Experiential Learning
From Classroom to Courtroom to Community
Learning how to apply legal theory to legal practice is one of the challenges of law school. At the ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥, we prepare students for life beyond the classroom through a variety of experiential learning opportunities. These include hands-on, real-world experiences designed to equip students with the practical skills and confidence they need to thrive in the profession after graduating.
We offer a wide variety of experiential learning courses, including legal clinics, land-based learning and externships, as well as many embedded experiential learning opportunities throughout the curriculum. If you have questions, contact Allison Fieldberg, Experiential Learning Program Lead, at lawexpl@ualberta.ca.
Legal Clinics
Year-long clinic-based courses provide opportunities for students to apply their legal knowledge in real settings. In their first semester, students explore foundational concepts, which they bring into the second semester, where that knowledge is applied to a clinical context by working directly with clients in real time. Legal clinics provide a much-needed service to the community and greater access to justice. There are several legal clinic opportunities available to students.
Entrepreneurial Law Clinic
The Entrepreneurial Law Clinic provides legal support to business owners for a range of legal issues. Under the supervision of mentoring lawyers, students gain experience drafting legal information memoranda or transactional legal documents for early-stage startups or social enterprises.
Students may also deal with other matters, including:
- Entity formation
- Employment and hiring
- Intellectual property
- Consumer privacy
- Non-profit and charity regulations and compliance
- Commercial transactions and other matters common to for-profit, non-profit, and hybrid start-ups
Low-Income Individuals and the Law
Since 2008, this clinic has equipped law students with the skills needed to assist low-income and marginalized people. Students provide help with some of the biggest legal challenges faced by low-income people, such as housing and homelessness, intimate partner violence, immigration issues and human rights complaints.
Students take on clinical placements with one of our four partner organizations:
- The Edmonton Community Legal Centre
- Legal Aid ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥
- The Centre for Public Legal Education ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥
- The John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights
Mental Health and the Law
Mental Health and the Law provides students with the opportunity to attend Edmonton's Mental Health Court to observe proceedings. Under the supervision and direction of Legal Aid ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ staff lawyers, students will:
- Explore the intersection of mental health rights and law
- Explore historical developments in mental health law
- Learn key concepts in mental health law, including mental disability, mental illness, insanity and competency
- Assist individuals accessing the court
Land-Based Learning
Land-based experiential learning opportunities allow students to take a step even further out of the classroom and participate in multi-day trips outside of Edmonton, travelling to locations where they’ll gain hands-on experience with specific areas of law.
Learn about international law of the ocean — on the coast of Vancouver Island, B.C.! Students in the Oceans Law & Policy course learn about the laws that govern our many uses of the ocean, and then spend a week at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre.
During this one-of-a-kind course, students will see and experience the coastline they are learning about during activities such as a temperate rain forest ecology walk, viewing species at risk and learning basic marine science.
The Wahkohtowin Intensive is an opportunity for students to learn about the Cree concepts of wahkohtowin and miyo-wîcêhtowin — legal principles that translate roughly as “interrelatedness” and “building good relations.”
Students will be asked to engage with these principles through on-the-land activities, such as storytelling and identifying and using edible plants. The central activity of the project sees students take part in a traditional “home-tanning” of a moose hide.
This program is co-developed and co-taught by Cree Elders and a community-based team, taking place over four days through the Wahkohtowin Law and Governance Lodge in Aseniwuche Winewak territory near Grande Cache.
Mooting
Gaining courtroom experience prior to graduation is a critical part of being a law student. Moots are simulated court hearings where law students are given a case and asked to prepare and present both written and oral arguments. Mooting sharpens a student’s advocacy skills and builds confidence and knowledge across a range of subject areas. At the U of A, all 1L students participate in the Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin moot, during which they receive support and one-on-one coaching and mentorship from upper-year students and moot before prominent members of the ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ legal community. Each year, the Faculty sends more than 40 students, with full financial support and coaches, to participate in approximately 20 provincial, national and international moot competitions against other law schools.
“Mooting is an avenue for students to dive deeply into today’s pressing legal questions, while receiving mentorship and guidance from experienced practicing legal professionals. The ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ has rightfully developed a reputation as one of the strongest mooting schools in the country.”
Student Legal Services
At Student Legal Services of Edmonton, which was founded by Faculty of Law alumni and is located on the U of A campus, students work directly with clients under the supervision of volunteer lawyers. They provide free legal information, assist with criminal, civil and family matters in provincial court, provide legal education to the public and research areas of law to better serve low-income communities.
Office of the Judge Advocate General Internship
Under the supervision of personnel at the Office of the Judge Advocate General (OJAG) at the Canadian Forces Base Edmonton, students in this first-of-its-kind Canadian internship gain experience in criminal procedure, evidence issues, administrative law, international law, case law and writing legal opinions. Interns assist the OJAG mandate of delivering legal advice to the Canadian Armed Forces and Department of National Defence in all areas of military law, including military justice, administrative law, and operational law.
Courts Clerkship
This full-year course allows students to intern at either the ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ Court of Justice or the Court of Appeal of ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥. Students are assigned to a judge and gain experience in litigation from a judicial perspective. Students are involved in a number of tasks, including research, preparing memoranda, meeting regularly with their supervising judge and shadowing supervising judges.