Politics, Government, & Leadership

Ignite your passion for helping others

The Moritz College of Law's proximity to the Ohio Statehouse, its access to legislative actions and programs, and top faculty make the school a great choice for students who wish to pursue careers in politics, government, or public interest law.

The Moritz Legislation Clinic provides a front-row view of the legislative process in the Buckeye State as students work directly with legislative leaders and their staffs on matters pending or anticipated to arise before the Ohio House and Senate. The classroom component focuses on the Ohio legislative process and on state constitutional law as it affects the relationship between Ohio courts and the legislature.

Clinical placements (as well as class sessions) teach students how to research and analyze current and potential legislative issues, expose them to the challenges of information sharing in a partisan context, and develop their negotiation and consensus-building skills.

Election Law @ Moritz is a nonpartisan research program administered by faculty and staff of The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. EL@M contributes both to the public understanding of how democracy actually operates in the United States and to the public deliberation on what reforms would improve the functioning of our election administration. EL@M is intimately involved in Election Day issues including voter ID, absentee ballot fraud, provisional ballots, voter registration, and recounts.

As a part of the Washington, D.C., summer program Moritz students have the opportunity to work in substantive externships in D.C., accompanied by a high-quality academic program and a summer in the nation's capital. Professor Peter Swire, who from 1999 to early 2001 served as the Clinton Administration's chief counselor for privacy, heads the program. Students take a course, "The Ethics of Washington Lawyering," as well as an externship seminar, which places students in a variety of major federal agencies and nonprofit groups.

Public interest work is possible in almost all substantive legal fields and there are few, if any, courses that are not relevant to a public-interest oriented practice. However, many student organizations provide opportunities for pro bono or public interest work. These include: the Dispute Resolution and Youth program, in which law students go to local schools to teach negotiation and mediation skills; the Pro Bono Research Group, in which students provide free legal research to attorneys who are representing low income persons; the Public Interest Law Foundation, which provides financial support to students engaged in public service internships; the Street Law program, in which law students teach high school students about the law; and the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, in which law students provide tax assistance to low-income residents.

Other opportunities worthy of note to the student interested in public interest law include: the Judicial Externship Program, a class for academic credit in which students receive placements as judicial interns; the Justice for Children Project, which seeks ways to use the law to improve the experiences of children; and the Student Housing Legal Clinic, which represents Ohio State students in disputes with their landlords.