Housing Justice Practicum

The Housing Justice Practice (HJP) Seminar is designed to familiarize students with New York landlord-tenant legal practice through the lens of issues of access to justice, racial justice, and economic justice. The aim of this course is to help students develop a critical approach to the practice of lawyering for housing justice and to provide students an opportunity to attain knowledge and practical skills and imagine solutions to improve the current system. Classes meet for two-hour sessions each week. Students acquire concrete skills and knowledge to help them prepare for a career in tenant advocacy, a vital and rapidly growing area of public interest law

The course comprises a hybrid of interdisciplinary seminar sessions and a practical component consisting, at the option of the instructor, of some combination of simulated exercises performed during class time, court observations, and external placements with legal services providers for up to eight hours per week. . The practical component of the course provides opportunities for students to develop lawyering skills including client interviewing, motion practice, negotiation, and drafting commonly used in Housing Court practice.

Fall, Spring