Herbert and Elinor Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion and Ethics

CLINICS AND PRACTICE

Students have further opportunity to put their faith into practice through the weekly gatherings of the CLS chapter or in the clinics and practicum courses.

Religious Faith & Student Life
Pepperdine's Christian Legal Society Chapter is one of the most active chapters in the country, regularly sending the largest group of students to the annual CLS national conference. A weekly Bible Study is held on Wednesday evenings in the home of Vice Dean Tim Perrin. Law school faculty members generally speak at that study.

 The Global Justice Practicum is offered in the fall semester. The Practicum allows students to work with Global Partner Organizations under the supervision of a Pepperdine faculty member. Past projects have included: reports on comparative international adoption law, handbooks on legal writing and research for young lawyers in India, creation of continuing legal education course related to the human rights situation in Burma, and a property grabbing manual for churches in Rwanda. More information can be found in the course catalogue.

The Family Legal Aid Clinic at Union Rescue Mission in downtown LA provides Pepperdine law students the opportunity to interview, do casework, and represent indigent clients in court. Our legal system was created for the good of all, but for the poor and powerless, minor legal difficulties often create insurmountable barriers to their recovery, re-entry, and active participation in society. In an effort to answer God's call to "do justice and to love mercy," Pepperdine Law School began the Pepperdine Legal Aid Clinic at the Union Rescue Mission in 1999. The clinic, directed by Assistant Professor Brittany Stringfellow Otey, is located in the "skid row" area of downtown Los Angeles. It seeks to meet clients where they are, as they seek to overcome their past, and re-enter their communities as productive, upstanding contributors. More information can be found on the Clinic’s website.

The Asylum Clinic, under the direction of Judge Bruce Einhorn, provides second and third year law students, acting under professorial supervision, with the opportunity to represent indigent and underprivileged foreign-born individuals who seek asylum in the United States. The Asylum Clinic is open to all indigent and underprivileged asylum seekers who upon screening by Judge Einhorn, the instructors, and the students, are deemed to possess credible fears of persecution. However, the clinic is especially concerned with representing victims of religious persecution, such as Jews and Christians in radical Islamic theocratic regimes like Iran, and intolerant and authoritarian or unstable regimes like China and Pakistan. More information can be found on the clinic’s website.