The CLEA Awards Committee is once again soliciting nominations for its student award. CLEA created the award to honor law students at each law school who have excelled in a clinical course. The award is given annually at the completion of the academic year.

This year, schools have the option to decide between the CLEA Outstanding Clinical Student Award and the CLEA Outstanding Clinical Team Award.

The criteria for the award are:

1. Excellence in the field work component of the clinical course determined by the quality of the student’s or team’s performance in assisting or representing individual or organizational clients or in undertaking advocacy or policy reform projects;
2. Excellence in the seminar component of the clinical course determined by the quality of the student’s or team’s thoughtfulness and self-reflection in exploring the legal, ethical, strategic, and other pertinent issues raised in the particular clinic;
3. For the Team award, the ability of the students to engage in effective collaboration; and
4. The nature and extent of the student’s or team’s contribution to the clinical community at the law school, if relevant.

Nomination & Selection Process:
 
The full-time clinical faculty at each law school with faculty who are members of CLEA are asked to nominate a single student or a team of students from their law school. Recipient students must graduate during or after the academic year in which the award is given.

The nomination deadline is May 31st. Please send nominations to the Awards Committee via this form: https://forms.gle/ZMbPGmQpyRjCE9UB7.

In the form, the clinical faculty of each school will be asked to:

• Indicate whether you would like to give the Clinical Student award or the Clinical Team award.
• For the Clinical Student award, indicate the name of the student as you would like it to appear on the certificate. For the Clinical Team award, indicate the names of the students as you would like them to appear on the certificate, separated by commas, or indicate the name of the team as you would like it to appear on the certificate. We appreciate formatting your response to this question in a manner that can easily be cut and pasted into the certificate.
• Indicate the name of the law school as you would like it to appear on the certificate.  
• Provide a brief statement (no more than 250 words) of the reasons why the student or team meets the criteria for the award.

The CLEA Awards Committee will issue an electronic certificate, and the clinical faculty can print and present the award at the law school’s graduation ceremony or at some other appropriate time, as determined by the clinical faculty. Note that, even for the Clinical Team award, each school will receive one electronic certificate (of which multiple copies can be printed for presentation to the students). Certificates will be issued on a rolling basis (please allow up to one week to receive the electronic certificate).
 
If you present the award at a graduation or other ceremony, please feel free to send pictures for posting on the CLEA website.