Tab- Public Service Courses and Content Areas

Student public service can involve any of a broad range of substantive legal areas, including civil rights, criminal, education, environmental, veterans affairs, family, health, and immigration law, among others. Colorado Law provides students a broad range of course offerings in each of these areas, as well as academic and extracurricular support to help you translate classroom learning into active participation in the public sphere.

Civil Rights Law itself encompasses a number of topic areas including workplace discrimination, prisoners’ rights, education law, election law, and others. Some of our courses in this area include:

  • Civil Rights Legislation
  • Civil Liberties Litigation
  • Employment Discrimination
  • Education Law
  • Election Law
  • First Amendment
  • Local Government
  • Poverty Law
  • Advanced Constitutional Law: Equality and Privacy

Education Law provides students opportunities to work with school systems or independent organizations.  In addition to a basic class on Education Law, Colorado Law’s course on Education and the Constitution places students in high school classrooms for the year, teaching weekly while learning about both constitutional law and education policy.

Environmental and Natural Resources Law is a core strength of our school to rank?. We have a broad range of course offerings (including a strong clinical program), extracurricular opportunities, externship and employment potential. Course offerings in this area include:

  • Natural Resources Law Clinic
  • Environmental Law
  • Foundations of Natural Resources Law and Policy
  • Climate Change Law and Policy
  • Energy Insecurity and Sustainable Energy
  • Energy Law and Regulations
  • International Environmental Law
  • Land Use Planning
  • Mining and Energy Law
  • Oil and Gas
  • Public Land Law
  • Water Law
  • Advanced Natural Resources LawEnvironmental Philosophy and Law

Family Law offerings includes the Juvenile Law Clinic, basic courses in the field, and a strong and growing network of alumni who mentor students interested in pursuing careers in family law. Courses cover:

  • Family Law Clinic
  • Juvenile Law Clinic
  • Family Law
  • Domestic Violence
  • Juvenile Justice
  • Parent, Child and State
  • Comparative Family Law

Health Law has become an increasingly central focus for organizations seeking to protect basic rights and to ensure that the health care system operates effectively, fairly and efficiently. Students find this an especially enticing field of potential practice due to the aging of the American population and the passage of the various heath care laws on the state and federal level,  Health Law is a burgeoning area of public interest legal work, and our course offerings, as well as our ties with CU’s medical school in Denver, offer students the opportunity to engage with the full range of issues and opportunities in the field. Courses include:

  • Bioethics and Law
  • Health Law 1: Finance, Administration and Organization of Health Care
  • Health Law II: Medical Malpractice Litigation
  • Comparative Public Health Law and Ethics
  • Public Health Law and Ethics

Immigration Law offerings prepare students for employment in Colorado's numerous public interest immigration law firms and organizations that are dedicated to guaranteeing the basic rights of immigrants in the United States. Our courses in the field provide the necessary legal tools to serve the immigrant community. Some of these are:

  • Immigration Law
  • Refugee and Asylum Law
  • Race and American Law

Public law describes the law governing the relationship between individuals and the government.  CU Law offers a wide variety of courses in the public law area, which provide a strong grounding for those interested in understanding these relationships in depth and for those interested in practicing in or with the government. Course offerings include:

  • Administrative Law
  • Constitutional Law
  • Local Government Law
  • Legislation and Regulation
  • Election Law
  • Law and Democratic Governance
  • Separation of Powers
  • Legal Interpretation
  • As well as a wide range of courses described elsewhere on this page (e.g., Education Law, Health Law, Employment Discrimination, Immigration Law, Criminal Law)