Several of UDC-DCSL's legal clinics provide students an opportunity to practice in court under the supervision of a clinical supervisor. Before a student may practice, however, he or she must be approved for student practice by the DC Court of Appeals.

In order to be approved, a student must have successfully completed 41 course credits, including Evidence, Criminal Procedure, and Civil Procedure; be certified by the Registrar; and have his or her application approved by the DC Court of Appeals' Committee on Admissions.

A student approved for practice in a prior clinic should check that his or her one-year certification will cover the entire time period of the subsequent clinic. If so, the student does not need to reapply, but should write a letter to the Committee on Admissions including the student's LS number, the name of the new clinic, and the name of the new supervising attorney.

Before completing the application, please read the following instructions.

Instructions:

• Complete the Student Practice Application
  
  • The application must by typed. (The PDF copy below can be completed on your computer.)
    
  • The information typed on the Registrar’s certification page must be accurate.
  • Use the same date of entry that is on the student transcript.
  • Spell out the name of the school (do not use "UDC").
  • For now, please leave blank the spaces that request the name of the clinic; this will be inserted after the clinic lottery is conducted and assignments are made.
  • Please note that you may be required to submit documents and statements to support the application.  After reviewing the application form, if you have any question as to whether to provide additional documentation, and what kind of documentation to provide, please call the Committee on Admissions, which can be reached via the courthouse switchboard at 202-879-2710.
• Submit your completed application (minus clinic name) to the Registrar (Room 210, Building 38) for certification.
  • The Registrar cannot certify your application if all requirements are not met. Therefore, you may have to wait until the current semester's grades are recorded. This unavoidable delay makes it imperative that every other component of the application be completed so it can be submitted to the court as soon as it is certified.
• Once the Registrar returns your certified application, you must enter the name of your clinic on page 1 and get your clinic supervisor's signature on page 3 before submitting your application to the Committee on Admissions.
• The Committee will review the application and contact you if there is any question regarding the application, and will notify you or the law school of the outcome of the review.
  • In the vast majority of instances, students' applications are approved. Approval is delayed for some, however, due to a lack of documentation, so please make sure your applications are timely, complete, and supported by appropriate documentation.

Note: The application is provided in PDF format with form fields. You should save the application to your computer before beginning your form entries. Please note that, depending on your PDF software, you may not be able to save entries once you close the document. Thus, you should test your ability to save entries before completing the entire application. If you cannot save entries, you will need to complete the application in one sitting and print an extra copy for your records.