SIU offers four different legal clinics that are open to the public, and students can participate in them and earn academic credit.
We have a variety of clinics that you can participate in, whether it's the Juvenile Justice Clinic or the Domestic Violence Clinic, or the Veterans Legal Clinic, which is the one that I participated in for the past year.
We have a number of experiential learning opportunities. We start off with externships that is probably the most familiar, most popular, and it is where a student can get a job in public service, which would be at a district attorney's office, prosecutor's office, public defender's office, or even legal aid.
We also have opportunities for students to work in judicial externships, which is where you work for a judge. And we have students who work in private law firms. I really do like to talk to my students to find out, "What is your passion? Let's get you in an externship to try it out. See if it's really something you want to do!"
A couple of courses that were essential to the legal practice. Obviously, legal research and legal writing were important. I took Moot Court in law school. So that really helped, especially with my appellate work right now. And I also had Law Journal, which was also very beneficial.
SIU Law's faculty has helped me in their approach because prior to coming to SIU Law, I had no legal experience. I'm first-generation and I know a lot of my classmates are the same. And so their ability to really make it more condensed, being able to really understand the theoretical aspects of the law is very beneficial. I think that's what sets apart SIU Law from most law schools in the country.
