From Professor Ruser:
I am looking for two students to work with me in Immigration Clinic during the upcoming year (May 2017-May 2018). A course description and summary of what students can expect to do in the Immigration Clinic appear at the end of this announcement.
Students selected to be in the Immigration Clinic would begin working with me in May of this year and continue working in the Clinic until May of 2018. Ideally, students selected will shadow the current Immigration Clinic students during the second half of this semester to become fully informed about the Clinic’s cases before assuming primary responsibility for those cases in May. Although the time commitment for the Immigration Clinic is substantial, it is somewhat flexible, and students who have part-time jobs have historically been able to hold those jobs and also be in the Immigration Clinic.
Immigration Clinic students earn a maximum of 12 credit hours for their participation in Immigration Clinic, and are not eligible to take any other clinic in addition to Immigration Clinic. Basic knowledge of immigration law is very helpful, but not essential. Motivated students will be able to get up to speed.
The students currently working with me in Immigration Clinic, Jenna Ripke and Josh Snowden, and I will interview interested students during the afternoon of Friday, February 17. If you are interested in being considered for Immigration Clinic, please provide the following information to me by giving it to either Deanna Lubken or Sydnee Schuyler in the Civil Clinic, Schmid Clinic Building, no later than the close of business on Friday, February 10, 2017:
1. A current resume
2. A short statement addressing the following items:
(a) Your dates of availability and, specifically, (1) whether you would be able to shadow the current Immigration Clinic students during this semester, (2) how soon after graduation this May you would be available to begin working in the Immigration Clinic and (3) whether you would be able to work in the Clinic throughout the upcoming year;
(b) Why you are interested in taking the Immigration Clinic;
(c) Whether you speak any languages other than English, if so, which languages, and how you would rate your fluency in those languages;
(d) Any other information about you that you think would be helpful for me to know.
If you have any questions about the Immigration Clinic, please let me know. You can call me at 472-3271, or e-mail me at kruser1@unl.edu.
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Immigration Clinic (Law 794) (3-6 credits; max 12): The Immigration Clinic is a course in which two students per year are permitted to enroll by faculty invitation only. Students enrolling in the Immigration Clinic represent low-income clients with immigration problems under close faculty supervision. Most of the work is in the areas of deportation defense, family-based immigrant visas, and asylum applications, although other types of immigration cases are also assigned to students from time to time at the discretion of the supervising faculty member and in consultation with the students. Students taking Immigration Clinic may not take another Clinic. Students in Immigration Clinic can expect to engage in the following types of activities: factual development and analysis, frequent client interviewing and counseling, preparation of immigration applications and supporting documentation, attendance with clients at immigration interviews, appearing in Immigration Court on behalf of clients, state and federal court appearances (as dictated by clients’ legal needs), legal analysis and planning, frequent creation of written work product (including but not limited to legal memoranda, briefs, letters, and so forth), analysis and resolution of professional ethics issues, and other skills necessary to function effectively as lead counsel on a variety of immigration cases.