Experiential Learning for Graduate Students

PRLab

Contacts:  Professor Amy Shanler & Professor Laura Hannon

Read more about the PRLab

PRLab is the nation’s longest-running student-managed public relations agency and is comprised of junior, senior and graduate-level Boston University public relations students. The structure of PRLab parallels the structure of an actual public relations agency, complete with directors, account supervisors and account executives. Directors oversee approximately six accounts, supervisors oversee one or two accounts, and account executives work directly with their assigned client to fulfill the company or organization’s public relations objectives.  PRLab students are not interns in that they are working  for a paying client and reporting to their account supervisor – just as in a real PR agency setting.

Length: 1 semester

Credits: 2 or 4 credits

Who do the students work with? Boston-area companies and nonprofits

Skills developed: writing, teamwork, account management, client service, media relations, social media, content marketing, account planning, project management, research, evaluation

Written materials / learning tools: PRLab builds on previous public relations courses. Students also leverage an operating manual, class lectures, and guidance from other students to complete their client work. They also have access to professional project management, social media analytics, media relations, and performance evaluation software. 

Simulations and classroom exercises: PRLab doesn’t run simulations – it conducts real work for paying clients. Students begin by establishing their teams and expectations for working together. Then they develop a PR plan for a client based on the client’s scope of work. Teams implement the PR campaign all semester long, providing updates to the client, holding client and team meetings, and tracking their “billable hours” weekly. At the mid-point in the semester, students reflect on what they have accomplished and how they will complete the semester, as well as their individual performance. At the end of the semester, students present their work to the clients and agency, prepare transition materials for future teams, and evaluate individual performance. The work varies on client needs, from fundraising to awareness building to brand building. 

AdLab

Contact:  Professor of the Practice Shawn Zupp

Read more about the AdLab

AdLab is the country’s largest student-run agency for crafting advertising campaigns and is a creative incubator utilizing the fresh perspectives, pop culture expertise, and strategic insights of graduate and undergraduate students.  Advertising students can build their portfolios by being assigned roles on advertising teams consisting of an account executive, strategist, art director. copywriter, and project manager. After completing a semester of AdLab students may join the Executive Board, giving the student more work-related experience . 

BU News Service

Contact:  BU News Service; Editor-in-Chief Tyra Brooks

Read more about the BU News Service

BU News Service offers students in the journalism department opportunities to gain practical experience reporting and editing news. Some reporting may be shared with media partners who will publish it for a larger audience.  The News Service’s focus is primarily off-campus, and favors stories about the city, neighborhoods, and wider issues.

Legislative Policy & Drafting Clinic

Contact: Clinical Associate Professor Sean J. Kealy

Through a combination of classwork and fieldwork, students learn the theoretical and practical aspects of law-making bodies: how statutory law is created through a variety of case examples; Constitutional limits to law-making; the ethical responsibilities for those involved in the process; and how law makers anticipate and shape the way the public and courts will interpret their work product. 

• Length: 1 Semester
• Credits: 6
• Who do the students work with?  Legal counsel and other senior staff in the Massachusetts Legislature.
• Skills developed: Policy development, bill drafting, research, oral advocacy, negotiation, collaboration, client counseling
• Written materials/learning tools:  Sean J. Kealy’s textbook, American Legislative Practice (West Academic, 2021), gives students learning materials better suited to experiential education. Case studies and simulations (at least one per chapter) encourage students to examine difficult situations regarding legislation law and policy development.  The students think about the problems and how they would act in a similar situation, with discussion in class.  

Helpful resources

Although case studies are very common in business school and in government studies, they are less common as a way to teach law.  A helpful resource is William Ellet, Reading and Writing Case Studies (Harvard Business School Press, 2007).

See also the Harvard Kennedy School’s Case Program.  There are thousands of case studies available on various topics of government administration and public policy.  Instructors at degree-granting institutions, nonprofits, and government institutions are eligible for Educator Access with access to full-text review copies of cases and detailed teaching plans that provide a road map for class discussion.  

