LEARN BY DOING

At St. John’s Law, you’ll have many opportunities to learn the law hands on in our in-house and partner clinics, through our co-curricular advocacy and dispute resolution programs and competitions, and with our expansive externship offerings.

As a student in any of the Law School’s four in-house and six partner clinics, you’ll work on real legal matters as advocates for marginalized, underrepresented, and underserved New Yorkers. Clinics provide free legal representation under the supervision of clinical professors and practicing attorneys.

Child Advocacy Clinic Defense and Advocacy Clinic Consumer Justice for the Elderly: Litigation Clinic Securities Arbitration Clinic

Bankruptcy Advocacy Clinic Domestic Violence Litigation Clinic Economic Justice Clinic Prosecution Clinic Refugee and Immigrant Rights Litigation Clinic Tenants’ Rights Advocacy Clinic

Research, write, or become a published author on a student-run journal:

St. John’s Law Review Journal of Catholic Legal Studies American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development New York International Law Review Commercial Division Online Law Report New York Real Property Law Journal

Hone your courtroom advocacy and dispute resolution skills through our co-curricular offerings and in a range of competitions:

The Dispute Resolution Society (DRS) aims to meet the demand for practical education in the constantly developing field of alternative dispute resolution. DRS helps St. John’s Law students hone their negotiation, mediation, and arbitration skills through events, seminars, and internal competitions at St. John’s and in external competitions hosted locally, nationally, and internationally.

Student members of the Moot Court Honor Society sharpen their written and oral advocacy skills, argue cutting-edge appellate issues, and compete in a range of internal and external competitions. They also engage with top legal professionals, including celebrated St. John’s Law alumni and other esteemed practitioners and judges.

The Frank S. Polestino Trial Advocacy Institute (PTAI) offers St. John’s Law students a singular range of opportunities— from trial training programs to internal and external trial competitions—to build their courtroom advocacy skills and to learn to think, act, and speak like trial attorneys.

As an Assistant Professor of Clinical Legal Education, Marty LaFalce directs our in-house Defense and Advocacy Clinic. He spent 14 years as a public defender at the Legal Aid Society and began his career representing clients at Rikers Island, considered to be one of the most notorious and brutal jails in the United States. Professor LaFalce also worked as trial attorney in Manhattan for 10 years, representing New Yorkers charged with crimes ranging from low-level marijuana possession to murder. While working as a trial attorney in Manhattan, he teamed with Legal Aid colleagues, community activists, and state legislators to repeal New York State’s discriminatory gravity knife law. Most recently, Professor LaFalce worked as a policy attorney in Legal Aid’s Criminal Defense Practice, coordinating their legislative reform agenda before the New York City Council and New York State Legislature.

In addition to running our in-house Securities Arbitration Clinic and advising our student-run Corporate and Securities Law Society, Professor Lazaro guides the Law School’s award-winning competition teams and oversees the largest bankruptcy moot court competition in the country. She also serves on the Securities and Exchange Commissions’ Investor Advisory Committee and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Investor Issues Advisory Committee. As a St. John’s Law student, you can gain invaluable work experience through our Lexy and Samuel S. Lionel ‘40, ‘10HON Externship Program. Here’s just a sampling of our externship placements in New York City and beyond: BOC International (USA) Holdings Inc. Brooklyn Defender Services Deutsche Bank Disability Rights New York District Attorney’s Offices (Brooklyn, Nassau, New York, Queens, Richmond, Westchester) DLA Piper Edrington Americas Federal Trade Commission Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Girl Scouts of the USA Haug Partners Ladder Capital Finance, LLC Mobilization for Justice National Labor Relations Board New York City Law Department New York State Attorney General’s Office New York State Courts The Estee Lauder Companies The Legal Aid Society The Safe Center Long Island United Nations Development Programme U.S. Attorney’s Office (EDNY and SDNY) U.S. Bankruptcy Court U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit U.S. Court of International Trade U.S. District Court (EDNY and SDNY) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency U.S. Postal Service U.S. Securities Exchange Commission Wasserman Media Group

*Over 75% of the Class of 2022 completed clinics or externships and all students who wanted to participate in a clinic or externship did.