Members of the first class of students in DePaul’s innovative Third Year in Practice (3YP) program will begin their intensive legal field placements at government agencies, nonprofit organizations and corporations in fall 2016.

Following is an excerpt from a recent article about the 3YP program that appeared in Distinctions.

“3YP is the reason I came to DePaul,” says Clint Pierce. Rebekah Gonzalez agrees: “I learned about 3YP when I was researching law schools, and it’s why I decided to come here. I did not see anything like it at other schools in the area.”

The Third Year in Practice (3YP) program allows law students to complete general course requirements in two years and then spend their third year immersed in the simulated and actual practice of law. 3YP students learn and practice professional litigation and corporate skills, while working under close supervision, at a law firm, government agency, corporation, nonprofit organization, or any one of DePaul’s legal clinics.

“3YP is a way to attract students, for sure, but it’s also just the right thing to do,” says David Rodriguez, the program’s director and a clinical instructor for the Poverty Law Clinic. "The first year out of law school is baptism by fire, as new lawyers struggle to do the work. It’s one thing to learn theory in the classroom, quite another to apply it on-the-job, with real-world pressures, deadlines, and expectations. Students who’ve done 3YP can hit the ground running after graduation—they’ll be confident and competitive.”

The College of Law is one of four academic units, along with the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center in the Driehaus College of Business, the College of Computing and Digital Media, and Academic Affairs, to be part of the collaboration with 1871.

“It is important for the College of Law to be a key partner in this collaboration. We recognize that law, business and technology are inextricably intertwined in today's world, and lawyers and law students need to problem solve in contexts—like the ones offered at 1871—where those disciplines all come together,” said Dean Jennifer Rosato Perea of the College of Law. 

As part of University Row, DePaul joins the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Loyola University, University of Illinois, DeVry University, and Illinois Institute of Technology at 1871. Each of the universities will participate in Campus 1871, a springtime, weekend-long event that brings together the best and brightest from each of the partner universities to create their own startups with like-minded university students.

“This partnership has been a long time coming and we are thrilled that DePaul is formally joining the 1871 community,” said 1871 CEO Howard A. Tullman. “Our partnerships with universities are one of 1871’s biggest advantages and offerings, and DePaul is a crucial addition to this fold. We look forward to welcoming people from around the DePaul family to 1871.”

Excerpted from DePaul Newsroom press release.

“These survey results reflect the breadth of DePaul’s distinctiveness—from experiential learning in the Chicago community, to strong joint programs with a nationally renowned university, to LLM programs in fields where DePaul is well-known,” said Dean Jennifer Rosato Perea. “We continue to define DePaul Law with these excellent programs, and are proud to be recognized by NLJ’s readers.”

This is the second consecutive year that readers rated DePaul’s clinical and LLM programs as No. 1 in Chicago. The JD/MBA program moved up to first place from third in last year’s survey. More than 1,400 readers voted in nearly 80 categories in the 2015 survey.

DePaul’s nine clinical programs provide students with community-based service opportunities and hands-on learning experiences outside the classroom. The clinical program areas include asylum and immigration law, civil rights, criminal appeals, family law, housing law and community development, mediation, misdemeanors, poverty law, and technology and intellectual property.

Offered jointly with DePaul’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, the JD/MBA program prepares students to be effective leaders and problem-solvers in the areas of law and business. The College of Law also partners with several other colleges at DePaul to offer joint degree programs in international studies, computer science and public service management.

DePaul’s LLM programs focus on the areas of health law, intellectual property law, international law and taxation. The programs are designed to provide foreign-trained lawyers and graduates of non-U.S. law schools with an understanding of the U.S. legal system, as well as to provide U.S. lawyers and law graduates with expanded knowledge and training.

Rocio Alcantar (JD ’10), supervising attorney for the National Immigrant Justice Center’s Access to Counsel Project, a new initiative of the Immigrant Legal Defense Project, taught the first Center for Public Interest Law (CPIL) skills series of the 2014-2015 academic year.

