Course Descriptions

General Practice Clinic (2 Sections)

Potentially Available Instructors: Professors Terrence V. Sawyer and Gail Hammer

Course Description

With guidance and supervision, students will represent clients in various cases, which may include family law, children’s rights, consumer law, tribal law, prisoners’ rights, public entitlements, housing, estate planning, surrogate decision making, and health care. In addition to working on cases, students will meet two hours per week to learn and reflect on ethical issues, procedural law, substantive law, and skills.

All students will interview and counsel clients, research the legal basis for clients’ claims, investigate the factual basis for clients’ claims, develop a theory of each case, develop a strategic approach to each case, manage case information, and write advice letters to their clients.

Depending on specific case posture, students may draft legal documents, represent their clients in administrative hearings, engage in written discovery, conduct depositions, appear in court for uncontested and contested motion hearings, negotiate with opposing attorneys or parties, represent their clients in mediation or arbitration, prepare for trial, represent their clients at trial, write appellate briefs, or make appellate arguments. Please note that representing clients in court requires limited admission to the Washington State Bar Association under the student practice rule. The student practice rule requires, among other things, completion of 60 credits of law study.

Learning Objectives

On completion of the class, students will have demonstrated:

• critical awareness of how poverty affects legal rights and access to justice;
• the ability to engage in independent study and systematic inquiry into the rights and remedies implicated in our clients’ situations;
• basic understanding of the substantive and procedural law necessary to competently represent their clients;
• the ability to critically evaluate case theory and strategy;
• the ability to handle uncertainty and ambiguity in relation to their clients’ cases;
• the ability to interview and advise clients;
• the ability to explain their cases succinctly and persuasively;
• the ability to communicate complex and abstract ideas both orally and in writing in a coherent structured fashion in clear and direct English;
• the independent learning ability required for continuing academic and professional development; and
• the ability to assess and reconcile ethical issues.

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Consumer Law Clinic

Students who elect to participate in the Consumer Law Clinic will represent low to middle income clients who are experiencing legal problems. Mortgage fraud, auto fraud, unfair debt collections, credit reporting violations, abusive landlords, and insurance claim denials, are some of the topics that will be confronted. Case selection will concentrate on issues that have a high probability for litigation.

Students will spend two hours per week in class:

• One hour will focus on specific skills, interviewing, drafting, discovery, etc.
• The other hour will be devoted to exploring each other’s cases and discovery issues that arise in the litigation.

Students will be supervised by Professor Alan McNeil.

The learning objectives of this clinic are:

• All students will become familiar with the state and federal consumer protection laws.
• Students will learn how to
  • interview and counsel clients;
  • draft legal memoranda and documents;
  • engage in case evaluation, fact investigation, and case planning;
  • identify legal claims and defenses;
  • and communicate with opposing parties and counsel.
• Many students, depending on the demands of assigned cases, will engage in formal discovery, draft and argue motions, and participate in settlement negotiations or mediations and trial.

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Federal Tax Clinic

Students represent low-income clients, who have tax disputes with the IRS. Cases may range from "advice-only" matters to full-blown litigation in the U.S. Tax Court.

Students will also provide community education about tax obligations and procedures to people who may have limited English-language ability.

Due to the initial training period, preference will be given to applicants willing to consider a two-semester commitment to the tax clinic. Students will be closely supervised and guided by attorney Jennifer A. Gellner.

Prerequisite: Individual Income Tax or concurrent registration in the course.

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Indian Law Clinic

The Indian Law Clinic introduces students to the academic practice of law. Its curriculum is designed to help you think like a lawyer and to nurture the development of legal skills.

Through classroom discussion and by representing Clinic clients,you will learn the skills necessary to become a highly-talented litigator, a trial/appellate advocate, or a transactional counselor at law.

Specifically, you will acquire:

• Working knowledge of:
  • Case development and management
  • Legal strategy and tactics
  • Substantive laws applicable in Indian Country (Indian and United States laws)
  • Procedural rules (Kalispel tribal court and Washington state court procedural rules)
• Basic fact-development skills including, but not limited to:
  • Effective communication with indigenous people
  • Conducting initial and follow-up client (and witness) interviews
  • Counseling clients
• Working knowledge of the range of legal issues presented in representing clients, particularly enrolled members of federally recognized Indian tribes who reside in Indian Country

You may choose to pursue one of two practice tracks:

• Litigation Skills
  Students desiring to learn litigation skills will participate in specialized litigation training and, as law clerks or Rule 9 Legal Interns, may represent clinic clients. These efforts will focus on:
  
  • Initial fact development and interview techniques
  • Analysis of law and fact in connection with a representation decision
  • Litigation strategy and tactics
  • Subsequent case plan for possible litigation including (pleadings, discovery, motion practice (non-dispositive an dispositive), trial, and post-trial motions, and case management techniques)
• Transactional Skills
  Those desiring to learn transactional skills may participate in specialized training that will focus on:
  
  • Client interview techniques
  • Drafting transactional documents, agreements, and statutes
  • Research and brief legal issues
  • Counseling clients in commercial and non-commercial transactions including, but not limited to:
    • Banking
    • Landlord/tenant
    • Consumer protection
    • Creditor/debtor
    • Wills and estates
    • Other areas of civil law

The clinic will be primarily supervised by Professor Jay Kanassatega.

