Experiential Learning

Clinical courses provide numerous opportunities for students to engage in the actual representation of clients. Clinical students are involved in all phases of representation, such as interviewing and counseling clients, entity formation, contract-drafting, fact investigation, pretrial litigation, hearings and trials, brief, motions, and appellate argument. In some clinics, students are admitted under student practice rules of state, federal, or administrative courts to practice law while under the direct and close supervision of a faculty member.

Practicum courses are similar to clinical courses, but the students do their work outside the clinical program offices, sometimes in the offices of the supervising adjunct professor.

Learn more about Cornell Law School’s clinical program.

Externships enable second- and third-year students to spend a semester gaining real-world experience and academic credit while working under the supervision of an attorney, usually in a public-sector setting. Students can enroll in local, part-time externships, or immerse themselves in a practice setting by enrolling in a semester-long, full-time externship in various U.S. cities or virtually anywhere in the world.

Learn more about externships at Cornell Law School.

Through this course, students complete a pro bono advocacy project under faculty supervision. Much like a directed reading or supervised writing course, students make arrangements directly with a faculty member.

Cornell Law School offers a wide range of simulation courses that allow students to develop lawyering skills by stepping into the role of the lawyer in hypothetical scenarios. The simulation curriculum covers a wide range of skills, including negotiation, mediation, trial skills, interviewing, client counseling, applied legal writing, international arbitration, problem-solving, team building, presentation skills, and oral advocacy.