procedure: Adjudication
  • LAW 7169: Criminal Appellate Practicum
  • LAW 7170: Criminal Justice: Fieldwork and Law Reform
  • LAW 7172: Philosophy of Criminal Law
  • LAW 7173: Criminal Law in the Supreme Court
  • LAW 7174: Criminal Regulation of Vice
  • LAW 7181E: Social Security Disability Law Practicum
  • LAW 7183: Domestic Litigation
  • LAW 7184: Domestic Violence Law
  • LAW 7186: Education Law
  • LAW 7190: Seminar in Education Law
  • LAW 7193: General Employment Law
  • LAW 7195: Employment Discrimination Law
  • LAW 7199: Law of Democracy
  • LAW 7200: Environmental Law
  • LAW 7201: International Environmental Law
  • LAW 7203: Natural Resources and Water Law
  • LAW 7204: Urban Environmental Law Seminar
  • LAW 7206: Comparative Environmental Law: Urban Issues
  • LAW 7207: Environmental Health Law & Policy: Comparative Perspectives
  • LAW 7208: Cross-Cultural Communication in International Dispute Resolution
  • LAW 7209: Creative Conflict Prevention and Community Improvement
  • LAW 7216: Family Law
  • LAW 7220: Family Law Seminar
  • LAW 7239: Health Law: Quality and Access
  • LAW 7243: HIV/AIDS and the Law
  • LAW 7244: Public Health Law
  • LAW 7252: Human Rights and Children
  • LAW 7256: Independent Research [on a relevant topic, by petition]
  • LAW 7258: Legal Preparedness for Public Health Emergencies
  • LAW 7261: Global Perspectives on Children and the Law
  • LAW 7274: International Criminal Law
  • LAW 7277: International Human Rights
  • LAW 7278: International Human Rights Seminar – Immigration
  • LAW 7282: International Human Rights: Practical Applications Seminar
  • LAW 7289: International Law and U.S. Foreign Relations
  • LAW 7300: Juvenile Justice
  • LAW 7306: Juvenile Law
  • LAW 7315: Labor Law
  • LAW 7328: The Law and Business of Immigration
  • LAW 7331: Law and Health Equity
  • LAW 7336E: Fundamentals of Law Practice
  • LAW 7341: Law and Mental Health
  • LAW 7357: The Law of Social Enterprise
  • LAW 7362: The Legal History of the U.S. Eugenics Movement
  • LAW 7375: Legislation
  • LAW 7380: Legislative Drafting Seminar
  • LAW 7385: State and Local Government Law
  • LAW 7386: Advanced Local Government Law
  • LAW 7387E: Street Law
  • LAW 7397: International Perspective on Urban Law and Policy
  • LAW 7411: Nonprofit Organizations
  • LAW 7419E: Civil Pre-Trial Litigation
  • LAW 7425: Public International Law
  • LAW 7433: Race, Ethnicity, and the Law
  • LAW 7434: Racial Justice Seminar
  • LAW 7442: Solidarity Economy Lawyering
  • LAW 7453: Forensic Evidence
  • LAW 7454: Forensic Medicine
  • LAW 7468: Sentencing
  • LAW 7472: Society and the Supreme Court Seminar
  • LAW 7521: Workers Compensation
  • LAW 7611: Comparative Legal and Policy Responses to Climate Change
  • LAW 7614: Urban Economic and Environmental Sustainability: Law, Policy & Culture
  • LAW 7651: Social Equality and the Law
  • LAW 7652: Public Health Law & Policy: Global & Comparative Perspectives (Global Perspectives on Children and the Law)
  • LAW 7653: Comparative Concepts of Criminal Justice
  • LAW 7666: Comparative Criminal Procedure
  • LAW 7802: Innocence Practicum
  • LAW 7803E: Mental Health & Criminal Law Practice
  • LAW 7516: Reproductive Justice Seminar
  • LAW 7517: Women’s Legal History
  • Other College of Law courses or courses in other GSU departments, subject to approval by your faculty advisor and the Faculty Director and Assistant Director of the Center for Access to Justice.

Writing Requirement

Students must complete a substantial writing project on a public interest law and policy topic, which may also be used to satisfy the College of Law’s writing requirement. Written projects for Moot Court or writing competitions DO NOT satisfy the certificate writing requirement unless they otherwise meet the College of Law writing requirement. The writing project must be pre-approved by your faculty advisor and the faculty member who will supervise the project (if different). For substantial writing projects completed in courses or independent study credits not listed above, you should coordinate in advance with your certificate faculty advisor to ensure that the project will meet the writing requirement for this program.

Extracurricular Activity

Students must participate in 40 hours of approved pro bono work through the student-run Pro Bono Program and report these activities on the report form. Pro bono legal work done outside the student-run Pro Bono Program is eligible, subject to approval.

Coursework (including externships) and summer internship hours may not be counted.

Donating money to a cause or organization will NOT be counted as an approved extracurricular activity.

Grades and Honors

A minimum GPA of 3.00 is required for all courses taken in satisfaction of the certificate requirements. A minimum grade of 3.00 is required for the writing requirement. If you take more than the minimum number of courses needed to fulfill certificate requirements, the Assistant Director will use the highest grades in courses that fulfill the certificate requirements when calculating GPA for the certificate. If a course includes both a pass/fail and graded component, the graded component will be counted. For example, externships taken pass/fail can fulfill the lawyering-skills requirement and will not be included in GPA calculation, but the grade in the one-hour externship course will be counted. If you take multiple courses that may count for a single requirement, the highest grade fulfilling that requirement will be counted for GPA purposes.

If you do not pass Constitutional Law II: Individual Liberties, you must take it again to earn the certificate. Both the failing grade from the first attempt and the passing grade from the second attempt will be calculated in the GPA for the certificate, and you must still meet the minimum GPA of 3.00. If you fail another course taken toward other certificate requirements, you may take a different course that satisfies that component instead, and the passing grade will be counted toward your certificate GPA. For example, if you select a course from the underrepresented communities list and do not pass it, you may take a different course satisfying that component, and the higher of the two grades will count.

Honors will be awarded for achievement of a GPA of 3.60 or higher in all public interest law and policy courses taken for the certificate and any additional public interest law and policy electives taken above and beyond the requirements. If you do not pass a course taken toward the certificate and you retake the course, both the failing grade from the first attempt and the passing grade from the second attempt will be calculated in the GPA, and you must still maintain a 3.60 to receive honors in the certificate program.

Application

Verification for Graduation

It is the student’s responsibility to submit a Certificate in Public Interest Law & Policy Verification Form confirming satisfactory completion of certificate requirements no later than the drop-add date of the student’s last semester in the J.D. program. The faculty advisor must sign the verification form before it is submitted to the assistant director. The assistant director will then verify grades after graduation when available from the Registrar.

The verification form must be accompanied by the extracurricular activities report, which must also receive pre-approval from the faculty advisor. Each extracurricular activity should be reported in sufficient detail to document attendance or participation, including the time, date, location and people or organization overseeing the activity.

Every effort should be made to submit these forms in a timely manner. The faculty director or assistant director of the Center for Access to Justice, at their discretion, may choose not to accept late, incomplete or unsigned forms.

The PILP certificate helped me choose courses that aligned with my interests while ensuring that I stayed well-rounded. The certificate was also an efficient and effective way to demonstrate to employers, both on my resume and during interviews, my commitment to public interest and service.

– Andy Navratil (J.D. ’18)

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