BU/MIT Student Innovations Clinic

Contact: Clinical Associate Professor of Law Andrew Sellers 

The BU/MIT Student Innovations Law Clinic (SILC) is a free and confidential legal service for students at MIT and BU who seek legal assistance related to their research, advocacy, and creative projects. Students work in three different practice groups: Intellectual Property & Media; Privacy, Security & Health; and Venture & Finance.  The SILC provides counseling and representation on a issues such as intellectual property, information privacy, corporate law, cybersecurity, finance and business regulation, and media law.

• Length: 2 Semesters
• Credits: 6
• Who do the students work with?  MIT and BU students
• Skills developed: Research, advocacy with courts and regulators, creating new business ventures, advising on finance

The Civil Litigation & Justice Program 

Contact: Clinical Associate Professor of Law Naomi Mann 

This Program allows students to develop legal skills while representing clients on civil legal matters in state and federal courts participating in one of three clinics:

1. Individual Rights Litigation Clinic—practice areas: domestic relations, housing eviction defense, employment law, and Social Security appeals.
2. Access to Justice Clinic— practice areas: domestic relations, housing eviction defense, employment law, and Social Security appeals. 
3. Employment Rights Clinic—practice areas: unemployment compensation cases, discrimination or sexual harassment cases, and Family Medical Leave Act cases.

• Length: The Individual Rights Litigation and Access to Justice Clinics are 2 semesters.  The Employment Rights Clinic is one semester.
• Credits: 6
• Who do the students work with?  Individual clients through Greater Boston Legal Services
• Skills developed: interview clients and witnesses, draft pleadings and other legal documents, negotiate with attorneys and conduct research, and appear in court.

Compassionate Release Practicum

Contact: Clinical Associate Professor of Law Naomi Mann

Students work to secure the release of terminally ill and/or permanently incapacitated prison inmates on medical parole. Students work with prisoners not otherwise entitled to counsel.

• Length: 1 semester
• Credits: 1-2
• Who do the students work with?  Massachusetts prisoners
• Skills developed: interview clients, draft pleadings and other legal documents, advocacy in court.

Compliance Policy Clinic

Contact:  Clinical Instructor Danielle Pelfrey Duryea 

In the Compliance Policy Clinic students explore the impact of legal and regulatory compliance on business operations, including in the areas of environmental law, privacy, information security, and health law. 

• Length: 1 Semester
• Credits: 6
• Who do the students work with?  private-sector, public-sector, and NGO partners and clients across a range of fields and industries.
• Skills developed: Research, analysis, writing, fact investigation, interviewing, presentation, counseling, project management, and inter-professional collaboration

Consumer Debt Practicum

Contact:  Clinical Associate Professor Jade Brown 

Students attend Small Claims Court sessions in Boston Municipal Court 4-6 times per semester to represent low-income consumers facing suit by debt collection firms.  Students learn about the debt collection industry, common defenses to consumer debt collection suits, and how to litigate Fair Debt Collection Practices Act claims in these cases.

• Length: 1 Semester
• Credits: 2
• Who do the students work with?  Clients arranged through Greater Boston Legal Services. The clients will be any consumers/defendants who come into court though they have to qualify for services from GBLS (by having low-income).
• Skills developed: client interviewing and counseling, negotiation, and oral advocacy
• Simulations and classroom exercises: mock trials

Criminal Law Clinical Program

Contact: Clinical Professor of Law Karen Pita Loor (“KPL”) 

Students enrolled in the Criminal Law Clinical Program formulate case strategies, engage in client counseling, draft legal pleadings, and litigate trials, evidentiary motion hearings, bail hearings, sentencing hearings, and other matters in court. In their second semester, students carry full responsibility for their own cases, working exclusively on defense or prosecution matters. Defenders represent indigent adult and juvenile clients in the Boston Municipal Court and the Boston Juvenile Court in a variety of misdemeanor and felony cases. Prosecutors handle felonies and misdemeanors on behalf of the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office in the Quincy District Court.

