After the first year of study, students are encouraged to obtain practical experience at one of John F. Kennedy University's School of Law's two law clinics (see below) or through placement with government agencies, public interest firms/clinics or private law firms. During this experience, students engage in a wide array of legal activities and experiential learning - legal research, drafting legal documents, client and witness interviewing, trial preparation. Participation is for academic credit.
The two clinics available through the School of Law are:
Criminal Defender Clinic
Housing Advocacy Clinic
In each of these clinics, students are able to take on the responsibility of all aspects of legal cases under the close supervision of the Clinic director. Each student obtains the status of certified legal intern from the State Bar of California and appears in court as a legal advocate for their clients. Students attend regular meetings and/or workshops to discuss the various cases as well as to develop strong lawyering skills.
Criminal Defender Clinic
The mission of the Criminal Defender Clinic is to provide legal services to low-income clients in misdemeanor and "factual innocence" cases, as well as to provide hands-on experience for law students interested in this area of law.
Students participate in a weekly skill development seminar that includes brief writing and client interviewing workshops. Students also participate in videotaped simulation exercises focused on cross-examination, oral argument, negotiation, and other essential skills.
Clinic Director
The Clinic Director is Stephanie Adraktas. Ms. Adraktas was a Goldmark Fellow at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and a trial attorney and felony supervisor at the Public Defender in Seattle, Washington. She served on the Washington State Sentencing Guideline Commission representing the criminal defense community. She was a senior trial attorney with the San Francisco Public Defender and worked as a consultant and staff attorney at the Office of Legal Affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance in Oakland, California. Ms. Adraktas has specialized in "third strike" and DNA cases and represents clients in post conviction proceedings.
Housing Advocacy Clinic
The Housing Advocacy Clinic is an innovative collaborative effort between JFK University School of Law and Northern California's largest legal aid provider, Bay Area Legal Aid. Third and fourth year law students have the opportunity to work in the on-campus clinical offices, providing direct representation to low-income clients facing the imminent threat of a loss of their housing.
The Clinic represents defendants in Superior Court unlawful detainer actions, provides assistance to clients in Rent Board proceedings, advocates on behalf of tenants with habitability defects and in fair housing matters, and provides counseling at the San Francisco Tenants Union and Project Homeless Connect.
The Clinic strives to meet the two-fold purpose of teaching students to be advocates for social justice through direct hands-on experience and instruction in lawyering skills and values, and of providing quality legal services to low-income tenants in the San Francisco Bay Area and other disadvantaged and under-served groups.
Clinic Director
The Clinic Director is Ora Prochovnick. Ms. Prochovnick was a partner and founding member of Bayside Legal Advocates, a woman-run community law office in the Mission District of San Francisco, where for ten years her practice focused on tenant advocacy, nontraditional family law, police misconduct cases and civil rights litigation. In addition to maintaining a small private practice, she is a member of the Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, the National Lawyers Guild and the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association. She has previously served on the board of directors of the AIDS Legal Referral Panel, and is currently on the board of the Eviction Defense Collaborative and the "brain trust" committee of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Ora has been frequently recognized for her pro bono contributions, receiving many awards, including the 1993 State Bar Pro Bono Service Award and the 2003 San Francisco Bar Association Award of Merit. She was named a Northern California Super Lawyer by San Francisco Magazine in 2004 and 2005, and received the Transgender Law Center's 2008 Community Ally award.