Students in the Civil Rights Clinic represent low-income clients in civil rights matters, such as due process rights in the criminal justice system, Eighth and Fourth Amendment rights, and discrimination claims. Students work on cases and law reform advocacy projects with co-counsel from Texas-based civil rights organizations, under the supervision of clinic faculty. Through direct representation, students hone lawyering skills, including client interviewing, fact investigation, negotiation, drafting pleadings, discovery and depositions, and trial advocacy. Students work on cases in teams, meeting with supervising clinic faculty on at least a weekly basis. Students also participate in a classroom seminar, in which students learn relevant substantive and procedural law, discuss the political and social contexts of civil rights cases, and think through how to resolve legal problems effectively and ethically. The seminar meets twice a week for a total of three hours. The supervising Clinic faculty member is Visiting Clinical Professor Lia Sifuentes Davis. The clinic is offered in the fall and spring, for six (6) credits, pass/ fail. The Clinic is open to students who have completed their first two semesters. Students should expect to devote an average of 10 hours per week for casework and seminar preparation. For more information, see https://law.utexas.edu/clinics/civil-rights/.
Davis, Lia Sifuentes 