The series was titled "Working with Immigrant Children." As the former supervising attorney with the Immigrant Children’s Protection Project and as the lead staff attorney for the Counter-Trafficking Project, Alcantar used her experiences to create a five part legal skills series to teach laws students about how to successfully work with migrant youth.

The series was designed to give students an overview of working with migrant children, assessing the forms of relief that are available and how to serve as an advocate for this community. Alcantar first focused on the overall causes of migration. The series also highlighted the various forms of relief available to migrant children, such as asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), T Visas, U Visas, etc. Students interested in the topic engaged in classroom discussion about the struggles that lawyers face when advocating for migrant children and learned practical and transferable skills.

The series took place on five consecutive Mondays from September 29 to October 27. Students who attended all five sessions received a certificate of completion. CPIL offers three public interest legal skills series each academic year.

Launching in fall 2014, 3YP will combine clinical, simulation and professional skills courses with an intensive externship program. Participating students will spend a significant part of their third year working in select government agencies, nonprofit organizations, law firms or judicial chambers under the close supervision of a practicing attorney or judge.

The 3YP option enhances DePaul’s experiential learning curriculum by allowing for more out-of classroom credits and a more intensive field placement experience, with an ultimate goal of better preparing students for the realities of the profession.

A call for change

The program responds to the changing demands of the legal field and reflects recent practices by law schools and attorneys aiming to reinvigorate instruction and the profession.

In 2013, the American Bar Association (ABA) Task Force on the Future of Legal Education conducted a review of legal education. Its report—for consideration by institutions, the legal world and the public—called for sweeping changes. Among them, the panel requested increased innovation in law schools and a greater shift from doctrinal instruction toward development of the day-to-day skills and competencies required by lawyers.

“Legal education embraces new forms of pedagogy, but not always along the same timeline as other areas of study,” said Associate Professor Allison Tirres, co-creator of the 3YP program. “Law schools and law professors have for a long time done things that are innovative, including using the Socratic method of question and answer in the classroom— rather than mere lecture—and providing clinical opportunities. I think many law schools are just now moving forward with further pedagogical innovation.”

At a retreat in October 2013, DePaul College of Law faculty members discussed the structure of the law school’s curriculum. The dialogue, Tirres said, was “informed by a growing recognition that experiential learning is an important and valuable part of legal education.”

The 3YP concept originated with Associate Professor Zoë Robinson, who conceived of it as part of a three-track program at DePaul, allowing students to pursue a traditional JD, a joint JD/LLM or a third year in practice. Faculty members acknowledged its benefit for a certain subset of students, as well as for the university in deepening ties with legal practitioners and nonprofits in Chicago.

Tirres took on the responsibility to build the program and enlisted the help of senior faculty member Professor Leonard Cavise, director of the Center for Public Interest Law and Chiapas Human Rights Practicum, to craft the basics and guide it through the faculty approval process. They also convened an informal working group to further hone the proposal.

Clinical Instructor David Rodriguez soon emerged as program director. His experience in nonprofit and for-profit sectors, and enthusiasm for legal education and innovation stood out to Tirres and the 3YP program committee, comprised of faculty, staff and alumni.

Rodriguez took the committee’s momentum even further, researching pedagogical theory and consulting contacts at other law schools and legal clinics. He also reached out to local practitioners to discuss the most promising externships for 3YP students.

The end product allows students to apply following their first year and, if accepted, combine the classroom work for the second and third years. The third year will be open for externships, clinics and professional skills courses.

To create even more time for experiential learning, DePaul is increasing the allotted out-of-classroom credits from 12 to 21, still within ABA regulations. The combination of clinics and externships will give students an unprecedented opportunity to work directly with actual clients and one-on-one faculty mentors.

Clinics and professional skills courses will expose students to litigation and transactional work, focusing on legal drafting, negotiation and client counseling. In addition, the program will include a capstone seminar designed to help students retain the skills learned in 3YP. Rodriguez says that the range of approaches will create a powerful dynamic for program graduates.

