It's intense but worth it.
"It's phenomenal to think that the work that we do could save a man prison time," said one student, Khang Tran about Michael Watson, the Louisiana man who is charged for drug and weapons violations, in an article in The Daily Progress.
Law professor, Dan Ortiz, said in the same article, that most lawyers never get the chance to argue before the Supreme Court. Even Tran admitted, "It's definitely a surprise...there's a random element of luck in it."
Other schools, such as Harvard, Yale, Northwestern, the University of Texas, and Stanford University also have clinic programs, which help law students prepare for top cases such as these. And while the work is intense, the competition is friendly.
"There's healthy but very friendly competition among not only the clinics but among the lawyers who do this work," said Mark Stancil who helps oversee the UVa students.
"The yearlong clinics [allow] students to hone their skills in strategy, Supreme Court procedure and substantive areas of law, such as bankruptcy," an article on www.dailyprogress.com said.
