The Clinical Advantage

The Clinical Education Experience - Learning to be a Lawyer

The Gonzaga Center for Law and Justice is home to University Legal Assistance (ULA), a not-for profit clinical law program. Often referred to as "The Clinic," ULA is a medium-sized public service law firm located in Gonzaga University School of Law, Suite 101.

• The Clinic is run by six faculty members, support staff, and approximately forty law students.
• Clinical experience applies academics to legal practice, and is modeled after a general practice law firm.
• Emphasis is on family law, elder law, civil rights, disability rights, and criminal defense.
• The Clinic has been given the Charles Goldmark Distinguished Service Award from the Legal Foundation of Washington (1995), and the Emil Gumpert Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Trial Advocacy (1994), and has been recognized by the American College of Trial Lawyers.

We welcome inquiries about the Clinic. Please drop into the office, Suite 101 on the first floor of the law school. Office Manager Bonnie White can provide tours and answer your questions regarding application requirements.

Clinical Education at University Legal Assistance (ULA) emphasizes:

1. Learn lawyer responsibilities and decision making

Each intern represents clients at all levels of the dispute resolution process, and is responsible (under supervision) for case decisions and attorney-client collaboration. 

If the case reaches the litigation phase, the intern handles all aspects of the pre-trial and trial preparation, and the trial itself.

ULA interns were the first interns in the state of Washington to try criminal felony cases, the first to try cases in the Federal Court and argue in the Courts of Appeal.

2. Learn legal skills development techniques

Interns developed practice skills including:

• Interviewing and counseling clients
• Negotiating on clients' behalf
• Drafting demand letters, pleadings, briefs, and legal documents
• Trial skill development working with actual clients and their cases

3. Learn legal doctrine analysis and application

The best way to learn substantive doctrine is by applying it in actual cases. Substantive areas of focus are General Public Interest Practice including:

• Family Law
• Civil Rights
• Consumer and Housing Law
• Senior citizen problems
• Rights of the developmentally disabled
• Other areas of important public interest which are of education value
• Public Interest Law