Bridging Theory and Practice
At Stanford Law School, clinical education accomplishes many goals. It is a vital part of our mission to prepare every student for the real-world challenges, responsibilities, and rewards of a career—any career—in law. At the same time, it helps instill in students a fundamental commitment to a lifetime engagement with public service and pro bono activities. In addition, it is one of the ways we give back to our community.
Inspiring Mentors
At Stanford Law, our clinical instructors are practice-seasoned scholars from across the faculty. Some work exclusively in the Mills Legal Clinic; others teach in the clinic alongside their more traditional classroom and scholarly activities—enabling close integration and collaboration between the clinical and academic faculty and curriculum. Everyone benefits, but the chief beneficiaries are students, who develop close working relationships with professors deeply committed to their students’ learning experience.
Opportunities and Contributions
Stanford’s legal clinics reflect the many settings in which our graduates will practice, ranging from litigation to transactional law to policy leadership, in both domestic and international settings. The clinics also prepare students for a responsibility Stanford believes that every lawyer should assume—to spend at least some of his or her time using the privilege to practice law in the service of community and society.
The Chance to Learn by Doing
Students in the Mills Legal Clinic practice law in a wide variety of areas and forums and have had opportunities to:
Negotiate with school officials to develop an individualized education plan for an 8-year-old child with Asperger’s Syndrome.
Negotiate with employers who have failed to pay their workers overtime in violation of federal and state labor standards statutes.
Larry Kramer,Experiential learning must be part of every student’s legal education. In a clinic, students learn critical skills in translating concepts into practice and understanding how to make them work in the always messy real world. They also experience firsthand the rewards and importance of using their legal training for the betterment of society.
Professor of Law (on leave)