Office of Clinical and Experiential Learning (OCEL)

Project-Based Learning Courses

Project-based learning courses, a new curricular offering at NYLS, cover a range of subjects and offer students a chance to practice lawyering skills from client representation to project planning and collaboration. Classes are small, and participating students work together with close guidance from a faculty member on carrying out a project, generally with concrete, real-world significance. Examples of projects include creating a Web site on a legal subject, developing policies for a board of education's policy manual, and co-drafting an amicus curiae brief (with many other possibilities as well). These courses are usually yearlong and are offered for 2, 3, or 4 credits, and on a pass-fail or graded basis, as decided by the professor.

Below is a brief overview of the range of project-based learning courses (and similar classes not formally designates as "project-based learning") currently or recently offered:

• In several courses, students interact directly with real clients. For example, students in the Guardianship Project represent clients applying for legal guardianship of their developmentally disaled loved ones in Manhattan's Surrogate's Court. In Education Law & Practice, students have advised the school board of Mamaroneck, New York, and have helped develop a proposal for a New York City charter high school.
• Other project-based learning courses- such as Civil Justice Through the Courts and Racial Justice Litigation- involve students writing briefs, policy reports, and advocacy papers that are used in public presentations and legal proceedings.
• Many courses require students to produce and maintain Web sites, allowing them to provide commentary on important legal issues. For example, students in the CaseClothesed course have examined the intersection between fashion and law; students in Detention and the War Against Terrorism post about U.S. detention policies and practices in Afghanistan; and students in Legal Reporting cover legal issues in the news.
• Students also have opportunities to address timely legal controversies. For instance, students in Conservation Law work on projected from the Nature Conservancy, a leading national and global conservation organization. And those in the Center for Real Estate Studies Capstone Seminar will focus on collaboratively learning real estate transactional skills.
• There are also several courses with an international focus, including European Business Law, the International Law Workshop, and "LawWithoutWalls," an online seminar in which students collaborate with other law students, faculty, practitioners, and entrepreneurs from around the world. And the TechLaw Lab offers a special range of opportunities for students to engage with cutting-edge issues in cyber law and intellectual property law, from the process of patent decision making to the new field of gamification.