The UNLV Immigration Clinic offers opportunities for students to learn by doing, and to play a frontline role in supporting people in our community. Through our Community Advocacy Office and our law school clinic class, we offer opportunities for UNLV undergraduates and law students at all levels.
- Undergraduate internships
- Community service opportunities for early law students (part of the Community Service Program)
- Osvaldo Fumo Summer Fellowship (paid) (typically for a rising 2L)
- Law school externships (for 2Ls and 3Ls)
- Clinic student attorneys (Immigration Clinic course and Advanced Clinic) (for 2Ls and 3Ls)
- Social work masters practicum placements (offered through the UNLV School of Social Work)
Externships and the clinic course involve student practice certification from the Nevada bar. Certified student attorneys can perform every role of a licensed attorney, working under the supervision of an expert experienced attorney. Immigration Clinic student attorneys and externs have tried torture cases in Immigration Court, represented clients before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, drafted bills and testified for the Nevada legislature, accompanied clients to asylum interviews, and appeared on behalf of unaccompanied children in family courts.
Students with interest in immigration, refugee protection, client counseling, community service, civil rights, litigation, administrative practice, and criminal law can gain a great deal from participating in all or several of these opportunities. More advanced roles like the externships and the clinic course often build on skills students can hone in undergraduate internships or the 1L community services program, although that is not required. In all of these roles, we aim to teach students how to deliver the highest quality legal services to people who would likely otherwise not have representation at all.