• Length: 2 Semesters
• Credits: 5-8
• Who do the students work with?  Defenders work with indigent defendants in Boston Municipal Court or Juvenile Court. Prosecutors work with the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.
• Skills developed: client counseling, draft legal pleadings, and litigate trials, evidentiary motion hearings, bail hearings, sentencing hearings.

Environmental Law Practicum

Contact:  Prof. Pamela Hill 

Students work on an environmental-law related legal projects such as clean energy, water regulation, and environmental justice (which concerns the intersection of civil rights, fundamental fairness, and environmental policy).  Students end the semester by making an oral presentation to the participating organization and other students and submitting a written report.

• Length: 1 Semester
• Credits: 1-3
• Who do the students work with?  National and Boston-based environmental organizations such as the Conservation Law Foundation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Alternatives for Community and Environment.
• Skills developed: relationships with attorneys and clients, legal writing and analysis, oral presentations.
• Written materials / learning tools: relevant environmental statutes, treatises, casebooks, and project-related information.
• Simulations and classroom exercises: Students participate in up to 12 faculty-supervised in-class discussions of issues arising in their work and in environmental law in general. They periodically report to the class on their progress. They “meet and greet” all participating attorneys in one of the classes.

Health Justice Practicum

Contact:  Clinical Instructor Danielle Pelfrey Duryea

The Health Justice Practicum addresses the interplay of law, policy, health systems, social identity, and health inequities. Students collaborate with frontline health care providers who serve marginalized populations on projects that require legal and problem-solving skills and where providers and patients have identified a systemic problem affecting their patients’ health and wellbeing. 

• Length: 1 Semester
• Credits: 2
• Who do the students work with?  Project RESPECT (Recovery, Empowerment, Social Services, Prenatal Care, Education, Community and Treatment), an initiative at Boston Medical Center
• Skills developed: research, analysis, writing, presentation, advocacy, and problem-solving skills.
• Simulations and classroom exercises: Students attend seminar and team meetings as well as work on research and advocacy projects. Seminars and team meetings will enable students to deepen their understanding of projects by placing them in a broader historical and social contexts. 

Immigrants’ Rights and Human Trafficking Program

Contact:  Clinical Associate Professor of Law Sarah Sherman-Stokes

The Immigrants’ Rights and Human Trafficking Program combines the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic and the Human Trafficking Clinic. Students provide pro bono representation to vulnerable non-citizens facing deportation and survivors of human trafficking. Clinic members also work to increase protections available to vulnerable populations and contribute to the national policy landscape by providing new models that address emerging challenges in the immigrants’ rights and human trafficking contexts.

• Length: 2 Semesters
• Credits: 6

International Human Rights Clinic

Contact:  Clinical Professor of Law Susan Akram

In the International Human Rights Clinic students represent international NGO’s and draft submissions to the UN Human Rights Council, treaty bodies, and the regional human rights organs. Students also file briefs on international human rights law issues in US courts and handle appeals in refugee and international human rights cases.

• Length: 2 Semesters
• Credits: 12
• Who do the students work with? Non-governmental organizations and group clients from all parts of the world
• Skills developed: ethical rules and principles in human rights lawyering; drafting contracts and Memoranda of Understanding for team collaborations; cross-cultural communication and coalition-building skills; methodology of addressing stereotypes and biases in international advocacy; case and project fact and legal development; interviewing and counseling organizational clients; developing global coalitions. Additional practical skills and strategies for working in the Inter-American human rights system; the UN human rights system; the European system; and adapting human rights norms in domestic advocacy on refugees, migrants and stateless persons. 
• Written materials / learning tools: International legal case studies; interviewing and counseling models; team contracts; memos for case planning, open file, legal research, project strategies. Videos on interviewing and counseling, Inter-American Commission hearings, litigation strategies from international lawyers, and live presentations from Inter-American (former) Commissioners and staff members of the Commission and Court. 
• Simulations and classroom exercises: Interview and counseling simulations; case and project rounds; simulated hearing in the Inter-American Commission; simulated preparatory session in the IACHR for a fact-finding Mission; and simulated oral arguments on Precautionary Measures before the Inter-American Commission. 

