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The University of Texas at Austin School of Law
  2. Course Schedule

Clinic: Immigration - Skills

  • Semester: Fall 2009
  • Course ID: 397D
  • Credit Hours: 3
  • Unique: 29150

Course Information

  • Course Type: Clinic
  • Grading Method: Pass/Fail Mandatory
  • Professional Skills: Satisfies ABA Professional Skills Requirement

Registration Information

Meeting Times

Meeting information not available

Evaluation Method

Type Date Time Location
None

Description

Students must register for Law 397C and 397D, for a total of six credits. Student attorneys in the Immigration Clinic provide crucial representation to vulnerable low-income immigrants. Through legal representation of clients and participation in the classroom component of the clinic, students learn substantive immigration law, practice important legal advocacy techniques and explore models for ethical, responsible and effective lawyering. The cases handled by the Immigration Clinic are diverse and illustrate the breadth of immigration practice. The clinic has handled cases for clients from, among other countries, Colombia, El Salvador, Eritrea, Guinea, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe. The Clinic's cases range from asylum claims based on political persecution or religious, ethnic or gender-based violence in the client's home country to claims of United States citizenship by individuals born abroad to U.S. citizen parents but whose status has not been recognized by immigration authorities. An important component of the clinic's caseload involves work at the T.Don Hutto Family Detention Center in nearby Taylor, Texas. Students represent children and their parents who seek asylum and release from the controversial facility that holds immigrant families. Student attorneys in the clinic take on primary responsibility for their cases, with guidance and mentoring from the clinic faculty. Each semester, the clinic's student attorneys conduct a range of lawyering activities including: client interviewing, development of case strategy, brief writing, preparation of witnesses, and presentation of cases before the courts and the immigration agency. Some of the clinic's cases are handled administratively before the Department of Homeland Security and involve an interview process while other cases require full trials in the immigration courts, including document submission, witness examination and closing arguments. Yet other cases involve appellate brief writing and legal argument before the federal and immigration courts. The Immigration Clinic advocates on broader immigration issues and policy as well. The Immigration Clinic meets for class two times per week for an hour and a half. Grading is on a pass/fail basis for this six-credit hour clinic. There is no final exam or paper. Students should expect to spend 10-20 hours per week on Clinic work, including class time and office hours. Students will occasionally travel to the Hutto facility and to San Antonio where the Immigration Court and the offices of the Department of Homeland Security are located. Students are encouraged to apply for the clinic during early registration as enrollment is limited. Students must fill out an application, available from the Registrar and on the Clinic's website, and receive faculty permission to register. The application questionnaire should be returned to the clinic's administrator, Sonja Hartley, by e-mail at shartley@law.utexas.edu or in person at CCJ 1.310. Students may request to be placed on a waiting list, if space is unavailable during registration. For more information about the Immigration Clinic, contact Barbara Hines at 232- 1310 or Denise Gilman at 232-7796, or by e-mail at bhines@law.utexas.edu or dgilman@law.utexas.edu. We also invite you to visit the Clinic offices.

Instructors

Headshot of Hines, Barbara C Hines, Barbara C
Headshot of Gilman, Denise L. Gilman, Denise L.
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