As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of our Milton A. Kramer Law Clinic Center, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Law is honored to be ranked #6 in the nation in Practical Training in the Spring 2021 issue of PreLaw Magazine, a publication of National Jurist.
“In today’s world, experiential education is viewed as a hallmark of a great law school,” said Co-Dean Michael Scharf. “Law firms and government agencies want to hire students who are more practice ready. And that's best taught through a hands-on approach.”
“Case Western Reserve has long been recognized as a national leader in experiential education, which we integrate into all three years of our curriculum,” said Co-Dean Jessica Berg.
“Through our 1L client experience, our externships, and nine Law Clinics, our students completed 24,276 hours of pro bono work last year,” reports Associate Dean for Experiential Education Laura McNally-Levine. “In order to make unpaid externship opportunities affordable, most of our Centers provide summer grants to students to help defray costs.”
As a requirement of CWRU’s capstone, every third-year law student enrolls in a Law Clinic where they get “first chair” experience or undertakes a semester-long externship where they practice among experienced lawyers in a variety of settings throughout the United States and the world.
“Students in our IP Venture Clinic represented twenty startups. Students in our Immigration Law Clinic participated in several asylum hearings. And students in our new Appellate Litigation Clinic argued four cases before Appeals Courts this semester,” said McNally-Levine.
The rise in CWRU Law’s ranking from #9 to #6 corresponds with the receipt of several new grants such as the $1 million received from the Stanton Foundation for the new First Amendment Law Clinic, which just filed a suit against the Cleveland Police Department for withholding use of force reports.