law-clinics

Message from the Associate Dean

Professional headshot of a man with gray hair and a beard, smiling, wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and light yellow tie against a softly blurred indoor background.

The process of becoming a lawyer is a transformative, lifelong process. The University of Baltimore School of Law’s nationally renowned clinical and externship program provides intensive, individualized education to every student during their formative first experiences with real clients, when theory meets practice and students become professionals.

Students in UBalt’s clinics serve as first-chair attorneys to low-income Maryland veterans, immigrants, families, and others. In this powerful role, they advocate in the courts, negotiate with opposing counsel, form startup businesses, and in many other ways help real people navigate the law’s impacts on their lives, their finances, their families, and their freedoms. At every step, UBalt’s clinical faculty are by our students’ side, guiding them to becoming the effective, impactful legal professionals that they want to be.

I am privileged to serve as Associate Dean for Experiential Education at UBalt Law, which:

offers a broad range of both clinical and externship experiences, for both day and evening students, in many different disciplines and areas of specialty;
provides highly personalized, individualized education for every clinic student, through an intentionally low student-to-faculty ratio;
prioritizes deep pedagogical expertise and teaches students to develop their intellectual powers, improve their shortcomings, exercise professional discretion with thought and care, and explore how law can both reinforce and correct systemic injustices;
supports meaningful, robust community engagement through our many clinical and externship services and partnerships; and
fully values clinical education, scholarship, and governance through our unitary tenure system.

UBalt Law graduates go on to contribute so much to our society, serving at all levels of government, in public service, and in private practice across our state and across the nation. It is with great pleasure and pride that our experiential program helps to build a strong foundational bridge between school and practice.

Students in UBalt’s clinics learn to be lawyers by serving real clients with real legal needs. Working under the supervision of experienced faculty, our student-attorneys take primary responsibility for representing veterans, families, immigrants, entrepreneurs, and others who might otherwise lack access to justice. They counsel clients, investigate facts, develop case strategies, negotiate, advocate before courts and agencies, and help build stronger communities. Through this work, students are making a meaningful difference in the lives of the people and communities they serve.

Hugh McClean, Professor of Law, Director of the Bob Parsons Veterans Advocacy Clinic