Student Organizations

Nationally, ACS is an organization of legal professionals that is dedicated to advancing and defending democracy, justice, equality, and liberty; to securing a government that serves the public interest; and to guarding against the abuse of law and the concentration of power.

On campus at Carolina Law, ACS is a lefty group that focuses on educating and advocating for progressive law and policy. We program events that emphasize access to the courts, the importance of a progressive judiciary, and the protection of individual rights and the dignity of every person.

The Anti-Death Penalty Project was established for the purpose of increasing societal awareness of the effects of the Death Penalty on the community at large. The Project’s goals include calling attention to the discrepancies presented by capital punishment on certain socio-economic and racial classes and examining the problems created by the process our legal system currently uses. The Project seeks to challenge the current death penalty system at a local and national level through informative speakers, community engagement, volunteer efforts, and pro bono work on the death penalty.

Asian American Law Students Association (AALSA) is an affinity group designed to provide support, information, and guidance to all students at the University of North Carolina School of Law. AALSA helps foster relationships among law students, professors, and those in the legal profession by hosting social, professional, and cultural events throughout the year.

The Black Law Students Association (BLSA) is a forum for sharing and solving problems unique to Black students in the law school community. BLSA has made a commitment to proportionate representation in the professional arena, supported by sponsoring workshops and symposia and by supplying individualized assistance. BLSA sponsors social events throughout the year, and BLSA speaks on behalf of the needs of Black students to the administration, faculty, and student body. The Black Law Students Association is affiliated with the National Black Law Students Association, the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers and the UNC Alliance of Black Graduate and Professional Students.

For decades, the Broun National Trial Team (BNTT) has provided the students of Carolina Law an unparalleled opportunity to develop and showcase their trial advocacy skills.

Carefully selected and trained, BNTT members compete annually in several of the most competitive and well-recognized mock trial tournaments across the country, including the Texas Young Lawyer’s Association’s National Trial Competition and the American Association for Justice’s Student Trial Advocacy Competition. At these tournaments, teams of students simulate jury trials by presenting each side of a civil or criminal case against teams from other schools. Students argue motions, examine witnesses, and deliver opening and closing statements before panels of practicing judges and trial attorneys who provide feedback after each round of competition. Students also meet and work with professors and attorneys in preparation for each competition.

All BNTT members receive course credit for their participation on the team. Additionally, 2L members are automatically registered for both Evidence and Trial Advocacy, two popular courses in which enrollment is competitive.

Students at Carolina Law may become members of the BNTT by successfully competing in a multi-round Tryout Competition held during the spring semester of their first year. All 1Ls are welcomed and encouraged to participate. Previous mock trial experience is not required, and the competition is designed to be meaningful for all participants.

The purpose of Carolina Health Law Organization (CHLO) is to expose its members to the broad practice area of health law through valuable topical and career-oriented events, networking opportunities with attorneys within the health law sphere, and a community that analyzes policy and legal issues that impact health care.

The Carolina Intellectual Property Law Organization’s (CIPLA) mission is to cultivate interest in intellectual property law and form a network of colleagues and potential employers through informational lectures/speakers, pro bono projects and social events.

Carolina Law’s First-Generation Professionals (CL1GP) is a resource and a community for law students who happen to be the first in their family to pursue college, professional school, or law school. We strive to promote the professional development and well-being of first-generation law students through advocating their behalf, freely exchanging ideas, providing networking opportunities, and mentorship.

The Carolina Public Interest Law Organization (CPILO) is a student-run group working in collaboration with UNC Law to promote the awareness of and access to public interest law among Carolina Law students. CPILO helps provide grants to students who accept summer internships in the public sector that are low-or non-paying; facilitates a network of support for students interested in pursuing public interest law; exposes the law school community to public interest law; and encourages students to pursue careers in the public sector.

The Christian Legal Society at the University of North Carolina School of Law (“CLS”) is a Christ-centered student group committed to glorifying God through spiritual formation, compassionate service, and the integration of faith into legal practice. CLS and its members strive to live out God’s calling to seek justice in the study and practice of the law by focusing on three central goals: fellowship, mentorship, and pro bono service.

CRCGE is an annual academic forum where recent political and legal developments are examined through critical legal and social justice perspectives.

The purpose of the Environmental Law Project is to expose law students to the issues, opportunities available, and people involved in Environmental Law. 

The Federalist Society was founded on the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution, and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be.

The First Amendment Law Review (FALR) is a student-run legal journal that seeks to promote and protect the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution through publishing scholarly writings on, and promoting discussion of, issues related to the First Amendment.

FALR publishes professional and student articles for the benefit of scholars and practitioners. Professional contributions are composed of scholarly pieces, symposium papers, and novel essays regarding the First Amendment.

FALR publishes three issues per year: Fall, Winter/Symposium, and Spring. All issues are available both on the FALR website at https://firstamendmentlawreview.org/ and in legal databases after publication. FALR was established at the University of North Carolina School of Law in 2002.

The purpose of the Hispanic/Latino Law Students Association is to

1) enhance the legal careers of its members,

2) increase Hispanic-Latino representation at Carolina Law, and

3) serve the Hispanic Latino community of the Research Triangle Area.

Holderness Moot Court is a voluntary, competitive, academic organization whose purpose is to prepare students for practice in the legal profession by providing the opportunity to develop skills in legal research, writing, and oral advocacy; members are selected through vigorous tryouts conducted during the second year of the law students’ legal education.

