TheGALILEEProgram
Group Alternative Live-In Legal Education
What is it? GALILEE is a student-designed immersion program giving Notre Dame law students an opportunity to learn about public interest law opportunities during their Christmas break. GALILEE is designed to introduce Notre Dame law students to the legal problems of the urban poor in ways impossible to learn in the classroom and to broaden students' understanding of the legal profession through exposure to various areas of public interest law.
When: Any three to four day period over Christmas Break.
Where: Cities across the country chosen by the student groups. Former sites include Chicago, Los Angeles, South Bend, New York, Toronto, Cleveland, Denver, Boulder, San Francisco, Cincinatti, Boston, Tulsa, St. Louis, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Portland, Philadelphia, Detroit, Phoenix, Atlanta, and WashingtonD.C.
What occurs during GALILEE? Small groups of law students visit cities of their choice for a three-to-four day period over Christmas break. By meeting with public defenders, legal aid attorneys, judges, governmental law agencies and other social service professionals, law students are provided the opportunity to explore public interest law while developing an appreciation for the tensions and complexities that result from interaction between real people and the law - something not necessarily available in casebooks.
Student groups choose whom to meet and what they are interested in learning about. Past groups have chosen to ride with police officers, visit battered women's shelters, tour jails and prisons, witness criminal trials and meet with legal and social service professionals among many other activities. Each group also engages in at least one service project, such as serving dinner at a homeless shelter, during its GALILEE experience.
Groups stay together during the program, facilitating nightly reflection upon the experience as it occurs. All GALILEE participants attend an orientation session during the fall semester and a debriefing during the spring semester and complete a 3-5 page reflection paper while earning one co-curricular credit.
GALILEE turned out to be an incredible experience. It exposed me to a variety of public interest organizations in New York that work on cases ranging from asylum to housing to juvenile defense. GALILEE also allowed me to spend time and become friends with classmates who I may not have otherwise met and we had a great time together!
-- Keira McCarthy, New York
GALILEE reminded me why I came to law school in the first place and energized me for my second semester. -- Chris Pearsall, Boston
For more information, please visit the Galilee web page ( or email Professor Bob Jones at .