Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Involving students from other disciplines in a transactional clinic can be rewarding for both the students and the clients but poses certain challenges that must be managed. First, different schools may be on different schedules so logistically, coordinating between law students and business students or engineering students can be difficult. Second, if a clinic’s goal is to have multi-disciplinary students enrolled in the clinic contemporaneously, working out the credit parity between schools can be challenging. Third, there are confidentiality constraints imposed by the rules of professional conduct on lawyers and law students, but how those rules apply to non-lawyers is less defined. A clinician will want to implement clinic procedures that shore-up this issue.

There are ways to work with other disciplines that do not go so far as to integrate those students into a clinic. Instead, a clinic may wish to consult with business students or engineering students on behalf of a client. Again, if confidentiality concerns are managed, this can be fruitful for both students and clients.

For more information, see the list of Interdisciplinary Programs under the Resources Links tab.