The Immigration Law Association seeks to raise awareness of the concerns and legal issues affecting immigration communities and provide volunteer opportunities for anyone interested in immigration law and immigrants’ rights.

Helping students to find and explore opportunities that exist in the overlap of international and legal realities.

The Jewish Law Association (JLA) is a student organization at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill founded for the purpose of creating an environment in which Jewish law students at UNC can build community and network. We want to provide a support system for the Jewish law community and create a positive Jewish presence at Carolina Law.

Dedicated advocates committed to raising awareness about the prevalence of sexual and domestic violence within our community.

The Media Law Society is an organization designed to provide the students, faculty, and staff of UNC School of Law a chance to meet, learn more about media law, and hear about employment and internship opportunities within the field.

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is dedicated to the need for basic and progressive change in the structure of our political and economic system. Through its members – lawyers, law students, jailhouse lawyers and legal workers united in chapters and committees – the Guild works locally, nationally and internationally as an effective political and social force in the service of the people. 

This organization educates the student community on neurodiversity issues and provides a safe space for neurodiverse students to discuss their challenges and possible ways of meeting them.

The North Carolina Banking Institute (NCBI) is a student-edited legal journal published at the UNC School of Law.  In addition to publishing one annual volume, the NCBI hosts a continuing legal education (CLE) program each spring that attorneys and industry regulators from North Carolina and other states attend for CLE credit.  The focus of the NCBI is to provide current information on legal topics relating to the banking industry and financial institutions. 

Now in its forty-ninth year of publication, JIL is dedicated to stimulating an intellectual environment through legal scholarship in the areas of international law, international trade, and commercial regulation. In order to achieve this goal, JIL publishes four issues each year featuring articles written by leading scholars, respected practitioners, and JIL staff members.

The North Carolina Journal of Law & Technology (NC JOLT), was founded as a student-edited academic journal in 2000. NC JOLT publishes articles discussing the impact technological changes have on various areas of law.  NC JOLT publishes 6 issues a year in hardcopy (4) and online (2), which are available through Westlaw and Lexis-Nexis.

This organization publishes an academic legal journal six times per year, with membership is selected from the law school student body.

OutLaw (formerly Lambda Law Students Association) seeks to educate the Carolina Law community about the legal, political, and social issues facing the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning community.

To motivate and excite law students interested in the sports and entertainment industry by providing opportunities to establish new and impactful connections through various networking, learning, and social events.

The Conservation and Agricultural Law Federation (“CALF”) exists to promote the underserved legal markets of Conservation and Agricultural Law, along with their related fields. The organization shall maintain, as its mission, the goal of promoting these markets by exposing students at UNC School of Law, members of the general public, and the university community to North Carolina’s vital and vibrant agricultural, food, and conservation industries and their related economic niches. CALF will align itself with the mission of UNC School of Law’s reputation and goal of being North Carolina’s premier public law school by serving and interacting with one of North Carolina’s most legally underserved industries.

The University of North Carolina School of Law has a long, complicated relationship with civil rights. Founded in 1845 as part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the law school has been training lawyers and advocates for generations. Yet UNC Law did not graduate any women until 1915, and accepted its first Black student only in 1951–more than one hundred years after its founding–after a federal court ordered the school to enroll qualified Black applicants on equal protection grounds. Today, our alumni include civil rights giants such as Julius L. Chambers, former Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, as well as delegates to the 1861 State Convention that approved North Carolina’s secession from the United States in order to protect slavery across the South.

In light of this history–as well as more recent struggles within the school and state–in 2019, UNC Law students organized a new journal dedicated to civil rights legal scholarship. Named the North Carolina Civil Rights Law Review, the journal operates in collaboration with the UNC Center for Civil Rights and integrates the long-running Conference on Race, Class, Gender, and Ethnicity (CRCGE) as its annual symposium. The journal aims to publish innovative, important commentary and analysis of civil rights law, with the goal of protecting and advancing individuals’ actual lived experience of civil rights, liberty, and equality today. We hope the journal contributes to a continued, vigorous, creative wrestling with the law in order to make it a more perfect instrument for justice, liberty, and dignity for the people of North Carolina and the United States.

This organization was formed to organize and promote the transactional and corporate law community at UNC Law. We reach out to students who are interested in practicing transactional or corporate law. TCLA plans events and brings in speakers to promote these interests.

The UNC-CH Law Innocence Project is dedicated to investigating and reviewing complaints and innocence claims made by prisoners incarcerated in North Carolina. The fundamental goal is to assist prisoners in changing their wrongful convictions, where they exist.

The UNC Labor & Employment Law Association is an organization designed to provide the students, faculty, and staff of UNC School of Law a chance to meet, learn more about labor and employment, and hear about employment and internship opportunities within the field.

The Veterans Advocacy Legal Organization (VALOR) is a UNC School of Law student organization dedicated to serving Veterans. No military experience necessary to join, just a willingness to assist.

We have three primary goals:

(1) Serve: Provide pro bono legal services to Veterans in the community
(2) Educate: Provide community outreach and education
(3) Connect: Build a community of military-affiliated students and supporters

The purpose of WIL is to address concerns and issues facing women who are entering the legal profession by creating a system of social and educational support for women and those concerned with women’s issues during their legal education.

This system will serve as a network by which women law students are introduced into the existing community of female lawyers and to other students, lawyers, employers, professors and judges who are committed to the growth of females in the legal profession.

Further, Women In Law understands that issues that face women in the legal profession manifest differently depending on an individual’s intersecting identities. Through different educational and social events, Women In Law hopes to address the varying hardships different women face when entering the legal community.