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Business Law Clinic

Participating students will be responsible for:

• Interviewing clients
• Understanding clients' business enterprises
• Preparing a variety of documents pertaining to their formation and operation, including:
  • Charter documents
  • Employment agreements
  • Member and shareholder agreements
  • Licensing agreements
  • Vendor and customer contracts
  • Trademark applications

In limited instances, they will prepare disclosure documents pertaining to capital formation.

In most cases, students will have an opportunity to work with start-up and development-stage enterprises that are being incubated at the Sirti Foundation and other regional economic development agencies, including Gonzaga's Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program.

This is a rigorous program that involves significant research and drafting, and a strong commitment to producing good work under tight timetables. Eligible students should have some familiarity with financial statements and how businesses generally work. Preference will be given to applicants who have successfully completed such business-related law-school classes as:

• Business corporations
• Agency and partnership
• Corporate tax
• Securities regulation
• Professional responsibility
• Taxation of business entities
• IP transaction and Licensing
• Transactional skills and professionalism lab

Students will be supervised by attorney Stephen Faust.

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Elder Law Clinic

Participating students have the opportunity to represent low-income elderly clients in a variety of legal areas affecting the elderly which include Public Entitlements (Medicare, Medicaid , Social Security, VA) housing, estate planning (wills, powers of attorney and health care directives), surrogate decision making, health care, family and consumer law.

All elder clinic students will meet two hours per week for case rounds and a class room component highlighting an area of elder pertinent to the student caseload. Preferences will be given to those applicants who have taken wills and trusts and/or elder.

Students will be supervised by Professor Larry A. Weiser.

The learning objectives of this clinic are:

• The Elder Law Clinic students will represent clients on a variety of legal topics frequently encountered by older adults, such as:
  • Access to health care (including Medicare, Medicaid and insurance coverage);
  • Long-term planning (including preparation of “advance directives,” powers of attorney, living wills and simple estate plans);
  • Consumer protection (including contract review, home-repair scams and predatory lending issues);
  • Protection from financial exploitation, abuse and neglect (including family disputes).
  • Housing (including landlord tenant)
• Classroom topics include ethics and competency, guardianships and durable powers of attorney, wills and trusts, advanced directives and living wills, elder abuse and benefit programs. In the classroom, the clinic also meets as a firm to confer on cases, clients and courses of action.
• All students will learn how to interview and counsel clients; draft legal memoranda and documents engage in case evaluation, fact investigation, and case planning; identify legal claims and defenses; and communicate with opposing parties and counsel. Many students, depending on the demands of assigned cases, will engage in formal discovery, draft and argue motions, and participate in settlement negotiations or mediations. Some few lucky students will actually have the experience of going to trial.

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Environmental Public Interest Clinic

The Gonzaga Environmental Law Clinic (Clinic) provides legal representation to not-for-profit environmental programs in the Inland Northwest, with a focus on representing the Spokane Riverkeeper and other area Keeper programs. The Clinic is modeled after a general-practice law firm. Managed by Michael Chappell, as supervising attorney, the Clinic gives students the opportunity to apply academics to legal practice.

Michael Chappell began the Clinic in the Fall of 2009 to fill a void that was identified at Gonzaga by faculty and students. Environmental Law is an increasingly popular subject given the challenges faced with the natural resources in the Inland Northwest and the United States as a whole, and students indicated an interest in applying their class work to real-world legal experiences in a clinical setting. The faculty quickly agreed to add the Clinic to the fall semester and interest in the program has been very high.

The synergy between the Spokane Riverkeeper and the Clinic was a natural for Mr. Chappell. He worked for over eight years in California for a law firm that represented each of the Keepers in California. The creation of the Spokane Riverkeeper in April 2009, was a perfect fit for the Clinic’s mission and the needs of a new environmental organization. Although the Clinic may represent other environmental groups that require free legal services, the priority of the Clinic will always be in conjunction with the mission of the Spokane Riverkeeper.

Students who enroll in the Clinic have all expressed an interest in pursuing a career in the environmental field. While they are enrolled in the Clinic, students will represent Spokane Riverkeeper, or other applicable organizations, on Clean Water Act citizen suit enforcement actions. Students may also appear on behalf of a client in front of regulatory agencies, or provide written comments, to protect the River and forward the mission of the environmental group. Students interact with clients and members of the organizations, they meet with regulators and dischargers, and they conduct investigations in conjunction with experts to determine whether facilities, construction projects, and municipalities are in compliance with the Clean Water Act. Utilizing law students, the program greatly increases the public and legal presence and influence of the Spokane Riverkeeper in processes impacting the Spokane River.

Here are a handful links directly related to our highway case, the Riverkeeper, or me!

Spokane Riverkeeper
"A Man for All Reasons": Profile of Prof. Chappell
"Stop Mucking Around": Lawyers’ discovery of mudflow into Fernan Lake leads Idaho conservation groups to file Clean Water Act notice on Federal Highway Administration

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Work Study

Work study stipends (paid at a rate of $13.00/hour) will be available only to students who are work-study qualified. They are typically reserved for students who commit to a six-credit clinic; however, exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis.

• Work-study students may not work outside the clinic.
• Students not receiving work study may work outside the clinic only with the permission of clinic faculty. Permission will be granted based on faculty’s assessment of the potential for conflicts of interest and the student’s ability to commit sufficient time to Clinic cases and responsibilities.

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