{ CL I N IC S A N D CEN T ER S }
Training Tomorrow’s Immigration Lawyers THROUGH ITS CLINICS AND CENTERS, UC HASTINGS PROVIDES STUDENTS WITH HANDS-ON OPPORTUNITIES TO GAIN VALUABLE SKILLS IN THE EVER-EVOLVING FIELD OF IMMIGRATION AND ASYLUM LAW. This page, far left: Blaine Bookey ’09 and Aracely Bayona, consultant to the El Salvador Parliament; left: Professor Karen Musalo and Stewart Pollock ’14 (seated left) and Blaine Bookey and Elva Linares ’14 (seated right), with two consultants to the women’s congressional caucus in El Salvador. Opposite page: Stewart Pollock and Elva Linares.
UC Hastings offers several clinical opportunities in immigration law that allow students to tackle complex domestic and international issues. Both on campus and out in the community, students handle refugee cases and deferred action matters; they also travel to other continents for fact-finding missions related to human rights. Immigrants’ Rights Clinic At the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic (IRC), seven students a semester spend up to 20 hours a week working at local nonprofits, including the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and the National Immigration Law Center, and in select private practices. Earning six credits a semester, students assist on a range of immigration cases, such as acquiring permanent residency, citizenship, and deferred actions. The organizations and law firms hosting students are selected for 32 SPRING 2013
their devotion to teaching and mentoring, Professor Richard Boswell explains. “They’re interested in developing good, ethical practitioners in this area, where, in my opinion, clients are much more vulnerable.” The IRC is what Boswell calls a hybrid externship model. “Students gain a real sense of what immigration law practice is like, and the clinic provides them with the fundamental skills,” he says. Students also take a companion course focused on ethical
and practical matters, including fact investigation, case planning, working with interpreters, and interviewing and counseling clients. Before taking the clinic, students must complete the upperdivision course in immigration law. Refugee and Human Rights Clinic Though similar in mission to the IRC, the Refugee and Human Rights Clinic is run more like a teaching hospital, says Professor Karen Musalo. Each semester, eight students represent individuals