Law Schedule of Classes

NOTE: Course offerings change. Classes offered this semester may not be offered in future semesters.


295.5D sec. 001 - Death Penalty Clinic (Fall 2025)

Instructor: Mridula S Raman  (view instructor's teaching evaluations - degree students only)
Instructor: Elisabeth Anne Semel  (view instructor's teaching evaluations - degree students only | profile)
View all teaching evaluations for this course - degree students only

Units: 4 - 6
Grading Designation: Credit Only
Mode of Instruction: In-Person

Course Start: August 18, 2025
Course End: December 04, 2025

Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 0
Waitlisted: 0
Enroll Limit: 20
As of: 04/04 07:13 AM


The Death Penalty Clinic is a year-long clinic. Students must apply for both the clinic and the companion seminar through the Clinical Program application process during Spring 2025. Students must enroll in both Fall Semester 2025 and Spring Semester 2026.

The clinic is counsel or co-counsel for individuals who are facing capital punishment at trial, on appeal, or in post-conviction proceedings. The Death Penalty Clinic seeks justice for individuals facing the death penalty by providing them with high-quality representation; offers students a rich opportunity for meaningful hands-on experience in high-stakes, complex litigation; exposes problems endemic to the administration of capital punishment; and advances systemic change through litigation and policy advocacy.

In academic year 2025-26, students will be supervised Professor Elisabeth Semel (the clinic's co-director) and Professor Mridula Raman (the clinic's deputy director). Faculty bios are available on the law school's faculty profiles page and the Death Penalty Clinic's webpage.


Attendance at the first class is mandatory for all currently enrolled and waitlisted students; any currently enrolled or waitlisted students who are not present on the first day of class (without prior permission of the instructor) will be dropped. The instructor will continue to take attendance throughout the add/drop period and anyone who moves off the waitlist into the class must continue to attend or have prior permission of the instructor in order not to be dropped.


Requirements Satisfaction:

Work in the clinic may satisfy Option 2 of the J.D. writing requirement with instructor approval. In order to satisfy Option 2, clinic students must complete a paper or series of written work that comprises 30 or more pages. Students who wish to satisfy the writing requirement must get instructor approval and submit their draft for comment and revision.

Option 2 form needed:
https://www.law.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Writing_Requirement_2017.pdf

This class may satisfy either the writing requirement or the experiential requirement but not both.

Student Academic Advising and Support Services (SAASS) is available to answer questions.


Exam Notes: (None) Series of papers or assignments throughout the semester
(Subject to change by faculty member only through the first two weeks of instruction)
Course Category: Clinics
This course is listed in the following sub-categories:
Criminal Law
Race and Law
Social Justice and Public Interest

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