Public Interest Track

Required Courses

Students must complete the following two courses:

  1. Administrative Law
  2. Federal Jurisdiction

Distribution Requirement

Students must complete at least four courses (12 credits), including at least one course in two of the following curricular areas:

Individual Rights

  • Abolition and the Law of Violence
  • American Indian Law
  • Civil Rights Litigation
  • Constitutional Criminal Procedure
  • Disability Law
  • Employment Discrimination
  • Fair Housing-Policies, Litigation, and Mediation
  • Fair Housing Basics
  • First Amendment
  • Fourteenth Amendment
  • Free Speech on Campus
  • Global Freedom of Expression and the Press
  • Health and Human Rights
  • Ideas of the First Amendment
  • Law and Social Change
  • Law of Racial and Social Justice Movements
  • Poverty Law
  • Prisoners' Rights
  • Race, Social Science, and the Law
  • Refugees and Asylum
  • Religion and the Law
  • Reproduction Health and Justice Seminar
  • Sexual Orientation and the Law
  • Women, Children and Human Rights

Public and Non-profit Management

  • The Not for Profit Institution: Issues in Law and Governance
  • Power in Organizations (Kellogg)
  • Reinventing Government (Kellogg)
  • Dynamics of Leadership (Kellogg)

Specialized Practice Areas

  • Animal Law
  • Chicago's Gun Violence Epidemic
  • Civil Rights Lawyering
  • Civil Rights Litigation
  • Constitutional Criminal Procedure
  • Criminal Process
  • Criminal Trial Practice
  • Environmental Law
  • Family Law
  • Immigration Law
  • Natural Resources
  • Refugee and Asylum
  • Restorative Justice Seminar
  • Restorative Justice: Community Building and Practice
  • Torts II

Clinical Requirement

Students must complete a minimum of six credits of clinical work through the following Legal Clinic or Practicum courses.

  • Civil Government Practicum
  • Clinic: MacArthur Justice Center: Criminal Justice Reform
  • Clinic Practice: Center for International Human Rights
  • Clinic Practice: Center on Wrongful Convictions
  • Clinic Practice: Civil Rights Litigation 
  • Clinic Practice: Community Justice and Civil Rights Litigation
  • Clinic Practice: Complex Civil Litigation
  • Clinic Practice: DPELC Entrepreneurship Law
  • Clinic Practice: Environmental Advocacy 
  • Clinic Practice: Federal Appellate Practice
  • Clinic Practice: Immigration Law 
  • Clinic Practice: International Human Rights Advocacy
  • Clinic Practice: Investor Protection
  • Clinic Practice: Juvenile Justice Pre-Trial, Trial, Appeal and Post-Dispositional / Post-Conviction
  • Clinic Practice: Second Chances for Youth: Decarceration, Diversion and Post-Sentencing Advocacy 
  • Clinic Practice: Tenant Advocacy 
  • Clinic Practice: The United States Supreme Court
  • Clinic Practice: Women and Children's Human Rights Advocacy: International and Domestic 
  • Criminal Law Practicum
  • Judicial Practicum
  • Public Interest Practicum

Research Requirement

Students must complete a substantial research and writing project within the Concentration. This requirement may be satisfied by completing an approved Senior Research Project (LAWSTUDY 690) or a seminar or course (approved as part of the concentration) with the Research Writing attribute.