Public Interest and Public Service Law Certificate

Program Code: LAW-PIPS-C
Degree Designation: Certificate
Department: School of Law
Website: law.duke.edu/publicinterest/public-interest-certificate

Program Summary

The Certificate in Public Interest and Public Service Law (PIPS Certificate) is a JD certificate program for students committed to a legal career in public service.

Academic Requirements

Certificate requirements overlap with and are not in addition to the general degree requirements for the JD program.

• Curricular Requirements

  • 1 upper-level course that directly supports a student’s individual substantive area of interest (e.g. Environmental Law, Poverty Law, Advanced Criminal Law, etc.)

  • 1 upper-level course in the student’s anticipated “advocacy site,” i.e., a course that will promote a student’s understanding of the specific adjudicatory, regulatory, or other decision-making institutions where her future advocacy likely is to occur (e.g. a student interested in criminal defense might select Criminal Procedure or Criminal Trial Practice; a student interested in Civil Rights might select Civil Rights Litigation or Federal Courts)

  • 6 experiential credits (through clinics; clinics & externships; Duke in DC; or, with approval, exclusively through externship programming)

  • 8 general public interest elective credits. It is suggested (but not required) that students take Social Justice Lawyering (Law 242) and either Ethics of Social Justice Lawyering (Law 237) or Criminal Justice Ethics (Law 317) to fulfill their ethics requirement.

  • Students must fulfill their substantial research and writing project on an approved public interest topic.

• Public Service Requirements

  • Perform at least 75 hours of public service.

  • Work full-time for at least 8 weeks over a summer in public interest or public service employment.