Clinical Programs · Evening Students
Clinical experiences designed for Evening Students
Every CUNY Law student completes a clinic as the capstone to their degree. Evening students join the same rigorous, nationally recognized clinics as full-time students—built to match your pace, your goals, and your commitments. Each evening clinic is a 10-credit, one-semester immersion where you take on real cases and projects, receive intensive supervision, and apply the critical, hands-on training that defines our curriculum.Evening Clinics
These clinics are structured to be accessible to Evening students, with seminar meetings in the evening and integrated fieldwork that recognizes the realities of working and caregiving.
Community & Economic Development Clinic (CED)
Provides legal support for community-led groups organizing for justice through two main practice areas: economic democracy, focusing on workplace democracy and the redistribution of wealth, and housing justice and tenant power, focusing on enhanced protections, rights, and benefits for tenants.Note: CED Clinic Evening Program will be closing in 2027 and will not be offered in 2028.
Immigrant & Non-Citizen Rights Clinic (INRC)
Empowers emerging social justice lawyers to confront the degradation of the rights of non-citizens through legal representation where we press for progressive, humane and fair interpretations of the law on behalf of those most excluded, marginalized, and criminalized—as well as through policy and advocacy projects in partnership with community-based organizations.Mediation Clinic
Serve as mediators in a range of settings which usually includes court-annexed and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission mediation programs involving disputes such as workplace discrimination claims, disability issues, as well as family, neighbor and consumer disputes.Defenders Clinic
Students share a mission to end mass incarceration by gaining knowledge and first-hand experience in areas such as criminal court representation, parole preparation and appeals, clemency petitions, and other forms of post-conviction relief.Note: Defenders Clinic is not eligible for registration. You must be currently enrolled in the Defenders Lawyering Seminar III to qualify and will automatically be enrolled.
Jamie
They are a 4L student in our Evening Program for part-time study. In the Community and Economic Development Clinic, they turn their passion for systems change and teamwork into real-world cooperative models.
EXPERIENCE A DAY IN CLINIC
- 9:00 AM | MEETING W/ MY CLINIC PARTNER to prep a board training for a nonprofit that builds power amongst domestic workers. We’re discussing how to explain fiduciary duties in plain language and talking through the training we’re leading next week. Then took a pass through an operating agreement for a worker co-op client seeking to create a democratic workplace.
- 10:45 AM | LIBRARY SESSION to draft sample resolutions for the nonprofit client’s board meeting. I’m also toggling between policy memos, tax exemption filings, and WhatsApp messages from the coop’s organizing committee.
- 12:30 PM | LUNCH W/ CLASSMATES outside in The Triangle. Someone’s passing around samosas; someone else is venting about redlining maps. It feels like the right kind of law school conversation.
- 1:30 PM | CLIENT ZOOM The co-op has questions about expanding. We talk through them, and discuss potential lease terms for a new brick and mortar location. I take notes, and flag a couple of zoning issues to research.
- 4:00 PM | REVISE KNOW YOUR RIGHTS SLIDES We’re presenting in three languages tomorrow. The training has to be accessible, but still legally sound. It’s harder than it looks.
- 5:30 PM | GRAB DINNER from the hot food bar at the grocery store next door and stop by an OUTLaws panel on trans-inclusive housing policy in NYC. I mostly listen, but I leave with new ideas and a note to follow up with someone about their clinic project.
- 6:15 PM | CLINIC SEMINAR We’re digging into legal tools that support community ownership—land trusts, limited equity co-ops, and the tension between public benefits and private restrictions. There’s also a movement lawyering component to the discussion.
- 9:30 PM | BACK ON THE TRAIN HOME Group chat lights up…clinic friends checking in, tweaking language for the training, sharing some good memes. It feels like we’re building something together.
- 11:00 PM | FINAL PASS at the training presentation. I tighten some language, cut a few sentences, and send it off so the client has time to review before we meet.
Planning your path as an Evening student
When can I take clinic?
Evening students can take clinic in their 5th or 7th semester. Students in their 7th semester are prioritized for Part-time Evening clinic placements.
How many credits is clinic?
Part-time Evening clinics are 10 credits and are designed to be your full course load for that semester.
How much time should I plan for?
Expect roughly 30 hours per week total: class, preparation, and client or project work.
Work, caregiving, and clinic
We are cognizant of the work and other obligations that students are balancing with attending law school in the evening. It’s important to talk with your professor and the Clinic Dean about your schedule.