University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School students who participate in the Gittis Legal Clinics have direct impact on their clients’ lives and well-being. Each year, clinic students collectively render over 30,000 hours of pro bono legal services to more than 150 clients served by the eight clinics. Students build relationships with their clients, gather facts, and take a client-centered approach to finding solutions to their clients’ problems and achieving the best possible outcomes.
As the Law School’s teaching law firm, the Gittis Legal Clinics provide second- and third-year students with experiential learning.
“In the Clinic, students apply the theory they learn in their first-year doctrinal classes and upper-level lectures to real life situations that affect everyday people’s lives,” says Praveen Kosuri, deputy dean for Clinical Education and director of the Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic (ELC).
Clinics also allow students to give back to local and global communities by providing important legal services to those who would otherwise be unable to access them. The experience often profoundly impacts both the students—refining their legal skills and shaping their professional identities—and clinical clients. “In our clinics, students start to decide what kind of lawyers they want to be. That journey will continue throughout their careers but begins here in the Clinic,” Kosuri says.
Outreach experiences include urgent asylum case with the Transnational Legal Clinic, advocating for foster children and securing services with the Interdisciplinary Child Advocacy Clinic, and advising social enterprises in transactional matters at the Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic.
Read more at Penn Carey Law.
