The Civil Litigation Clinic equips law students to advocate for clients and communities through supervised representation in housing disputes, federal civil rights, and community lawyering matters.
Civil Litigation Clinic
Message from the Clinic Director
One of the things I love about being a trial lawyer is that I have the power to change people's lives with my words. With good investigation, research, drafting, document management, client counseling, negotiation, trial practice, and community engagement, we can change people's lives.
We can hold police accountable for unlawful excessive force. We can hold landlords accountable for uninhabitable premises. We can hold prisons responsible for the mistreatment of prisoners. It is like magic. We can cast a spell of justice on behalf of our clients.
Scott Holmes
Clinical Director and Supervising Attorney
Student Information
The Civil Litigation Clinic is an upper-level experiential learning course for third-year law students. Enrollment is limited to 16 students to ensure individualized instruction, meaningful responsibility, and close faculty mentorship.
Info Accordions
- At least 128 hours of clinic work each semester through assigned casework, supervision meetings, client matters, drafting, preparation, and community-based projects.
- Participation in the Clinic as certified legal interns working within a social justice law firm model, with responsibility for assigned matters under faculty supervision.
- Work on selected matters involving housing, civil rights, community advocacy, and other public interest issues.
- Development of litigation skills through client interviewing, counseling, case assessment, fact investigation, legal research, legal drafting, case strategy, negotiation, and hearing preparation.
- Individualized feedback designed to strengthen legal analysis, professionalism, judgment, and readiness for practice.
- Exposure to the ways civil litigation can serve clients, support communities, and pursue accountability through the legal system.
Students in the Civil Litigation Clinic will develop the skills and professional judgment necessary to:
- Assess client needs, investigate facts, and evaluate potential claims and defenses.
- Represent clients in housing matters, including eviction and landlord-tenant cases.
- Draft pleadings, counterclaims, discovery materials, settlement agreements, and other litigation documents.
- Develop case strategies for negotiation, settlement, hearings, and trial.
- Prepare for court proceedings and, when appropriate, try cases in Durham County District Court.
- Engage with selected federal civil rights matters involving prison conditions, police misconduct, employment discrimination, and housing discrimination.
- Partner with community organizations and nonprofit groups on legal matters that advance the Clinic’s mission.
- Apply community lawyering principles to understand how legal advocacy can respond to broader community needs.
- Open to upper-level law students.
- Students must have completed or be enrolled in Trial Practice, although this requirement may be waived in limited circumstances with approval.
Potential Client Information and Clinic Services
The Civil Litigation Clinic provides legal assistance to eligible Durham residents and community organizations, subject to case type, clinic capacity, educational value, and academic calendar limitations. Because the Clinic is part of a law school teaching program, representation is not guaranteed, and all matters are reviewed before acceptance.
Info Accordions
Services provided by the Civil Litigation Clinic may include:
- Case assessment.
- Client counseling.
- Legal research and analysis.
- Review of leases, notices, records, correspondence, and other case materials.
- Preparation of pleadings, motions, discovery, settlement agreements, and other litigation documents.
- Negotiation and settlement preparation.
- Representation in housing-related matters, including evictions, landlord-tenant disputes, and unsafe or uninhabitable housing conditions.
- Assistance with select federal civil rights matters involving prison conditions, police misconduct, employment discrimination, and housing discrimination.
- Legal support for community organizations and nonprofit partners serving communities throughout North Carolina.
All legal work is performed by certified legal interns under faculty supervision.
The Civil Litigation Clinic serves individuals and community partners whose legal needs raise broader questions of housing stability, government accountability, and access to justice.
The Clinic may assist:
- Tenants facing eviction, unsafe housing conditions, or other landlord-tenant disputes.
- Individuals whose civil rights may have been violated by government actors, employers, housing providers, or correctional institutions.
- People and communities affected by issues involving police misconduct, prison conditions, employment discrimination, or housing discrimination.
- Community organizations and nonprofit partners working to address systemic legal issues throughout North Carolina.
Because the Clinic focuses on both individual representation and impact-oriented civil litigation, matters are reviewed for legal need, educational value, case type, timing, and clinic capacity.
Clinic Highlights
Info Accordions
Civil Litigation Clinic students supported a federal civil rights lawsuit involving protesters who alleged that Graham and Alamance County officials violated their constitutional rights during a 2019 protest. The case gave students an opportunity to contribute to litigation involving free speech, public assembly, unlawful detention, and government accountability.
The Civil Litigation Clinic contributed to civil rights litigation arising from protest activity in Graham, North Carolina, where demonstrators challenged alleged restrictions on protected speech and assembly. Through this work, students gained exposure to First Amendment litigation, law enforcement surveillance issues, and public-interest advocacy.
The Civil Litigation Clinic assisted with a long-running federal civil rights case brought by Stephanie Bottom, who alleged that officers used excessive force during a traffic stop. The matter allowed students to support real-world litigation involving police accountability, constitutional rights, and the treatment of individuals during law enforcement encounters.
Civil Litigation Clinic students supported litigation challenging alleged government interference with protest activity in Graham, North Carolina. The case reflects the Clinic’s role in helping students understand how civil litigation can protect civic participation and constitutional rights in public spaces.
Contact Information
Info Accordions
For information regarding clinic services or eligibility requirements, please contact the NCCU Civil Litigation Clinic.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 919-530-7166