Mental Health Litigation Practicum

Contact: Beau Kealy and Kristin Lummus

Students in the Mental Health Litigation Practicum represent persons allegedly living with mental illness who are facing commitment and involuntary treatment petitions. 

• Length: 1 or 2 Semesters
• Credits: 2-3
• Who do the students work with?  Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) Mental Health Litigation Division (MHLD)
• Skills developed: client counseling, oral advocacy during bench trials, prepare expert witnesses, trial advocacy, negotiation, collaboration, client counseling

Wrongful Convictions Practicum

Contact: Professor Ira Gant

The Wrongful Convictions Practicum offers students an opportunity to help individuals who claim an unjust result after either a trial or guilty plea, and who need assistance from the legal community in investigating and developing their claims for presentation in the courts.  Students screen prisoners’ applications and review attorneys’ files, pleadings, transcripts, and judicial decisions in the case to identify potential areas of investigation that may result in the discovery of exculpatory information or exonerative evidence.  Conducting legal research and analyzing the legal requirements for obtaining a new trial, and learning about the mechanics and strategies associated with motions for post-conviction relief in the state and federal courts.

• Length: 1 Semester
• Credits: 2
• Skills developed: Research, oral advocacy, client counseling

Externships

Contact:  Externship Director Kate Devlin Joyce 

Read more about LAW’s Externship Program

Through an externship, students work in the field at a legal office, handling real legal work under the supervision of an attorney mentor. Boston’s vibrant legal community offers a vast array of placements in countless practice areas. All work must be performed under the direct supervision of an attorney. Placements are typically for one semester and may be paid or unpaid.  Each student’s field experience is supported by a required seminar. Programs help students develop legal skills and substantive knowledge of the law; develop the ability to solve legal problems in real-life situations; learn the day-to-day of legal practice; and learn to engage in reflective legal practice. Students have recently worked at organizations that handle affordable housing, education, voting rights, microfinance, intellectual property, health law, biotech, and environmental law.  Within the umbrella of externships, BU Law offers:

Criminal Justice Externship (3 credits) — Placements are at crime-related positions, such as a district attorney’s office, a public defender, police departments, or the Office of the Attorney General.

Corporate Counsel Externship (2 credits) – Dedicated to exposing students to the role and work of in-house counsel for for-profit and nonprofit corporations in an array of global industries, as well as the business and lawyering skills essential to representing the internal corporate client. 

Health Law Externship (1 credit) – Placements are with one of Boston’s many health law organizations.

Independent Proposal Externship (2 credits) 

Judicial Externship (1 credit) – Placements include trial and appellate courts both at the state and federal levels. 

Legislative Externship (3 credits) – Students learn about the lawmaking process on Beacon Hill by working  for a Massachusetts state legislator. Students may draft legislation, evaluate testimony, attend meetings with legislators and staff, observe legislative strategy sessions and negotiations, attend floor debates and committee meetings, and research questions of law and faculty for proposed legislation. 

Semester-in-Practice Externship (12 credits) – Students work at a placement full-time for an entire semester either locally or outside of Boston.

New York Pro Bono Scholars Semester-in-Practice Program (12 credits) – Through this Program, students spend their spring 3L semester working full-time and for credit, on behalf of indigent clients, through an externship with a host organization or through a BU Law clinic. Students take the February New York bar exam, begin their fieldwork immediately after, and work for 12 weeks into mid/late-May.

State and Local Tax Externship (2 Credits) – Students work at the Massachusetts Department of Revenue.

Activist Lab

The Activist Lab teaches public health practitioners to engage the world and face each injustice as an opportunity to rectify or dismantle the systems that create inequity.  The Lab’s mission is to nurture the talents of students  and connect the School of Public Health’s resources with communities to create the conditions in which all people can reach their fullest potential and happiness.  The Lab partners with students, staff, faculty, alumni, and communities to provide knowledge and skills that can assist them to face and change injustices.

Read more about the Activist Lab.

Practicums and Integrative Learning Experiences

The School of Public Health offers graduate students EL and practicum opportunities through the BUSPH Career and Practicum Office. The Practicum has to meet specific requirements for professional development, while the Integrative Learning Experience (ILE) integrates public health certificate training with an experiential project intended to hone students’ practical skills on a public health issue.

