The Workers’ Rights Clinic is committed to protecting employment rights for low-income and disadvantaged workers and their families by providing free legal services to address discrimination based upon race, national origin, gender, pregnancy, disability, language proficiency, and immigration status. The Clinic provides students an overview of employment law and exposes them to a wide variety of workplace issues faced by low-wage workers across California—many of whom are non-English speakers.
Students will conduct phone interviews with clients and complete research under the supervision of an attorney to provide the client legal advice. Students can expect to encounter and become familiar with a broad range of legal issues, such as employment discrimination, workers’ compensation, and workplace torts. Students will also gain skills in client interactions, issue spotting, and legal research. Prior to every session, an attorney with extensive experience in labor and employment law will give a lecture on a specific topic in employment and/or labor law. Previous guest speakers have even argued cases before the Supreme Court. Dinner is provided, and socials will be organized during the semester to encourage bonding amongst clinicians! Clinics will be held on campus at the law school so no travel needed!
Supervision: Students will receive training from and be supervised by attorneys from Legal Aid at Work.
Time Commitment: Students must attend biweekly clinic meetings, which take around 3-4 hours on Thursday evenings. The work students perform for the clinic is limited to the initial 4-hour training held in September and subsequent clinic meetings. Work outside of the biweekly meeting is entirely voluntary and rare.
For more information, please contact the student leaders at workersrightsclinic@berkeley.edu.