UCLA School of Law offers a variety of student organizations and programs. Although all of these groups require additional work from members, most students find that membership in a student organization has helped them understand the law and its institutions, provided a useful resource in the search for rewarding professional employment, and allowed them to collaborate rather than compete with their fellow students. These groups present debates, speakers, panels, and organize various fund-raisers in line with their special interests. In addition, many of these groups participate in community service activities.
The law school website may not include a complete listing; updates will be made periodically. To view the UCLA campus' most current listing of officially registered student organizations, visit http://www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/.
Current law students interested in creating a student organization should email Assistant Director of Student Affairs Elizabeth McKillop at mckillop@law.ucla.edu.
UCLA School of Law neither monitors nor controls the information contained on student organization web pages or on other web sites to which they are linked.
Advocates for Children and Teens
The Advocates for Children and Teens provides the law school with 1) a forum for discussing policy that affects children and 2) a community that supports and encourages academic and service-oriented child advocacy. To those ends, we bring speakers to the school to talk with students about their research or work pertinent to the field of children's law. We also organize meet and greets and serve as a resource for students seeking volunteer placements with organizations that deal with children's issues. American Constitution Society of Los Angeles
The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) is one of the nation's leading progressive legal organizations. Founded in 2001, ACS is comprised of law students, lawyers, scholars, judges, policymakers, activists and other concerned individuals who are working to ensure that the fundamental principles of human dignity, individual rights and liberties, genuine equality, and access to justice are in their rightful, central place in American law. The American Constitution Society is a non-partisan, non-profit educational organization. We do not, as an organization, lobby, litigate or take positions on specific issues, cases, legislation or nominations. We do encourage our members to express their views and make their voices heard.
Animal Law Society
The Animal Law Society educates the surrounding community about legal issues facing animals.
Asian/Pacific Islander Law Students Association
APILSA was formed in 1969 in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement and in response to the need for greater Asian and Pacific Islander representation in the legal profession. In the past 30 years, APILSA has grown to be the largest and one of the most active student-run organizations at the UCLA School of Law, consisting of Pan-Asian and multi-ethnic students, faculty, alumni, and community members. APILSA fosters the importance of the study of law and the responsibility of Asian Pacific Islanders to pursue its practice in order to address the legal and political needs of Asian Pacific Islander communities.
Black Law Students Association
The Black Law Students Association (BLSA) of the University of California, Los Angeles is a component of a nationally incorporated organization. The recruitment and admission of Blacks into the law school are two of the foremost concerns of BLSA. BLSA is interested in the admission of persons who demonstrate an active desire to contribute to the Black community.
Business Law Association
Business Law Association is a student organization whose purpose is to promote scholarship and discussion in the field of business law and its related subjects, to provide opportunities for its members to interact with peers and professionals in this field, and to assist in providing business legal services to underserved communities.
China Law Association
The China Law Association at UCLA is an organization of law students and attorneys, working with businesspeople, China scholars, and policymakers. We promote education, dialogue, and innovative thinking in Chinese law and policy as well as areas of U.S. law and policy related to China. Visit us online for news, events, and opportunities to learn and network.
Christian Legal Society
The Christian Legal Society (CLS) was founded 1973 and is a nondenominational national network of attorneys, judges, law students, professors, and lay people. CLS helps lawyers and law students to integrate their faith in Christ with their professional responsibilities. The primary goal of CLS at UCLA is to provide a network of Christian law students who can support each other academically, spiritually, and socially. While school is in session meeting information is available on the CLS bulletin board in the main hallway of UCLA School of Law.
Disability Law Society (on hiatus 2010-11)
The Disability Law Society is an alliance of students with and without disabilities dedicated to equal access, diversity, and inclusion in all aspects of legal education and the legal profession. The Disability Law Society engages in mentoring, education, and accommodations advocacy for law students with disabilities. DLS additionally fosters professional development for those interested in disability law through programming and network opportunities. Members of the Society are active in coordinating the Disability Studies Reading Group, Disability Admissions, and the National Association of Law Students with Disabilities.
