Certificate in Social Justice

To obtain the certificate, students must complete both a doctrinal and experiential component for a minimum of 14 total credit hours.  The experiential component requires that students complete the equivalent of one academic year of supervised legal work addressing the needs of the poor and marginalized.  The doctrinal component focuses on the legal and policy frameworks that structure rights and access for the poor and marginalized.

a. Required Experiential Components (7-10 credit hours)

1. One semester of LAW L897 Clinical Seminar–Live Client Clinic (5 hrs.)
      
      and
2. One semester of any of the following)
   LAW L833 Street Law
   LAW L897 Clinical Seminar–Live Client Clinic
   LAW L900 Academic Externship (2 hrs.)
   LAW L924 Human Rights Advocacy Project
   LAW L976 Environmental Law and Policy Lab
      
      and
3. 50 hours of public service work, which must be pre-approved by Professor Judson Mitchell.  Public service work is broadly defined to include work performed for a stipend, in addition to pro bono work. Pro bono hours completed to satisfy the Law and Poverty requirement may also be used to satisfy this certificate. All public service work towards the certificate requirement, both compensated and uncompensated, must be reported through the Pro Bono Reporting database, online at http://loyolalawtech.org/probono/.  

b. Required Doctrinal Component (4-8 credit hours)

1. LAW L781 Law and Poverty or LAW L782 Law and Poverty Seminar (2 hrs.)
      
      and
2. One of the following pool courses (2-3 credit hours)
   LAW L782 Law and Poverty Seminar: Tax and Social Justice
   LAW L802 Law and Education Seminar
   LAW L818 Labor Law
   LAW L820 Employment Discrimination
   LAW L832 Immigration and Citizenship Law
   LAW L834 Environmental Justice
   LAW L839 Civil Rights Actions Under Section 1983
   LAW L855 Child Advocacy Seminar
   LAW L862 Criminal Law Seminar (permission required)
   LAW L877 Constitutional Law Seminar (permission required)
   LAW L884 International Law Seminar: Human Rights Advocacy in the U.S.
   LAW L885 Gender Law in Practice
   LAW L886 Environmental Law Seminar (permission required)
   LAW L903 Election Law 
   LAW L911 Introduction to American Indian Law: Overlapping Jurisdictions
   LAW L932 Immigration Law Seminar
   LAW L933 Asylum and Refugee Law 
   LAW L935 Social Security Disability Law
   LAW L955 Advanced Constitutional Law–14th Amendment
      
      and
3. An additional pool course if a student completes less than 10 credit hours under the experiential component.

c. Performance
Students must maintain a GPA of 3.0 or better in the Certificate courses and an overall GPA of 2.5 or higher to receive the Certificate.

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