ABOUT USMIAMI LAW

CAREER DEVELOPMENT OFFICE

1311 Miller Drive, Room A112

Coral Gables, Florida 33146

Telephone: 305.284.2668

Fax: 305.284.6213

AMY G. PEREZ, ESQ.

DIRECTOR OF JUDICIAL CLERKSHIPS

Telephone: 305.284.1924

Email: agperez@law.miami.edu

The University of Miami School of Law prepares its students to meet the demands

placed on law clerks. Our curriculum and programs provide students the legal and

ethical foundation to excel as members of the global legal community. Miami Law’s

faculty, which includes former state, federal and international court law clerks, teach

students how to tackle complex issues and to produce clear and concise legal analysis,

skills necessary to ensure the smooth and efficient operation of your chambers. By

considering Miami Law students, you are selecting from a diverse student body

equipped with the intellectual curiosity and critical thinking skills that judges value so

highly in their law clerks.

JUDICIAL CLERKSHIPS

TESTIMONIALS MORE INFORMATION

“When I clerked in the late 1980s, I found that UM had prepared me very well for the rigors and demands of a clerkship. Over the last decade, I’ve hired many UM students as law clerks. Not surprisingly, they have performed wonderfully and on par with clerks from the top law schools in the nation.”

Judge Adalberto Jordan, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida; Nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit; Former Clerk, Judge Thomas Clark, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit and

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, U.S. Supreme Court

“Every year I am able to recommend Miami Law students who have the academic, intellectual, and professional qualities a tough clerkship demands. Our students think, research, write, and argue with the very best.”David Abraham, Professor of Law and Former Clerk, Judge Leonard Garth,

U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit

“When I began my two-year term as a staff attorney at the Florida Supreme Court, I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of my transition from UM Law to clerking. The law school’s emphasis on legal research and writing, including the upper level writing requirement, helped me develop the skills I needed to research the relevant issues and to present the research and facts of the case to the Justices in an organized, concise manner.”Elaine D. Walter, JD ’04, Former Staff Attorney, Justice Kenneth B. Bell and

Central Staff Office, Florida Supreme Court

Super Lawyers magazine, which rates schools based on the quality of lawyers they produced, recently placed Miami Law among the nation’s top 20 law schools. Miami has hundreds of graduates ranked as Super Lawyers.

law.miami.edu/cdo

LEGAL COMMUNICATION AND RESEARCH SKILLS PROGRAM: INTEGRATING STUDENTS INTO THE LEGAL PROFESSION

Miami Law launched its Legal Communication and Research Skills (LComm)program in July 2010, with a new director and 12 full-time faculty members. LComm professors hail from distinguished careers in private practice, journalism, and academia and include former litigators, former state and federal judicial clerks, scholars, and experienced educators. The new team designed a curriculum focused on making students practice-ready, preparing them to join a professional community, and emphasizing the keys to successful lawyering: critical thinking, interpersonal communication, and clarity in writing and speaking.

In the LComm program, students assume the role of attorneys from the first day of classes and must demonstrate a sincere commitment to the ideals and values of a revered profession. In the two-semester course, students practice the various types of writing they will encounter in the legal profession—from the traditional office memoranda and appellate briefs to emails, client letters, and motions. Students hone their oral advocacy skills by arguing a trial-level motion and an ensuing appeal. Small classes allow students to work individually and collaboratively, as they would in most practice settings, and time-sensitive assignments acclimate students to the demands of legal practice. With twenty students per class and consistent one-on-one guidance, professors provide a committed, hands-on approach to ensure students master essential research, writing, and advocacy skills.

TOP NOTCH UPPER LEVEL RESEARCH AND WRITING COURSES

After the first year, students can further hone their writing and advocacy skills in specialized, advanced level workshops. Case in point: Miami Law’s “Judicial Clerkships” course, in which students practice the behind-the-scenes work of judicial clerks, including editing the work of judges and other clerks, debating the merits of a particular case, disagreeing with a judge or co-clerk, and showing discretion. In our upper level writing courses, students also learn the intricacies of summary judgment as it relates to a civil rights case filed in federal court, explore the nuances of motions to dismiss, practice advanced research techniques using both print and online sources, and receive hands-on opportunities in developing their legal communication skills. Legal analysis, English grammar and usage, effective writing style, citation format, and clarity in thinking and writing are the cornerstones of Miami Law’s advanced research and writing courses.

PLATFORMS FOR LEGAL DISCOURSE: MIAMI LAW REVIEWS

With seven different law reviews, our best and brightest students experience the rigorous research, writing and editing that they can expect in a judge’s chambers. The journals are run entirely by law students and feature articles by law professors, judges, and practitioners. Judges can expect the work product of Miami Law graduates to be of publishable quality when it reaches their desk.