El Centro Legal Clinics
El Centro Legal Clinics is UCLA School of Law’s student-coordinated network of volunteer legal aid clinics. Through each of El Centro Legal’s eight Clinics, students provide legal services on a volunteer basis to a variety of communities in the greater Los Angeles area. Clinics focus on issues related to bankruptcy, education, homelessness, HIV/AIDS, immigration, juvenile justice, landlord/tenant and workers’ rights. Each Clinic has its own volunteers, leadership, practice area, and client base.
Entertainment Law Association
Environmental Law Society
The Environmental Law Society (ELS) arranges speaking events to facilitate open discussion of important and often controversial issues, coordinates UCLA participation in inter-school environmental moot court and negotiations competitions, and organizes environmentally-focused activities for students.
Federalist Society
The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies is an organization of conservative and libertarian law students. The Federalist Society is founded on the principles of liberty and limited government. The Federalist Society is not a political organization, and it does not advance any policy positions or endorse any candidates. The Federalist Society seeks to encourage discourse on the current state of the legal order, by hosting debates, talks, and other events with prominent law professors, judges, and legal scholars.
Immigration Law Society
The Immigration Law Society connects UCLA to the community by recruiting and organizing students to volunteer with community agencies that provide free and low-cost legal services for immigrants. The larger of the two efforts is the VAWA Clinic held at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County (NLS) in Pacoima. Students who volunteer with the VAWA Clinic work with NLS attorneys to interview clients and collect evidence in support client petitions to establish legal residency under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which allows non-resident victims of domestic violence to become United States residents after leaving abusive marriages. A second and more recent Clinic enables students to work with attorneys from El Rescate Legal Services in representing clients in asylum cases.
Innocence Project
The California Innocence Project - UCLA Chapter allows students to review claims of innocence made by convicted individuals in southern California. Each student is assigned a case and responsible for making a recommendation about the validity of the individual’s specific claim of innocence. The student efforts could literally be life changing. For more information, please contact: innocenceproject@lists.ucla.edu.
International Law Society
ILS is a student run organization committed to increasing UCLA law students' knowledge of and opportunities in international law. To accomplish these goals we sponsor a number of international law events each semester, including symposia, speaker series, and film screenings. We also work to increase the academic opportunities available to students interested in international law by encouraging the law school administration to hire international law faculty, and to offer international law classes, study abroad programs, and internship opportunities. We always welcome input from the UCLA community as to how we can better accomplish these goals, so please do not hesitate to contact us.
International Human Rights Law Association
IHLRA is a student-led forum to develop knowledge, share experiences, and promote opportunities within the field of international human rights law. IHRLA hopes to work closely with the International Human Rights Program and other organizations, both on and off campus, to provide opportunities for learning, project-related research, and career assistance to students within the Law School. IHRLA also hopes to build positive and mutually-beneficial relationships with local, national, and international human rights organizations.
Jewish Law Students Association
The Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA) fosters a sense of Jewish identity and community at the UCLA School of Law, and also provides a place to learn, share, and interact with others.
J. Reuben Clark Law Society
La Raza Law Student Association
La Raza's primary focus is to recruit, support, and graduate Raza students. We advocate for training that prepares students to meet the needs of the legally underserved, particularly in the Latino/a community. La Raza provides academic support for Raza students, serve as an organizing force around Raza political issues, and creates a social atmosphere that promotes Raza culture and experience.
Law and Economics Society
Law Students for Justice in Palestine
Mobile Clinic
Mobile Clinic is a student-run, street-based effort to provide basic legal, medical and social support services for the indigent and homeless populations of West Hollywood and Hollywood. In 2000, students at the UCLA School of Public Health and Medicine and the Undergraduate College partnered with the Greater West Hollywood Food Coalition to create Mobile Clinic. Students from the UCLA School of Law initiated the legal services branch of the Mobile Clinic in Spring 2008 with the goal of providing clients with high quality legal services seamlessly integrated with the clinic's medical and social services. Our clients are generally homeless or transient persons with a myriad of legal needs. Law student volunteers provide direct client services through client intake and referrals, and by assisting attorneys from several large area law firms who donate their time pro bono with following cases and advocating on the client's behalf. The Mobile Clinic provides services once every Wednesday evening starting around 6 pm on the corner of Sycamore and Romaine (near Santa Monica Blvd. and La Brea) in West Hollywood.
