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As a student in the University of Arizona Innocence Project, rising third-year law student Gabrielle Hetrick learned what many attorneys don’t see until they are well into the practice.
“A lot of being an attorney is learning to be good at reading and reviewing documents and picking up on errors where things have happened or at picking out that small thing that may actually be a big thing, and a lot of innocence work fine tunes those skills,” Hetrick says.
Arizona Law students like Hetrick get practical training in both big-picture thinking and attention to detail through the college’s 16 clinics, on matters from business formation to high-stakes criminal cases. And they get something perhaps even more important: The chance to serve clients from all walks of life often encountering legal systems for the first time.
In 2026, The National Jurist recognized Arizona Law’s robust clinical program, naming the college to its Best Schools for Practical Training Honor Roll, ranking at #7 with an A+ rating. According to Vanessa Buch, clinical professor of law and director of the University of Arizona Innocence Project, the value of Arizona Law’s clinics is apparent in the conversations she has with attorneys in the community. “The students graduating out of the clinics at U of A come to us well prepared and ready to practice,” they often tell her.
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