Addressing new needs

Advocates of 3YP also see the full-immersion approach as a step toward addressing the national imbalance between market underemployment and unfulfilled legal needs.

“The legal profession needs to serve more people in more places, not just those in big cities and not just those with high incomes,” explained Tirres. “This is increasingly true in recent years, since the big firm model of legal service delivery has pulled most lawyers out of rural areas and out of the price range of most clients. We should be preparing our students to be able to open their own practice and to take that practice wherever there is a need.”

In addition to the market shifts, Rodriguez points out that law students are changing. Institutions are responsible for addressing the developments in communication, professional dynamics and even cognitive processing on account of technological innovations, he says.

Some colleges are adjusting to the change by looking to existing or emerging models. Harvard Business School’s spherical “hive” classrooms help students close the gap between school and career by replicating the crowdsourcing approach of corporate learning circles and allowing students to educate themselves using laptop computers.

Law schools are taking a more conservative approach, looking to models used in professions like teaching and medicine, which require extensive on-the-ground training.

“Medical schools utilize the residency as a way to train students,” said Tirres. “The government funds different programs to ensure that doctors go to areas where there is a high need. We don't have this training structure in law. But we can expand our curriculum to provide intensive fieldwork for students. 3YP is one way to build on our current offerings and provide that kind of training for fledgling lawyers, while also serving the needs of clients in the greater Chicago area.”

The effort to produce great lawyers—and a greater number of practicing lawyers—is gaining momentum beyond the institutional realm. As an article in the March issue of National Jurist pointed out, California’s state bar task force has proposed a competency training requirement en route to law licensure.

Continuing an experiential approach The 3YP opportunity is merely the latest chapter in DePaul’s commitment to skills-based training—an extension of the educational philosophy the school has maintained for decades. The Field Placement Program, established in 1974, still thrives today, offering nearly 200 externship placements with private firms, corporations, and public interest and government agencies.

Experiential education is not new at DePaul,” explained Professor Barbara Bressler, newly named associate dean of experiential education, who has served in leadership roles with the Field Placement Program, the Center for Intellectual Property Law & Information Technology, and founded the Technology/Intellectual Property Clinic. In her role as associate dean, Bressler will carefully manage the College of Law’s experiential learning efforts.

“DePaul has consistently expanded experiential opportunities for students over the years. It is because we already have excellent skills, practicum, clinical and field placement offerings, that we can offer the 3YP experience to our students.

“I know that with the support of the university and our wonderful alumni and with the participation and assistance of our dedicated and enthusiastic faculty, the law school will be able to offer innovative experiential programs that will be well received by our students and the practicing bar.”

By all accounts, 3YP is designed to accommodate diverse career paths by providing students with comprehensive, legal training in an organized fashion.

“We’ve had a number of students who, because of the confidence they gained participating in our experiential learning programs, were able to establish their own practices, or immediately contribute to a small or midsize firm,” Bressler added. “The number of our graduates who work in solo, small or midsize practices is likely to increase given the need for lower-cost legal services and the changes in the way that larger firms are operating.”

Recent alumna Renee Gross (JD ’13) says she benefited from the College of Law's experiential approach. At DePaul, she participated in the misdemeanor and poverty law clinics, both of which exposed her to the process of preparing a case, interacting with clients and appearing in court. She also interned with the housing practice group at the Legal Assistance Foundation (LAF).

“At LAF, I researched cases, interviewed clients, and drafted motions and legal memos on different housing law topics,” Gross said. “All of these experiences helped build my confidence and developed my understanding of the legal system. They provided greater insight into the health struggles of some of our society’s most vulnerable populations.”

As coordinator of legal initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University, Gross now provides analyses and support for national, state and local public health policy options concerning food marketing. She notes that many of her peers are interested in pursuing careers where they can apply their degrees in a nontraditional manner and says 3YP makes sense for law students in today’s legal environment.

