Prosecution Clinic

6-8 units

Open to second semester 2L and 3L J.D. students eligible for Missouri Supreme Court Rule 13 student practice certification. Prosecution Law Clinic students work part-time in the St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office or in the St. Louis City Circuit Attorney's Office (in the Carnahan Courthouse in downtown St. Louis). Students have the opportunity to handle, or assist experienced prosecutors in handling, the prosecution of state-level crimes in the County or City of St. Louis while also gaining exposure to the legal and ethical problems that prosecutors face in practice. The clinic operates out of the St. Louis County Prosecutors Office (directed by Tom Smith who leads the felony team) or The City of St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office (directed by Tanja Engelhardt the Violent Crimes Unit Leader). Students in this clinic can expect to engage in: problem solving; legal analysis and reasoning; legal research; factual investigation; witness interviewing and preparation; oral and written communication; litigation; organization and management of legal work; and recognizing and resolving ethical dilemmas and the prosecutor's special responsibilities. In addition to case work, students must attend a weekly seminar. Students are required to devote 3.5 hours per week, on average, for every credit hour earned. Students who have completed courses in evidence, pretrial, trial, professional responsibility, and criminal procedure may be given preference. Students are financially responsible for their own transportation and parking, as needed. This externship is expected to be in person. Students may request a preference as to which office they are assigned, but there is no guarantee that the student will be assigned to their preferred office.[Note: Students are prohibited from taking more than one clinic/externship/supervised practicum in the same semester. Students who are not in good standing (for either academic or disciplinary reasons) are not eligible to participate in a clinic/externship.] For 6 credits, students must work a minimum of 255 hours over the course of the semester. The course is graded on a modified pass/fail basis: HP (3.90), P, LP (3.00) and F 2.50). 6 units (8 with permission of instructor). To participate in this clinic, you must either have completed or be currently enrolled in courses containing at least 5 cumulative hours of education on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism (BCCCR content). This clinic includes 4 hours of BCCCR content, so in total, you will need 1 hours from your other courses to meet the requirement. Courses that include BCCCR content are tagged in Workday to help you track your progress.