Mock Trial Association
The Mock Trial Association offers opportunities for law students to develop trial advocacy skills, to learn about the trial law profession, to secure trial law-oriented internships and employment, and to offer a diverse perspective on important tort and contract issues currently being litigated.
Moot Court Honors Program
The Moot Court Honors Program continues the tradition of student organizations known as "moots" or "case clubs" in which students prepare written briefs and deliver oral arguments about contemporary legal issues before a mock appellate tribunal. UCLA's program, with approximately 200 second-year law students participating every year, has been recognized as one of the finest in the country. Participants brief and argue cases before panels of judges and practitioners. Four finalists are selected for the Roscoe Pound Competition, which is judged by outstanding state and federal jurists. Third-year members are responsible for administering the program and are selected to compete on UCLA's state and national teams.
Muslim Law Students Association
The Muslim Law Students Association is a student-run organization aimed to provide an accessible resource to UCLA students and faculty on Islam and Muslims in order to educate and promote tolerance and understanding on campus and the greater community. The MLSA seeks to establish a strong student network that provides academic support, and to develop a network of UCLA alumni to facilitate and furnish summer and post graduate opportunities for our members.
Ms. JD National Women's Law Student Organization
National Lawyers Guild
The National Lawyers Guild is an association made up of chapters and committees working locally, nationally and internationally. We are dedicated to the need for basic change in the structure of our political and economic system. The Guild unites lawyers, law students, and legal workers as an effective political and social force in the service of the people.
Native American Law Students Association
The Native American Law Students Association is a national organization. The objectives of the Native American Law Students Association at UCLA are to provide a support network for Native American law students and to create a base from which work can be done for the advancement of Native peoples. In addition, the Native American Law Students Association strives to foster better communication among Native American law students, and the Native American community and the general public by providing a forum for the discussion of current Native American issues.
OUTlaw
OUTlaw provides a supportive community for Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender students and assists them in connecting with the legal community at large. The organization also strives to educate the School of Law regarding LBGT issues by hosting speakers and workshops. OUTlaw sponsors brown bag lunches with LBGT lawyers who discuss the benefits and disadvantages to being "out" in the legal world. This past year, the OUTlaw also participated in the first Food Week fundraiser collaboration and co-sponsored a Bar Review Social with the Student Bar Association.
Public Interest Law Fund
PILF is a student-run organization at UCLA School of Law that provides grant awards to students who pursue otherwise unpaid summer employment in the public interest field. PILF hosts a variety of fundraising events, such as the Trivia Challenge and Public Interest Auction, to fund the summer grant program. Last year, PILF raised nearly $60,000 which helped fund summer internships for 43 UCLA law students at non-profit organizations throughout the United States and abroad. Please browse our web site to learn more about PILF and how you can get involved.
South Asian Law Students Association
SALSA is an organization assisting law students in the transition from law school to legal practice. The purpose of SALSA is to provide a forum to law students of South Asian descent to exchange thoughts and ideas; to meet and develop a support and referral network; to provide continuing education; to project a better image for the legal professionals; and to educate and help the community.
Sports Law Federation
SLF co-sponsors with UCLA Anderson an annual Sports Conference. The purpose of the conference is to compliment the Sports Law course and provide a forum for students to better understand the sports law field. SLF also organizes sports teams and activities to foster community, get exercise, and have fun.
Student Bar Association
The Student Bar Association is the student government here at UCLA School of Law.
Students Helping Assure Racial Equity, Justice and Diversity
SHARE JD is a multiracial student organization that is dedicated to advocating and fighting for racial justice in higher education. We believe in protecting students’ rights to academic freedom and students’ rights to effectively participate in their higher education through an anti-racist, anti-subordination politic without retaliation. We want to further the goals of affirmative action, defined as: (1) increasing the representation of students of color in higher education, (2) pushing UCLAW to respond to the needs of students of color, and (3) understanding education as a form of reparations to intervene into racial power.
We bring students of color, allies and related identity orgs together in collaboration to achieve our shared agenda. We understand ourselves to be accountable to these students and organizations. We achieve our goals through research, organizing, advocacy, education and advancing the interests of people of color and our allies at UCLA.
Veterans Society
The Veterans Society exists to serve law school students, faculty and staff who have served in the U.S. armed forces.
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance