Law School Clinics and Academic Programs

The University of Connecticut was a pioneer in clinical education. The first clinic began under the tenure of Dean Howard Sacks in 1969, who arrived at to the Law School from Northwestern University(Chicago, Ill.)where he had been the director of the National Council of Legal Clinics. Approved by the faculty in 1968, the first legal clinic began operating at the Law School in 1969. Jim Harbaugh, coming from Georgetown University, was the clinic's founder, procuring money via a grant from the Ford Foundation. Clinics provided students with hands-on experience of being a lawyer, complimenting theory received in the classroom. Even earlier, and a factor for the success of the clinic, was the Student Board of Public Defenders and Legal Assistants which had been organized in the spring of 1964 to provide assistance to lawyers representing indigent clients and to provide students the opportunity to observe the practical operation of the law. (See RG 08.03 Student Organizations).

Several clinics were proposed and started over the years.

Sources used: Born Fighting: Clinical Education at the University of Connecticut School of Law' by Kent Newmyer and Tatyana Marugg; https://law.uconn.edu/academics/clinics-experiential-education/ (accessed July 2023)