“Every specialization within the legal field requires ample experience,” she said. “The classroom component is essential, but it’s important to balance this traditional aspect of law school with time spent learning from seasoned attorneys and working on solving real legal problems.”

DePaul’s greater mission

Strengthening student career preparation and supporting creativity in teaching are fundamental to the experiential education program at DePaul. The program places faculty in closer contact with students, which Rodriguez hopes will encourage creativity in instruction.

He believes the program could soften transitions not only for students entering the legal market, but for the College of Law and its professors as the larger academic community incorporates new approaches to teaching law.

“[Professors] are able to give virtually instantaneous feedback to the student, but they are also forced to continually assess the efficacy of their own teaching models,” he said.

As an instructor in DePaul’s Poverty Law Clinic, Rodriguez said he makes a conscious effort to impart the fundamentals of good counseling. “In our clinics, we teach students not only how to represent real clients in real cases,” he said, “but also important intangibles, like the unique struggles of clients, and the common humanity with those who come from many different walks of life. In this way, a good teacher is also a good Vincentian teacher."

Rodriguez points out that the 3YP program aligns with DePaul University’s Vision 2018 strategic plan. The first objective calls for curricular innovation and program development to adequately prepare students. While this may seem like a traditional goal, the plan acknowledges a broader institutional commitment to student outcomes.

“Ultimately,” Rodriguez suggested, “we always need to be mindful of our approach so that we can help our students become more mindful of their own.”

Earlier this year, the College of Law announced the creation of a Third Year in Practice Program (3YP) and a three-year JD/LLM degree. The new programs build on DePaul’s strengths in practical skills training as well as several specialty areas, while offering incoming students new opportunities to tailor their education to meet the needs of a changing legal market.

Dialogue interviewed Professors Zoë Robinson and Allison Tirres, two faculty members who were involved in crafting DePaul’s three-track JD model, to learn more about the initiative.

Q. What inspired the three-track program concept?

Robinson: I am fortunate to be part of a small group of faculty who have been working to develop programmatic initiatives that both give our students more choice in how they pursue their legal education while at DePaul, and also help develop skills that will set them apart from other graduates in the job market.

The three track-track concept was a way of meeting the various demands from students and employers for practical legal education, increased faculty contact and mentoring, more opportunities to engage in in-depth legal writing and analysis, and focused training in a specialized area of the law. By offering a traditional JD option, a third year in practice option, and a three-year JD/LLM option, we can meet these demands and offer students a choice about how to conduct their legal education.

Q. How will the new JD options appeal to students?

Robinson: I think that the three-year JD/LLM will appeal to those students who wish to practice in one of DePaul’s areas of specialty: health law, tax law, international law and IP law. The program offers students the chance to graduate with two degrees in the time it usually takes to complete the stand-alone JD. Yet, more than that, it offers students the chance to work intensively in one specialized area alongside uniquely qualified faculty members who will act as mentors to those students.

The 3YP option will appeal to those students that wish to experience the practice of law prior to graduation, and who want to experience a handful of practice areas before deciding where they will ultimately end up after graduation.

Q. What has been the response to the announcement of the new programs?

Tirres: The response to these initiatives from our various constituents—prospective and current students, alumni, and faculty—has been overwhelmingly positive. During our admitted student events, for example, students asked lots of questions about the 3YP program and seemed very excited about it. Current and prospective students are happy about the opportunity to specialize further by pursuing an LLM without having to devote an entire year to the endeavor. I think students are interested in programs that allow them to structure their law school experience in light of their professional goals.

Q. How is the program unique to DePaul?

Tirres: No school that I know of has this particular combination of offerings. Some schools offer intensive field placements, but not with the structure and organization of our 3YP program. Some offer the combined JD/LLM, but not necessarily in the reduced time frame that we are providing. DePaul is also fortunate to be located in a wonderful, thriving city with plentiful educational opportunities for our students. Over the years, we have built strong networks throughout the city.

