LAW 7926 - New York Attorney General Clinic II

(CU-CEL)

Spring. 6 credits. S/U grades only.

Recommended Prerequisite: LAW 7925, or permission of instructor.

J. Callery, E. McArdle, C. Wiles.

Students work 12-15 hours per week in the Syracuse Regional Office of the New York Attorney General and attend a weekly class at Cornell. Each student is assigned to work with an Assistant Attorney General. Students will perform legal research, writing, and analysis, draft original legal documents, and provide trial support. There will also be an opportunity to attend hearings, trials, motion arguments, and pre-trial proceedings. New York Attorney General Clinic II (AG II) builds on skills and knowledge acquired by students in New York Attorney General Clinic I (AG I), with an emphasis in AG II on more complex legal matters, legal document drafting, working with attorneys in preparation for court proceedings, developing litigation defense strategies, and resolving professional responsibility issues. The class will include discussion of legal and ethical issues seen in litigation, with special emphasis on matters assigned to students, and will also focus on specific types of practice issues seen in developing cases for dispositive motions or for trial. Issues to be discussed include preparation of expert witnesses, understanding qualified immunity applicable to governmental actions, responding to discovery of privileged or confidential materials, valuing actions, and developing successful litigation strategies. Types of matters that students could be assigned include defense of medical malpractice claims, defective highway design claims, 1983 civil rights actions, petitions seeking to overturn state agency determinations, prisoner claims and public advocacy litigation. Guest speakers will be attorneys serving in various capacities in State or Federal government and may include a judge or court attorney. A field trip to a State facility, such as a prison, hospital or juvenile confinement center, is planned. There will also be a pro bono opportunity to accompany an attorney to a volunteer legal services clinics operated by the Onondaga County Bar Association.

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