The Equality & Justice Practice Clinic is an externship-based offering that immerses students in a wide variety of public interest legal work, including civil rights and workers’ rights; labor and employment law; and environmental protection and climate advocacy. Placements span organizational settings ranging from nonprofit organizations and unions to plaintiff-side law firms and government offices.
Students spend much of their week in closely supervised field placements—typically two to three full days per week—while also participating in a twice-weekly classroom seminar. The seminar integrates reflective lawyering, professional skills development, and select substantive and procedural dimensions of rights-based advocacy. Together, the fieldwork and classroom components are designed to help students understand how social justice lawyering operates within broader institutional, political, and movement-based environments.
Through seminar discussions, simulations, guest speakers, and case rounds, students engage critically with questions of strategy, ethics, power, and accountability in public interest practice. Seminar topics include professional responsibility and movement lawyering, organizational culture and change management, as well as how different forms of advocacy operate together in pursuit of social change. Certain classes will also be held jointly with the Equality & Justice In-House Clinic, allowing students to explore shared procedural, strategic, and professional questions across different clinical models.
Recent Placements (Fall 2025)
Bloch & White — a public-interest-oriented law firm representing workers and communities in labor, employment, and civil rights matters.
The Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington — a civil rights law practice focused on police misconduct, wrongful convictions, and constitutional litigation.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (Office of General Counsel) — a state government legal office handling environmental regulation, enforcement, and public law matters affecting New York City.
Animal Legal Defense Fund — a national nonprofit advancing animal protection through impact litigation, legislative advocacy, and legal policy work.
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area — a nonprofit civil rights organization litigating and advocating on issues of racial justice, economic equity, and access to opportunity.
Food & Water Watch — a national advocacy organization working at the intersection of environmental protection, climate policy, public health, and economic justice.
The Legal Aid Society / Employment Law Unit — a legal services practice representing low-income workers in employment-related matters, including wage theft and workplace discrimination.
Writers Guild of America East — a labor union representing writers in film, television, and digital media, engaging in collective bargaining, contract enforcement, and labor advocacy.
Prior Equality & Justice Practice Clinic placements have also included:
- Latino Justice
- Center for Constitutional Rights
- New York Lawyers for the Public Interest
- Legal Defense Fund (LDF)
- New York Civil Liberties Union
- ACLU Racial Justice Project
- Brennan Center for Justice
- Better Balance
- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
- New York City Commission on Human Rights
- New York State Civil Rights Bureau
- Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP
- Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP