A blue-collar worker has been discharged from his job and been denied unemployment insurance benefits. He seeks help from two attorneys to represent him in his appeal.

While based on an actual case, the action takes place not at a law firm, but at the law school; the potential client is being role-played by retiree and volunteer Trevor Donald; and the two attorneys aren't real attorneys - yet. They're law students in Professor Steve Derian's Trial Advocacy class practicing interviewing and client-counseling skills vital to their chosen profession.

Courses such as Trial Advocacy and Negotiation Theory and Practice make up the School of Law's pioneering clinical education program, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The program consistently ranks among the top 10 in the country for its advanced methods for training lawyers.

Rather than focusing on areas such as discrimination, immigration or employment law, UCLA's clinical courses teach students the concepts, processes, techniques, strategies and skills behind such tasks as examining and cross-examining witnesses, negotiating, drafting documents, deposing a witness and preparing for trial.

"Our general focus is on the underlying skills that can be transferred from one case to another, skills that students can apply in whatever kind of case they find themselves," said Susan Gillig, assistant dean, Clinical Programs.

Students gain practical experience in several ways. In Derian's class, for example, students interact with a client, played by an "actor," culled from the law school's Volunteer Witness Program.

"When they do this particular exercise, students' performances in their first real interviews are significantly improved," observed Derian. "The volunteers are important because they lend realism and they provide an 'outside' person who has information the students don't have. So students learn to ask questions in a manner that will elicit the relevant information thoroughly but efficiently."

The simulation is good practice for Derian's students because they will be working on actual cases as part of their coursework, representing clients at appeal hearings for unemployment insurance and wage claims and small claims court appeals, among others.

"This particular simulation is invaluable because the students get to work through an initial interview that is very much like the real ones they are about to conduct," said Derian.

In most of the 19 upper-division clinical courses, students have the opportunity to work on actual cases. In Public Policy Advocacy, students are trained to collaborate with public interest lawyers and other advocates on issues confronting people in Los Angeles, such as slum housing conditions. Similarly, in the Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic, students get on-the-job training while working on cases to improve the environment.

Students also gain experience preparing and trying cases in a series of mock trials, which take place at the end of each semester. Volunteers, such as Donald, are again called upon to act as witnesses and jurors.

Many of the classes and simulations take place in the law school's clinical wing, which is equipped with such resources as legal research databases and audiovisual equipment. These resources can be used for videotaping and playing back student-client exercises for analysis and critique.