The School of Law faculty has substantially revised its traditional curriculum to allow students to avail themselves of enriched offerings in clinical, practicum, and externship experiences. Legal writing offerings have also been expanded by adding a judicial writing course taught by the Dean, a former Tenth Circuit judge; advanced legal writing courses; and creating an online Legal Writing Center.
The Pepperdine Law clinics include: the Legal Aid Clinic at the Union Rescue Mission, where students represent clients who are on Skid Row; the Special Education Advocacy Clinic, where students represent families with children with disabilities; the Asylum and Refugee Clinic, where students represent indigent and underprivileged foreign-born clients who seek asylum in the United States; the Ninth Circuit Appellate Advocacy Clinic, where students represent indigent clients as court-appointed counsel in briefing and arguing appeals before the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals; the Mediation Clinic, where students mediate cases including landlord/tenant, employment, and merchant/consumer cases; the Investor Advocacy Clinic administered by the Straus Institute, where students represent underserved clients with securities disputes; and the Employment Mediation Clinic, where students work with Department of Fair Employment and Housing senior attorney-mediators serving as clinical faculty at the Straus Institute.
In Pepperdine's new practicum courses, students work in specialized field placements under the supervision of experienced practitioners and with enhanced rigor and focus from expert faculty. During Spring 2014, the School of Law offered the Juvenile Justice Dispute Resolution Practicum and the Tax Appeals Assistance Practicum. The School of Law also offers five types of externships, all consisting of work in the field and faculty supervision, either in the form of a workshop or a faculty advisor.