Our Asylum & Immigration Law Clinic, for example, has partnerships with more than 25 community-based organizations. Such links provide excellent opportunities for our students and I think they are part of what makes us unique.

For more information about the JD, 3YP and JD/LLM, visit law.depaul.edu.

A DePaul College of Law moot court team comprised of four first-year students placed third in the 2014 Beijing Foreign Studies University-Wanhuida Cup Intellectual Property Moot Court Competition in Beijing, China, on May 24 and 25. 

Teammates Precious Allen, Joseph Klein, Destinee Moyer and Shin Young Jo competed against 13 teams from Australia, China, Taiwan and the United States. DePaul's brief was ranked 4th overall and team member Precious Allen won the competition's Best Oralist Award. Shin Young Jo also was recognized as an outstanding oralist. 

Professor Len Cavise coached the team in Beijing, and professors Michael Grynberg, Joshua Sarnoff, Anthony Volini and Michael Graham prepared the team prior to the competition. 

“I asked him, ‘What are you doing here?’” Kimberly recalled, laughing. “Then I saw his name tag and said, ‘No way!’” Armando was equally surprised to learn that his niece was his classmate. “I saw her across the room, and I knew exactly who that was,” he said.

On May 18, their family will celebrate when both graduate from DePaul University’s College of Law. Throughout their time at DePaul, Kimberly and Armando found ways to support each other, even though they pursued different paths.

The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin featured DePaul's new Third Year in Practice program (3YP) in an article titled "No more pencils, no more books" on Feb. 7.

“That’s our approach with this program,” Rodriguez said. “If you immerse yourself for an entire year doing skills-oriented (work), you’re going to already have the mindset (upon graduation) of an attorney who has already been practicing for a few years.”

Launching in fall 2014, the 3YP program will offer qualified students the opportunity to complete their general law school course requirements in two years and spend the third year of law school in practice. The 3YP program is a part of the College of Law’s response to the changing needs of the legal profession and the shifting landscape of legal education.

Download a copy of the article.

Fresh from law school study-abroad experiences in Europe and China, he took a position in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in the felony courts at 26th and California. Witnessing, firsthand, the ability to affect another’s fate put things in perspective.

"You realize how important it is to conduct the legal process with integrity and consistency and while faithfully applying rules of evidence,” Boucher said.

“Someone’s freedom is at stake.”

A graduate of Vernon Hills High School in suburban Chicago and Wittenberg University in Ohio, Boucher says he came to DePaul because its law school has a “great academic reputation, and because it balances a global perspective with a strong presence in the Chicago legal community.”

Entering law school, he was interested in the way law and business were evolving to become more global in nature, and he notes that the law school provided opportunities for him to study abroad in China, Spain and Belgium.

“I’ve been able to have wide-ranging experiences that I might not have been able to pursue without the scholarship.”

“These experiences helped me to see that the law is constantly evolving and subject to new circumstances and situations,” he said. “They also helped me gain confidence in dealing with communication and cultural barriers—the law is really, above anything, about clear and credible communication between human beings.”

For Boucher, receiving the Jaharis Scholarship has made it possible to focus on his studies and clinical and internship opportunities without having to worry excessively about financing his legal studies. “DePaul offers a rigorous legal education, and so many avenues for gaining practical application and exposure to the law,” he said. “I’ve been able to have wide-ranging experiences that I might not have been able to pursue without the scholarship.”

Boucher says he has found a sense of community that he thinks will last throughout his career and beyond. He has been involved with the Student Bar Association (SBA), served as a Dean’s Advisory Council representative, and is currently SBA secretary.

“The people here make DePaul a great law school. The students and faculty are down to earth. They are competitive but not cutthroat. We push each other to be better.” Boucher recalls another formative moment at DePaul. “On my first day of orientation, the leader asked us to look at the people on our right and left. I thought he was going to say ‘next year, they might not be here,’” he laughed. “But what he said was, ‘These people will very likely become lifelong friends.’ Three years later, I have no doubt about that.”