Read more about BUSPH internships and practicum opportunities.

Contextual Education

Contact: Director of Contextual Education Rev. Dr. Anastasia E. B. Kidd

The School of Theology’s Master of Divinity and Master of Theological Studies students participate in contextual education typically during their second year of their program.  Contextual education is a requirement of all first-level master’s programs at the School of Theology except the Master of Sacred Music program, which fulfills practice-based learning in other ways.

Master of Divinity and Master of Theological Studies students typically complete their contextual education requirements during the second year of their programs, and Master of Religion and Public Leadership students (MARPL is an online program) do contextual education projects in all but one semester of their program.

Length & Credits:

• MDiv students are required to complete two semesters of an internship placement (6 credits)
• MTS students are required to complete one semester of an internship placement, contextual learning directed study project, or travel seminar (3 credits)
• MARPL students are required to do a contextual learning directed study project each semester (2 credits each)

Who do the students work with?  Students can choose from STH partner sites, Boston Theological Interreligious Consortium sites, or may develop field-based placements and project to meet their special professional needs or interests. Students have a placement or project supervisor for the length of their contextual education with whom they meet regularly one-on-one. Additionally, students in contextual placements (all MDiv students and some MTS students) have a weekly 1.5 hour small group gathering to review case studies and engage in theological reflection on their site work.

Skills developed: Integrating theological classroom learning with leadership practices in their chosen vocational field of interest; growth in self-understanding and self-care for the sake of sustainable work/rest rhythms; ability to think critically about their own faith commitments, spiritual practices, and lived ethics; boundary-awareness and ethical leadership practices; leading communities through transformative engagement with conflict; communicating effectively, such as in public speaking, preaching, the arts, or writing to address the needs of various publics; Engaging across difference (social, cultural, religious) in ways that foster mutual understanding, learning, and/or collaboration; cultivating communal, spiritual, and institutional resources for navigating complex contemporary challenges; careful analysis of systems, power, and institutional structures at play in any context in which they work

Written materials/learning tools: All students develop their own Learning Agreements with an overarching learning goal and 4 – 5 objectives to meet during the course of the semester. These are developed in conjunction with the student’s site supervisor, the Office of Contextual Education Directors, and their faculty small group leader. This becomes the individualized rubric on which they are evaluated during their placement. The Learning Agreement can shift mid-year if objectives have been met or need to be changed for any reason.

The small group weekly gathering for students in placements has a syllabus on which are a number of brief but thought-provoking articles/chapters diving into the themes listed above. These readings contribute to robust group discussion in which students can engage the personal, professional, and spiritual questions arising from their site work.

Student assignments require a great deal of self-reflection on their growing leadership skills as well as their spiritual and vocational worldview formation in dialogue with their faith traditions of origin (if applicable).

Students provide self-evaluations at mid-year and at the end of the year. These along with supervisor and faculty evaluations give a 360-degree review of students’ learning agreement goals being met, or where they still have growth opportunities.

Simulations and classroom exercises: Each student in a small group is required to present at least one case study to the group for discussion each semester. These case studies garner equally as much engagement from the students as the readings. Students also take turns facilitating each other’s case studies, which gives them experience leading small group discussion.

There are four “plenary” workshops each semester, which bring all the small groups together for one shared time of experiential learning. These workshops are facilitated by faculty or community leaders from outside of the school and introduce some aspect of religious leadership, such as ritual practices, leading in times of crisis, intercultural engagement and personal development, family systems and institutional governance, financial management, social media presence and pitfalls, institutional trauma and trauma-informed leadership, moral injury and institutional betrayal, etc. These sessions have a didactic element (lecture, video, panel discussion) and a practice element (creative writing, role play, group problem solving, journaling, etc.). These plenary workshops serve as anchors during the semester as we turn from one class theme to another.

Each small group session includes a student leading a small opening ritual for the group, such as reading a poem or other form of religious literature and then keeping silence for a few moments, breath exercise