Clinic Lottery

2008 - 2009 Selection Process

Who is eligible?  All second-year full-time day division students who will be third-year day students during the semesters of Summer 2008, Fall 2008 and Winter 2009 are eligible to participate in the clinic selection process. Also eligible are third-year part-time evening division students who will be fourth-year evening students in Summer 2008, Fall 2008 and Winter 2009. Foreign attorneys who wish to enroll in a clinic must also complete the clinic’s prerequisites and remedial courses to be eligible.

What are the benefits of signing up NOW?  We encourage you to take this opportunity to gain valuable hands-on experience and contacts. You will be working in a true legal setting in an area of the law in which you may ultimately choose to specialize. Your best bet is to sign up now. Why now? Because there will be ample time to reconsider later should you decide against participating in the clinical program. However, the response received from this Lottery will determine which of the individual clinics will be offered in the semesters mentioned above. Insufficient Lottery enrollment now could cause certain clinics to be canceled; then, if you decide later on to take a clinical semester, the particular clinic you may have wanted to take might not be offered. In addition, by signing up now, you have a better chance of being placed into your clinic of choice. So don’t defer your decision.

Remember:Participation in the Lottery process now does not require you to take the clinical semester should your plans later change, but Lottery participation now will increase your opportunity to receive the clinic of your choice. Insufficient subscription in a clinic may cause that clinic to be canceled after the Lottery selection process is completed. At this time, you are not making a final commitment to participate in the clinical semester.

How do I choose a clinic?  There are seven clinics to choose from, all with unique prerequisites. For the Lottery, we ask that you indicate your top three choices, ranking them first, second and third. We do our best to accommodate your first choice; however, if demand is great and you do not receive it, you will automatically be placed on the waiting lists of your other choices. Please make your Lottery selections only for a clinic and a semester in which you truly think you might participate. If you are interested in one clinic only and no other, you needn't indicate more than one choice; but this will not improve your chances of being assigned your choice.

What are the requirements to participate in a clinic?  You have to be in your last academic year of law school and have met the prerequisites of your particular clinic. No student shall be permitted to take a full-time clinic in the last semester of law school unless that student has earned at least a 2.60 cumulative grade point average by the beginning of the semester prior to the last semester in law school. Please bear in mind that later on, just prior to your clinical semester when you are asked to finalize enrollment in your clinic, you must have satisfied its set of prerequisites. Without satisfying the prerequisites, you will be ineligible to enroll in the clinic. And remember that if you are admitted to a clinic by clearing its waiting list at that time, you will still have to have satisfied that clinic’s prerequisites despite the fact that you’ve cleared its waiting list.

What if I make a mistake when entering my Lottery choices?  If you make a mistake or decide you want to change your selection prior to the Lottery deadline, you may do so on the Web by simply repeating the selection process from beginning to end. You may do this as many times as you would like until the deadline. You will receive an electronic confirmation each time you make your selection. Your last entry at the time of the deadline will be the one later tabulated during the true random selection.

How do I sign up for the Lottery?  The selection process is done on the Web. Enroll in a clinical semester by submitting your choices between October 4, 2007, after 6:00 p.m., and October 11, 2007, until midnight. If you attempt to register your selections before or after this time frame, your selections will not be tabulated. After the deadline, a true random selection will take place; therefore, your time of submission within the time frame will not affect your chance of being admitted to a particular clinic. If we are unable to give you your first choice, we will automatically place you in an alternate choice and wait-list you for your higher-ranked selections. The results of the selection process will be posted on the Web.

What is the Lottery time frame?  Your selections will only register between 6:00 p.m. on October 4 and midnight on October 11, 2007.

NOTE: Lottery selection deadline has been extended to October 12th 8:00am

What if I have questions about academic planning and course credits?  Contact the Office of Student Affairs.

Who can I contact if I have clinic questions?  Nancy Kelly Sanguigni, Assistant Dean of Clinical Programs, will handle these questions. Once the Lottery selection process has closed, contact her with any request to participate in a clinic or to be included on a waiting list.