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Appellate Litigation Clinic

Appellate Litigation Clinic

The Earle Mack School of Law Appellate Litigation Clinic, taught by Professor Richard Frankel, offers students the unique opportunity to practice law before appellate courts. Similar to our other clinics, students in this clinic provide valuable legal services to needy individuals who otherwise would not be able obtain legal representation. Clinic cases cover a wide variety of subject-matters, including constitutional law, criminal law, immigration law, and the rights of the indigent and the incarcerated.

Some of the cases include:

  • Persuading the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to allow a woman fired from her job to proceed with an employment discrimination lawsuit.  Read more here.
  • Successfully arguing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit that citizens may sue a recycling company for polluting air and water in their community, even though the state has also taken the company to court. Read more here.
  • Persuading the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to reinstate a malpractice lawsuit filed by a pro se plaintiff. Read more here.
  • Filing an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Rent-A-Center, West, Inc. v. Jackson, which involved whether a corporation can impose a contract that bars courts from reviewing the fairness of an arbitration provision.  Read more here.
  • Representing a former employee who alleges that she was fired from her job for discriminatory reasons, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, based in Philadelphia.

Students gain extensive hands-on experience in appellate advocacy, practice, and strategy. The clinic aims to gives students true ownership of their cases. Students are actively involved in all aspects of their cases, including authoring briefs, interviewing and consulting with clients, negotiating with opposing counsel, developing case strategies, researching complex legal questions, and preparing for oral argument. All students work under the close supervision of Professor Frankel.

Students enrolled in the Appellate Litigation Clinic also take a Justice Lawyering Seminar in the fall semester that examines the ways in which the legal system can and should promote equality and fairness for individuals and groups within the broader community.

Appellate Litigation Clinic Sharepoint Site (login required - clinic faculty and students only)