Government Civil Litigation Clinic - Eastern District of New York
Conducted with the cooperation of the Civil Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York
| LW.10253 / LW.10554 Professor Michael J. Goldberger Open to 3L and 2L students Maximum of 12 students |
Fall and Spring semesters 5 credits* No prerequisites or co-requisites.** |
Course Description
The Government Civil Litigation Clinic - EDNY is conducted in conjunction with the Civil Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. This clinic is designed to expose students to the civil litigation process through the prism of federal government practice. Students will have the opportunity to observe and actively participate in both affirmative and defensive cases in which the United States is a party. The classroom portion of the clinic will include discussions, exercises and sample problems designed to assist students to develop greater insight into litigation as a dispute resolution process. It is designed to maximize student participation and involvement.
Fieldwork
In the clinical internship component of the course, each student will work under the supervision of one or two Civil Division Assistant United States Attorney (AUSAs). All of the AUSAs who work with students are strongly committed to providing students with substantive litigation experience. Students will be exposed to a broad and interesting range of affirmative and defensive civil litigation cases, including affirmative civil rights cases, environmental claims, employment law disputes, tort actions, civil fraud investigations, immigration disputes and asset forfeiture claims. This sheer diversity exposes students to many of the legally and socially significant issues of our time.
Students will participate directly in many aspects of litigation, including preparing for, attending, and assisting with court appearances, conducting and defending depositions, engaging in settlement negotiations, performing witness interviews and conducting arbitrations, trials, and appeals. Wherever possible, students are given the opportunity to argue a motion in court or to examine a witness in a deposition.
Students will be required to work approximately twelve hours each week at the United States Attorney's Office in Brooklyn. The office is conveniently located in Brooklyn Heights, and is easily accessible on the A, C, F, M, R, 2, 3, 4, and 5 trains.
The Seminar
The primary purpose of the seminar will be to teach practical lawyering skills and to engage in and discuss the active strategic and tactical, legal, and ethical considerations that confront government attorneys in their daily practices. Students will be given short reading assignments designed to encourage thought and participation and will engage in exercises throughout the term designed to hone students’ lawyering skills. The class will require students to prepare a complaint, answer, deposition outlines and an opening statement. Classes will be held in the United States Attorney’s Office.
Application Procedure
Interested students should submit via CAMS the standard application, resume and transcript, and a writing sample which is preferably not more than five pages long. There will be no interview, but students are invited to contact the professor Michael Goldberger to discuss the course and any questions they may have. Once accepted into the clinic, students should update their contact information so that a required background investigation may be completed before the semester begins.
Student Contacts
| Fall 2011
Jehiel Baer Christina Bucci Kevin Frick Chad Harple Patrick Harrington Britton Kovachevich Nandhish Nuchina Jordan Rodriguez Theodore Shen Elina Sheykh-Zade Evan Yu |
Spring 2012
Seth Allen Paul Chaffin Hilary Deutch Christopher Dunham Lisandra del Carmen Fernandez Erin Harper Yeremey Krivoshey Adrienne Lucas Sarah Martin Kevin Park Michael Restey Joseph Rome |
** Students selected for the program will be required to obtain a security clearance waiver from the federal Office of Personnel Management; this is required of all interns working in all U.S. Attorney's Offices. Students must be United States citizens to obtain the clearance waiver. It is critical that students accepted for the clinic complete the required security paperwork as soon as possible after acceptance into the clinic so that the security clearance waiver can be timely obtained. Students may not commence clinic work unless they receive a security clearance waiver. In addition, because the U.S. Attorney's Office is involved in litigation against many private law offices, legal services offices and other state or municipal law firms, students may not work part-time in such an office and participate in this clinic.