• University of Miami Law Review• Business Law Review• Inter-American Law Review• International and Comparative Law Review• National Security and Armed Conflict Law Review• Race and Social Justice Law Review• Psychology, Public Policy and Law Journal

CRITICAL ORAL AND WRITTEN ADVOCACY SKILLS

Miami Law excels in more than just sports competitions. Our moot court teams compete both nationally and internationally, gaining recognition and honors while enhancing their participants’ oral and written advocacy skills. UM Law’s Moot Court teams were ranked 19th in the nation this year by the Blakely Advocacy Institute at the University of Houston Law Center.

LEARNING TO LITIGATE: LITIGATION SKILLS PROGRAM

The flagship of Miami Law’s skills training is our nationally acclaimed Litigation Skills Program. More than 60 percent of second- and third-year law students enroll in this six-credit course taught by experienced trial lawyers and judges. The program is led by Laurence “Lonny” Rose, former president and CEO of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA).

law.miami.edu/cdo

TESTIMONIALS

As a professor who teaches Administrative Law, I teach Miami students other sources of lawmaking beyond case law. I also teach Civil Procedure, where I emphasize the role of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in civil litigation. The students come to understand that these other sources of law cannot be read in isolation, and thus, when students leave Miami, they leave with essential tools to become effective law clerks at any level.

Charlton Copeland, Associate Professor of Law and Former Clerk, Justices Richard J. Goldstone and Catherine O’Regan, Constitutional Court of South Africa and Judge R. Guy Cole, Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit

Miami Law has provided the Florida Supreme Court with remarkable young men and women to perform public service as law clerks and staff attorneys. I have found these graduates to be extraordinarily well prepared to perform detailed research and to address complex issues far beyond most who seek this work. The analytical skills developed through the Miami Law curriculum enhance and build upon the intellect and talent of each individual. The Miami Law graduates working in my chambers and those working with other members of this Court have proven to be outstanding and true assets as we strive to attain our goals of excellence.

Justice R. Fred Lewis, Florida Supreme Court

Our students engage in the kind of high-level legal reasoning, research, and writing they are likely to encounter as judicial clerks. Equally important is their ability to tackle these rigorous tasks with professionalism and respect. I take great pride in recommending Miami Law’s talented students to our judiciary.

Rosario Lozada Schrier, Associate Clinical Professor; Director, Legal Communications and Research Skills Program; and Former Clerk to Former Chief Judge, Edward B. Davis, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

A law clerk’s job is to assist the judge in analyzing legal issues and reducing the analysis to writing. UM Law’s rigorous curriculum, with its focus on legal writing, provided me with the educational foundation necessary to perform my duties as a clerk.

Cyrus P.W. Rieck, JD ’08, Former Law Clerk, Judge Paul A. Crotty, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr., U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia

REAL WORLD LEARNING: MIAMI LAW’S CLINICS AND EXTERNSHIP PROGRAM

Miami Law’s award-winning clinics offer exceptional training and give students practical, hands-on lawyering skills that are indispensable to a judge’s chambers.

• Bankruptcy Assistance Clinic• Capital Defense Project• Children & Youth Law Clinic• Community Lawyering Clinic• Federal Appellate Clinic• Health & Elder Law Clinic• Human Rights Clinic• Immigration Clinic• Investors’ Rights Clinic• Miami Innocence Project• Tenants’ Rights Clinic

Miami Law’s robust Judicial Externship Program places students in direct working relationships with federal and state judges across the country and serves as fertile ground for learning the inner workings of the judicial process. Students emerge from their externships with a clear understanding of what will be expected of them as judicial law clerks.

ENSURING SUCCESS: ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM DEAN’S FELLOWS

Miami Law’s Academic Achievement Program (AAP) has become one of the top academic support programs in the country. Exemplary upper-level students are selected as Dean’s Fellows to assist faculty who teach first year courses. By leading weekly study group sessions focused on developing students’ analytical and examination skills, Dean’s Fellows develop a deeper understanding and mastery of core substantive courses and writing fundamentals. As a result, judges routinely select Dean’s Fellows to serve their chambers as law clerks.

MIAMI LAW LEADS THE NATION IN SERVING THE PUBLIC INTEREST

Miami Law recognizes that judges seek to hire clerks who value their court’s mission and share their commitment to public service. Recipient of the ABA’s 2011 National Achievement Award in Public Interest, Miami Law demonstrates its dedication to public service through its innovative clinical, externship and Legal Corps programs. In addition, the HOPE (Helping Others Through Pro Bono Efforts) Public Interest Resource Center provides unsurpassed training and opportunities to law students dedicated to community service and advocacy. By cultivating a pro bono ethic in all students, Miami Law encourages graduates to use their law degrees to serve the public interest.

“What has been my experience with graduates of Miami Law working as law clerks? The answer in one word is “excellent.” It has been my good fortune to work with about 100 young people from throughout the country as law clerks and UM graduates rank among the best. These individuals have obviously benefited from solid programs in legal research and writing as well as the development of the analytical skills so necessary in our work. UM graduates who apply for these positions will always receive serious consideration.”Senior Judge Peter T. Fay, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit