Civil Clinic students will have an opportunity to represent clients in a variety of civil legal matters, including full-service representation in the areas of estate planning and post-conviction relief (pardons, conviction set-asides, and record sealing).  Students may also represent low-income clients in a limited-scope capacity in the areas of family law (divorce, custody, visitation), consumer protection, landlord-tenant, guardianships, name changes, and other general civil matters, and have opportunities to lead or participate in one of the Clinic’s outreach projects. In addition, each semester at least five Clinic students will have the opportunity to participate in an Advance Directive Clinic, an off-site program where students work with senior citizens in out-state Nebraska in drafting their estate planning documents.             

Civil Clinic is offered for 6 credit hours in the fall and spring semesters, and in the summer term (spanning both of the 5-week sessions), students can register for either 4 or 6 credit hours.  Professor approval is required to register for 6 credit hours in the summer.  

The Civil Clinic has a classroom component that meets once during the week preceding the beginning of the semester (typically the Friday before classes start), and then once each week during in the fall and spring semesters (and slightly more frequently in the shorter summer semester).  The classes are scheduled for a time that is mutually convenient for the students and faculty.  The focus of the first few classes is Clinic office orientation, client interviewing, litigation planning and fact investigation, motion practice, and negotiation.  After these initial classes, the weekly sessions will be replaced by “case rounds.”  Case rounds are led by Clinic student teams who will present on one or more topics of their choosing to their Clinic colleagues. Each team will present once per semester.