Experiential Learning

Clinics

Currently, one clinic qualifies for the Dispute Resolution Track:

  • Mediation Clinic (4 credits spring)
    In this semester clinic, students learn and practice mediation skills in the role of the mediator in court-based cases and in Baltimore City schools. Students who complete the Mediation Clinic receive training and experience that qualifies them to apply to be a court-approved mediator for the District Court of Maryland ADR Program.

ADR Team

The Maryland Carey Law ADR Team is a co-curricular student organization for students with a particular skill for and interest in negotiation and mediation.

The experiential requirement may also be satisfied through an ADR externship or other approved externship in which the student gains extensive conflict resolution experience.

A rich array of ADR experiential opportunities exist at Maryland Carey Law. The Maryland Judiciary is an international leader in court-based dispute resolution processes. Our proximity to Washington, D.C. offers students externship opportunities with federal agency ADR programs and international organizations. In the past, students have completed ADR externships with:

  • Judicial programs (e.g., District Court of Maryland ADR Program; Maryland Court of Special Appeals ADR Office; Maryland Judiciary Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office; District of Columbia Multi-Door Program)
  • Federal agencies (e.g., National Institutes of Health; United States Department of State);
  • Civil rights agencies (e.g., Maryland Commission on Civil Rights; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)
  • International organizations (e.g., Mediators Beyond Borders; American Society for International Law) 
  • State agencies (e.g., Maryland Governor’s Office of Business Ombudsman Maryland; Office of the Attorney General–Consumer Protection Division)

Other specialty externships (public interest, international, environmental, health, business, Asper/judicial) may qualify for the Dispute Resolution Track experiential requirement upon prior approval by the program’s faculty director.

ADR externships provide additional experiential learning opportunities for students interested in the field of alternative dispute resolution. In the ADR externship program, students are matched with government agencies and non-profit organizations to gain experience in a real-world setting. Through the ADR externship program, students earn academic credit in one of many ADR practice settings under the supervision of an attorney and a faculty advisor. Students may earn from 4 to 13 credits and engage in a classroom component that runs simultaneously with their externship experience. Students participating in the externship program must comply with University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law Externship Guidelines. If you are interested in an ADR Externship, please contact Toby Treem Guerin at tguerin@law.umaryland.edu or 410-706-6228.

Externships opportunities may exist at the following organizations:

The Erin Levitas Initiative for Sexual Assault Prevention at Maryland Carey Law

Erin Levitas was poised to join the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law community and bring her many talents to the legal profession. She hoped her education at the law school would enable her to pursue her passion for education and women’s rights by working to help all women feel welcome and thrive. Although Erin left us before she could pursue her law school degree to help others, we've created the Erin Levitas Initiative in her honor, a new and ambitious program focused primarily on sexual assault prevention and support for survivors of sexual assault.

Students interested in the Levitas Initiative can participate in the Levitas Sexual Assault Prevention Intiative course in which law students work in schools to implement the ERIN Talk curriculum.