Legal Clinic Application - Spring 2027 - William H. Bowen School of Law

Application Details

The deadline to apply for clinic courses is 12:00PM (noon) Friday, September 25, 2026.

IMPORTANT: Please follow all application instructions/prompts carefully while entering your information to ensure your application can be considered.

Only submit one application. Additional submissions will not be considered. If you would like to be considered for other clinics as backup options should your primary choice be unavailable, you will have the opportunity to select up to two alternative courses at the end of the application form before submitting it. Please do not select the same clinic course multiple times.

This application is specific to the clinic you are applying for. To view details of any clinic (including prerequisites), select that clinic in the first section of the form. The rest of the application will be tailored to that clinic course. Feel free to click on any clinic and view the description and prerequisites. Don’t worry. Nothing is submitted until you hit “submit” at the end.

Remember to click “submit” at the bottom of the form. Once you do, you should see a message on the screen confirming you have submitted your application. If you do not, please contact Larry Rhodes in the Legal Clinic. Email [email protected] or call 501-916-5424 to ensure he received it.

Phone

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Clinic course you are requesting(Required)

Delta Divorce Clinic – Spring

Family Law Clinic – Spring

Mediation Clinic – Spring

Tax Clinic – Spring

Veterans Legal Services Clinic – Spring

Family Law Clinic students assist clients who are pursuing court action to obtain relief in the areas of family and guardianship law. Six-hour students should allot an average of 20 hours per week for casework and document preparation, required class attendance, and a weekly case status review (CSR) with the supervising attorney/professor and student colleague. Four-hour students should allot an average of 14 hours per week. Casework tasks include: preparing for and conducting client and witness interviews, investigating “facts”, researching statutes, case law, and rules of procedure, evidence, and ethics related to your case, drafting and filing complaints and motions, preparing discovery, decrees and orders, negotiating with opposing counsel, developing direct and cross questions for hearings, and handling hearings both contested and uncontested.

Orientation for the Litigation Clinic is a 3-day session which meets prior to the first day of classes.

Are you applying for the 4-hour or 6-hour clinic?(Required)

4-Hour Clinic

6-Hour Clinic

The Veterans Legal Services Clinic (VLSC) is a clinic that provides Bowen law students a trauma-informed, service-oriented learning experience while helping Arkansas veterans access benefits available to them under federal law. Clinic students will help veterans who experienced trauma during their service address the barriers they may face in accessing VA benefits. In representing their veteran clients, students will develop many critical, transferable lawyering skills, such as client interviewing and counseling, fact investigation, legal research and writing, case planning, development of legal theory, written and oral advocacy, and how to learn an area of law that may be new to them. In addition, students will explore issues related to professional responsibility.

Orientation for the Veterans Legal Services Clinic is a MANDATORY 2½ day session which meets prior to the first day of classes.

The Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) represents low-income taxpayers in disputes with the Internal Revenue Service and, when appropriate, before the U.S. Tax Court. Under the supervision of the Clinic Director, students interview and counsel clients, conduct factual investigations, research tax law, negotiate with IRS personnel, prepare cases for appeals conferences, draft offers in compromise, and file petitions with the U.S. Tax Court. Students develop essential lawyering skills, including client counseling, legal analysis, advocacy, negotiation, case planning, and caseload management, while providing critical legal services to low-income taxpayers. Six-hour students should allot an average of 20 hours per week for casework, document preparation, required seminar attendance, and weekly Case Status Review (CSR) meetings. Four-hour students should allot an average of 14 hours per week.

Orientation for the Tax Clinic is a MANDATORY 1½-day session held during the week prior to the first day of classes.

The Mediation Clinic includes training in mediation and negotiation skills through lecture, discussion, simulations, observation, written case studies, and co-mediation of actual cases. Students should allot sufficient time for class attendance and required attendance at mediations. Student work focuses on Special Education mediations and facilitations as well as multiple other types of mediation including Zero to Three facilitations, FINS mediations and Access & Visitation mediations. Students will write up several case studies and also team-teach one class topic of their choice.

Mediation Clinic has a MANDATORY 4 day orientation session which meets the week prior to the first day of classes to allow students to complete the training component for the Arkansas Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission mediation certification process.

The Delta Divorce Clinic provides direct representation to low-income clients chosen through The Delta Experience or outreach during orientation. Students taking Delta Clinic must be Rule XV eligible. As such, the Delta Clinic is only open to upper-level students. Students earn six hours of law school credit for this course. Students must be able to travel with their professor to the Arkansas Delta to conduct interviews with clients and for court appearances for final divorce hearings. Students conduct telephone interviews with clients and perform fact investigations to ensure a successful outcome in divorce cases. After obtaining Rule XV consents from clients, Delta Divorce Clinic students prepare divorce complaints and motions for fee waivers for low-income clients. Next, students obtain service on defendants and write final divorce decrees. Students will then represent their clients in divorce hearings.

There is a MANDATORY orientation for this clinic that is held the week before classes begin.

Please briefly explain why you are interested in participating in this clinic course.(Required)

PART I: STUDENT INFORMATION

Name(Required)

First Last

Your Ualr.edu Email Address (Please do not use any other email address.)(Required)

Your Workday Student ID number (WDID#)(Required)

Address(Required)

Street Address City State ZIP Code

Phone(Required)

PART II: PREREQUISITES & CONFLICTS

Please review the following prerequisites and check each course successfully completed.

