Externship Family Court Field Placement

Catalog description

Students spend one full day per week working in the White Plains Family Court or Yonkers Family Court under the supervision of experienced Pace Women’s Justice Center attorneys at PWJC’s Family Court Legal Program site offices. Responsibilities include interviewing victims and survivors of intimate partner violence; drafting family offense, support, and custody petitions; and arguing for ex parte temporary orders of protection before Family Court judges under a Student Practice Order, and with the direct assistance of PWJC attorneys. In the weekly two-hour seminar, taught by the FCLP Director, students learn about NY family law and legal practice, the dynamics of domestic violence, and the intersections of domestic violence law with other areas of the law. Students also participate in Family Court practice simulations. Permission of the professor, based on application and interview, is required.