Clinical Education Program

Clinical Education Program

The Pepperdine Clinical Education Program offers students many opportunities for professional experience while in law school. Second and third year students can participate in our clinical or externship programs and receive academic credit on a pass/fail basis. Each area of clinical fieldwork also has a classroom component in the form of a seminar. Students can choose from both "in house" clinical programs and externships at various courts, organizations and agencies.

The Pepperdine Legal Aid and Family Law Clinics at the Union Rescue Mission afford students the opportunity to help the homeless and the poor of the Los Angeles skid row area with government benefits, taxes, minor criminal motions, and family law.

Students working in the International Human Rights Program are able to work with human rights organizations while on campus as well as extern throughout the world.

Our Special Education Advocacy Clinic provides advocacy for children with developmental disabilities and their families. The clinic empowers parents of these children by assisting them both as counselor and advocate to obtain the appropriate educational services for their children as mandated by law.

The Asylum Clinic allows law students to represent indigent and underprivileged foreign-born individuals who seek asylum in the United States based on a well-founded fear of persecution (including arbitrary detention, physical and psychological abuse, and torture) because of race, religion, nationality (ethnicity), membership in a particular social group (e.g., trade unionists, abused women, the disabled), or political opinion.

The Investor Advocacy Clinic was established by a grant awarded by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Investor Education Foundation and provides 2L students the opportunity to handle arbitrations and mediations before FINRA Dispute Resolution.  Students will be required to enroll in the Arbitration Law in the Securities Industry course and only a select number of students from that course will be invited to participate in the Investor Advocacy Clinic.  Additional details can be found at the Investor Advocacy Clinic website.

In addition, students may participate in a variety of externships in the judicial, criminal, public interest, government, and entertainment arenas.

For further information about externship opportunities please contact Professor Laurie Serafino at (310) 506-7449 or e-mail her at laurie.serafino@pepperdine.edu.