Rule XV Eligibility(Required)

This is required for the Delta Divorce Clinic and the Family Law Clinic. You must have successfully completed all of the following courses before you can participate in these clinics:

Civil Procedure

Evidence

Professional Responsibility

Other Relevant Courses for Rule XV Eligibility(Required)

In addition, you must also have successfully completed at least one of the following:

Criminal Procedure Pretrial

Criminal Procedure Trial

Criminal Procedure Post-Trial

Arkansas Criminal Trial Practice

Tax Clinic(Required)

Federal Income Tax (can be taken concurrently with Clinic)

Professional Responsibility

Veterans Legal Services Clinic(Required)

Professional Responsibility (or will be concurrently enrolled during your clinic semester)

There are no prerequisites for Mediation Clinic.

Please list any other pertinent classes.

Please list any other pertinent classes. Relevant courses include, among others, Administrative Law, Advanced Appellate Advocacy, Advanced Litigation Skills, Evidence, Gender & the Law, Interviewing & Counseling, Lawyering Skills, Race and the Law, as well as previous clinic experience and relevant externship experience.

During the course, students may not work for the U.S. Tax Court or the Internal Revenue Service and may not engage in any other activities that would reasonably appear to create a conflict of interest

During the course, students must take steps to avoid employment and activities that would reasonably appear to create a conflict of interest.

PART III: STUDENT ACADEMIC INFORMATION

Are you a part-time student?(Required)

Yes

Year of Graduation(Required)

Semester of Graduation(Required)

Fall

Spring

How many credit hours will you have completed at the end of the current semester?(Required)

Have you applied for an externship position for the spring semester?(Required)

Yes

Will you have completed 48 credit hours of law school prior to the spring semester?(Required)

Yes

Are you currently on academic probation?(Required)

Yes

Do you plan to be employed during the spring semester?(Required)

Yes

State your place(s) of employment.(Required)

PART IV: LET US KNOW

Have you previously taken a clinic or externship course?(Required)

Yes

During which semester did you previously take a clinic/externship course, and which course did you take?(Required)

Please list any potential conflicts of interest and all planned employment and/or unpaid clerkships that might prevent you from taking this clinic.(Required)

What experience do you have working with low-income people?(Required)

What excites you about helping people in the Arkansas Delta?(Required)

Have you previously applied to the Veterans Legal Services Clinic?(Required)

Yes

When did you apply?(Required)

PART V: UNDERSTANDINGS AND AGREEMENTS

Please indicate that you understand and agree with each of the following statements.

Students who are accepted in the Mediation Clinic cannot take the Weekend Mediation Seminar.(Required)

I understand that if accepted in the Mediation Clinic, I will not be able to take a Weekend Mediation Seminar course.

Yes, I understand.

While there are no prerequisites for Mediation Clinic, it would be helpful to know what courses you have taken or will take concurrently.

Have you taken Family Law?(Required)

Yes

Have you taken Disability Law?(Required)

Yes

Are you taking either course in the spring semester?(Required)

Yes

Please list any potential conflicts of interest and all planned employment and/or unpaid clerkships.(Required)

I am aware that in-person attendance at orientation the week prior to the first week of classes is MANDATORY and that I am required to attend all of the orientation for my clinic or I may be dropped from the course without prior notice or have other consequences imposed.(Required)

Yes.

No.

I have disclosed all my conflicts of interest or potential conflicts of interest.(Required)

Yes

By checking yes, I am stating that I have read this document and understand the requirements and commitment involved in taking a Legal Clinic course.(Required)

The final deadline to alert clinic staff and drop a clinic course is the first day of the reading period for the semester prior to your clinic class.

Yes

PART VI: OPTIONS

In the event the clinic for which you are applying becomes unavailable, you may choose up to two alternate clinics for which to be considered. Please do not select the same clinic as your first choice in either of the second or third options.

Second Clinic Option

Delta Divorce Clinic – Spring

Family Law Clinic – Spring

Mediation Clinic – Spring

Tax Clinic – Spring

Veterans Legal Services Clinic – Spring

Third Clinic Option

Delta Divorce Clinic – Spring

Family Law Clinic – Spring

Mediation Clinic – Spring

Tax Clinic – Spring

Veterans Legal Services Clinic – Spring

The Delta Divorce Clinic and the Family Law Clinic require students to be certified to practice under Rule XV. To be eligible for Rule XV certification, you must meet the following criteria:

You must have completed 48 law credit hours.
You must have successfully completed Civil Procedure, Evidence, and Professional Responsibility to participate in the Delta Divorce Clinic or the Family Law Clinic.
You must also have taken one of the following courses to participate in the Delta Divorce Clinic or the Family Law Clinic: Pretrial, Trial Process, or Arkansas Criminal Trial Process.

If you have not completed these prerequisites, please select a different optional course.

The Tax Clinic requires that you have taken Professional Responsibility. You are also required to have taken Federal Income Tax but are allowed to take Federal Income Tax concurrently with the Clinic. If you do not meet these prerequisites, please select a different optional course.

In order to take Veterans Legal Services Clinic, you must have taken Professional Responsibility. However, an exception can be made if you take Professional Responsibility concurrently with the Veterans Legal Services Clinic.

Briefly explain your interest in your alternate course selection(s).(Required)

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