LAWS 667 - Designing Access to Justice Technology Externship

Credits: 2

For students interested in consumer law, elder law, or landlord-tenant law: learn how to make the law more accessible and useful for ordinary people. Students will work 8-10 hours per week as part of a technology initiatives project to develop scripts for guided interviews, training videos, and other online resources for self-represented litigants and pro bono lawyers. Software skills not required. The work will consist of substantive legal research; the observation of related proceedings in Magistrate or Probate Court; the translation of legal requirements and concepts into plain language; and the design and testing of online resources for lawyers and self-represented litigants. Students will work with the lead lawyer on the project, as well as the IT specialist and web content manager at South Carolina Legal Services. Students will also meet periodically with a faculty member to reflect upon their experience and learn about new developments in substantive legal technology.

Corequisites: Problems in Professional Responsibility

Prerequisites: Professional Responsibility or Problems in Professional Responsibility

Note: Students must submit a contemporaneously maintained daily journal of their experience, along with a description and example of the resources developed during the externship. The fieldwork supervisor will also complete an evaluation of the student's performance.

Basis of Grade: The final grade will be determined by the professor, based upon evaluation submitted by the fieldwork supervisor and a determination by the faculty member that all other requirements of the externship have been satisfactorily completed.

Form of Grade: Letter

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