--- title: 'Certificate in Public Interest Law' date: '2010-07-16T19:44:35-05:00' type: page word_count: 577 char_count: 4972 tokens: 751 --- # Certificate in Public Interest Law The University of Alabama School of Law offers a specialized Certificate in Public Interest Law that allows students to focus their academic work in the field of public interest. To earn the Certificate, students must complete: Public Interest Lawyering (LAW 821); Poverty Law (LAW 769); a three- or four-hour Law School clinic; 50 hours of (legal or non-legal) community service; and at least 12 hours of coursework from the courses listed below: - [Administrative Law]() - [Alternative Dispute Resolution]() - [Civil Rights Actions: Enforcing the Constitution]() - Clinics: Students who complete more than four credit hours in a Law School Clinic may count up to four of those additional credit hours toward the 12-hour elective requirement for the Certificate. - [Consumer Protection]() - [Criminal Procedure – Pre-Trial]() - [Criminal Procedure – Trial]() - [Disability Benefits](https://law.ua.edu/academics/law-school-course/?course=LAW%20657) - [Education Law](https://law.ua.edu/academics/law-school-course/?course=LAW%20725) - [Employment Discrimination]() - [Employment Law]() - [Environmental Justice Seminar](https://law.ua.edu/academics/law-school-course/?course=LAW%20753) - [Environmental Law Survey](https://law.ua.edu/academics/law-school-course/?course=LAW%20814) - [Equal Protection](https://law.ua.edu/academics/law-school-course/?course=LAW%20639) - Externship – Limited to Non-Profit and Non-Judicial Government Office placements. (Students who believe that a particular judicial externship will relate to the kind of public interest practice the student wishes to pursue may petition the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for approval. No more than a total of five credits of externships may count toward the 12-hour elective requirement for the Certificate.) - [Family Law I]() - [Family Law II]() - [Federal Indian Law](https://law.ua.edu/academics/law-school-course/?course=LAW%20731) - [First Amendment](https://law.ua.edu/academics/law-school-course/?course=LAW%20708) - [Gender and the Law]() - [Health Care Law](https://law.ua.edu/academics/law-school-course/?course=LAW%20696) - [Higher Education and the Law]() - [Immigration Law and Policy]() - [International Human Rights Law]() - [Juvenile Justice]() - [Labor Law]() - [Law & Public Policy](https://law.ua.edu/academics/law-school-course/?course=LAW%20853) - [Law and Religion]() - [Litigating Criminal Procedure](https://law.ua.edu/academics/law-school-course/?course=LAW%20770) - [Litigating with the Power of the State: The Role of the Attorney General](https://law.ua.edu/academics/law-school-course/?course=LAW%20786) - [Mediation Law]() - [Mental Health Law Seminar]() - [Perspectives on Citizenship](https://law.ua.edu/academics/law-school-course/?course=LAW%20672) - [Public International Law]() - [Spanish for Lawyers]() - [U.S. Race and the Law](https://law.ua.edu/academics/law-school-course/?course=LAW%20652) Please note that only externship placements in Non-Profit and (non-judicial) Government Offices will count toward the 12-hour elective requirement for the Certificate. Students who believe that a particular judicial externship will relate to the kind of public interest practice the student wishes to pursue may petition the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for approval. In addition, no more than a total of five credit hours of externships may count toward the 12-hour elective requirement for the Certificate. Please also note that one three- or four-hour clinic is required to obtain the Certificate. For students who take additional clinics, up to four additional clinical hours may be counted toward the Certificate elective requirement. Students who wish to count courses not designated toward satisfying the elective coursework requirement for the Certificate may petition the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. The petition shall explain how the particular course relates to the public interest law practice the student wishes to pursue.