Skills Labs
A Skills Lab is a specialized course in which students who have already taken the associated doctrinal course work more closely on pro bono cases with a practitioner licensed to practice law in Florida. For instance, students who have already successfully completed the doctrinal Trusts and Estates course in a prior semester are eligible to register for the Trusts and Estates Skills Lab.
Because the faculty and staff at Coastal Law, as well as those in the legal community locally and beyond, believe it is important for students to have law-related experience while in school, we encourage at least one live client experience.
The benefits of live client experience include:
- Observing practitioners and learning professionalism from practicing attorneys.
- Fostering an awareness of the importance of pro bono work.
- Learning practical skills they can use upon graduation.
- Receiving mentoring from the practitioner who is teaching the Skills Lab.
- Providing networking opportunities which may lead to job opportunities.
- Creating reputation enhancement opportunities for the student and school.
Skills Labs offered (this listing may vary by semester):
Family Law
Mediation/ADR
Wills, Estates & Trusts
Wrongful Convictions
Interviewing & Counseling
Criminal Law
Course specifics:
- Students may register for either a one or two credit skills lab; however, the professor has the final authority as to whether to offer the lab for one or two credits. If the pro bono cases available are not sufficiently involved to support two credits’ worth of work, the professor may elect to offer the lab for only one credit. Enrollment preference will be given to students who have not already earned credit in an in-house clinic, an externship, or another Skills Lab at Coastal Law.
- Students will be assigned one of the following grades for the Lab: “High Pass,” “Pass,” “Low Pass” and Fail.” Those students receiving the grade of “Fail” will earn no course credit or skills credit for the course. Students earning “High Pass,” or “Pass,” or “Low Pass” grades will be awarded the credits for which they registered. The credits awarded for skills labs will count towards the non-course credit limit set forth in Section VI (D) of the Student Handbook.
- Each course will be scheduled to meet for 1 hour, 50 minutes once a week. During the class periods, the professor will review doctrinal material which the students need to know to work on their cases. At the professor’s option, some class periods may be replaced with conferences for students assigned to work on the same case; other classes may be canceled to provide students time to work on their cases.
- Students will be required to work a total of 55 hours per credit hour awarded. Time spent in class sessions will be counted towards the hours required per credit hour. Students must keep a time sheet documenting this time spent and submit this to the professor at the end of the semester for approval. Hours earned in excess of the registered credit hours may be applied to FCSL pro bono hours in accordance with the policies followed by the Clinical Professors.
- Each Skills Lab will be limited to 8-10 students who have already taken the doctrinal course which is the subject of the Skills Lab.
- The skills lab professor will be responsible for finding pro bono cases for students to work on; these pro bono cases may come from a legal aid organization such as JALA or from another case the attorney or the attorney’s law firm has accepted on a pro bono basis. The cases should be the type which can be completed within the span of the semester. Students may be, but are not required to be, assigned to work on cases in pairs.
- Students in FCSL Clinics may not take a Skills Lab during the same semester due to potential scheduling and client conflicts.
Public Interest and Skills Office (“PISO”)
The Public Interest and Skills Office suite is in room 155, near the reception desk as you enter FCSL’s main entrance. This suite of offices houses the FCSL Pro Bono Office, the Public Interest Research Bureau and the Skills Labs. There is a reception and seating area as you come into the suite and 5 separate offices within the suite, including a large conference room.
The Skills Labs’ professors and their students may use the office for matters such as client interviews, student and professor meetings, mediations, mock practice exercises and for quiet research and drafting time related to the Skills Lab courses.
Each Professor may choose to hold interviews and other sessions at his or her own office or other location, at his or her sole discretion. However, we hope you will find the office useful for some aspect of your Skills Labs.
Further Information
For information contact Rosa DuBose, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, at rdubose@fcsl.edu or (904) 680-7753 or Ada A. Hammond, Skills Labs Coordinator, at ahammond@fcsl.edu or (904) 256-1157.
What participating students say about the Skills Labs:
“The skill's lab was very helpful in terms of familiarizing me with the practical side of family law. I took family law and the lab concurrently which really helped to unravel the concepts and laws we were learning in family law. We had our own clients and handled the case as if it was our own. I got to draft pleadings, fill out forms, attend court and manage a case from beginning to end … All in all, this is an experience everyone should have. Skills labs are available to all without having to fill out applications or worrying about your GPA.”
Ammar Hussein
“I liked being able to work with a real client and draft real documents such as a power of attorney, will, living will, healthcare surrogate etc. The lab was very useful and practical.”
Aleksandra Novakovich
“I very much enjoyed my Trusts and Estates skills lab with Professor Robert Morgan. It has definitely helped me understand trusts and estates and has helped me immensely with my Trusts and Estates lecture class … Because our lab class was small, Professor Morgan was really able to talk to us and make sure we were understanding concepts from the materials he posted for our lab class as well as material covered in our regular lecture class.”
Christine Malamanig Berk
“In my family law skills lab I learned about the divorce process by actually going through it with a real client. We drafted a petition, notice of hearing, settlement agreement, and a final order (all of which were actually submitted to the Duval County Courthouse) … I really appreciated being able to provide help for people who need legal assistance, and earning academic credit was definitely a bonus. I would easily recommend the skills lab to anyone.”
Shaq Spiegel
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