The Public Service and Public Policy Pathway is designed as a guided curriculum that will prepare you for a career in public service/public policy. Public service work may include legal work in all levels of government, and/or work on behalf of underrepresented people or causes. Public service lawyers work in government agencies, the courts, legislative bodies, legal services, non-profit, non-governmental (NGO) and law reform organizations. Practice may include litigation, transactional work, rulemaking, and/or policy analysis. Lawyers who work in the area of public policy may analyze issues that affect the public good and/or use a variety of strategies to influence public opinion and government decision-making.
Faculty Advisors
Professors Shelley Broderick, Diann Rust-Tierney, David Singleton, and David Wolitz
Curriculum
Stage 1: Foundational Courses
- Administrative Law
- Constitutional Law I and II REQ.
- Education Law
- Employment Discrimination Seminar
- Federal Courts
- Labor & Employment Law
- Non-Profit Law
- Remedies
- State and Local Government Law
- System Change: Theory & Practice
Stage 2: Electives
- Civil Rights in the 21st Century Seminar
- Communications Law
- Critical Approaches to Law & Society
- Demonstration Law
- Gender & Sexual Orientation Under the Law Seminar
- Housing Law Seminar
- Policy Advocacy for Movement Lawyers
- Race and the Law Seminar
- Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Trial Advocacy
Stage 3: Experiential Opportunities
REQ. = Required course for all students | Course descriptions can be found in the Course Catalog
Community Service/Summer Fellowships/Externships
UDC Law has extensive connections with non-profit organizations and governmental agencies in the DC metropolitan region that provide students with the opportunity to spend a semester actually working in their chosen fields. The following are some examples of relevant placements students have obtained with outside organizations and agencies:
- American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging
- American Psychiatric Association
- The Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth
- The Climate Reality Project
- Coalition for Juvenile Justice
- Council for Court Excellence
- DC Board of Ethics and Government Accountability
- DC Council
- DC Department of Employment Services
- DC Department of Health
- DC Department of Housing and Community Development
- DC Executive Office of the Mayor
- DC Office of Administrative Hearings
- DC Office of Human Rights and Commission on Human Rights
- DC Office of Planning
- DC Office of Policy and Legislative Affairs
- DC Office of the Attorney General
- DC Office of the People’s Counsel
- DC Public Service Commission, Office of the General Counsel
- DC Shadow Senator’s Office
- DC Superior Court and Court of Appeals
- EarthJustice
- Equal Justice Under Law
- Food and Water Watch
- Government Accountability Project
- Human Rights First
- Humane Society Legislative Fund
- Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
- The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
- Manna, Inc.
- Maryland District Court, Circuit Court and Court of Appeals
- National African American Drug Policy Coalition
- National Association for the Education of Young Children
- National Health Law Program
- National Legal Aid & Defender Association
- Pension Rights Center
- Transformative Justice Coalition
- US Coast Guard Judge Advocate General
- US Commission on Civil Rights
- US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
- US Court of Federal Claims, Office of Special Masters
- US Department of Energy
- US Department of Health & Human Services
- US Department of Homeland Security
- US Department of Housing and Urban Development
- US Department of Justice
- US Department of Labor
- US Department of Transportation
- US Department of Veterans Affairs
- US District Court for the District of Columbia
- US District Court for the District of Maryland
- US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
- US Environmental Protection Agency
- US Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Consumer Protection
- US Green Building Council
- US House of Representatives
- US Securities and Exchange Commission
- US Senate, Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
- Virginia Office of the Attorney General
- Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs