Eric M. Leventhal

I can confidently say, without a doubt in my mind, that the Criminal Defense Clinic was the single best thing I did at Texas Law.  The supervisors are top-notch and consistently find a way to reward the students with experience, supplemented by valuable anecdotes from both other students and the supervisors themselves.  I would recommend the Criminal Defense Clinic wholeheartedly to anyone interested in understanding how things actually work in the criminal justice system.  Just days into the semester, I was able to negotiate with prosecutors, analyze DWI sobriety tests to ensure adequate procedure was followed, and meet with a Spanish-speaking client to get his side of the story.  I have never before or since felt so liberated by the possibility of doing good for persons in need.  If given the opportunity, I would volunteer to help in a heartbeat.  Law is not in a 900-page textbook or 80 page fictionalized hypothetical.  Law is real and happening every day in the Clinic.