Law Student Event: Fall 2025 Legal Intensive
The Premier One-Day Public Interest Law Program
Hosted in Nashville, TN, on Vanderbilt University Law School’s campus
Saturday, November 15, 2025
We are thrilled to announce that IJ will host our next Legal Intensive at Vanderbilt Law School’s campus on Saturday, November 15, 2025.
For over 30 years, IJ has hosted an annual law student conference with law students from across the country near our headquarters office in Arlington, VA. We are excited to continue to offer an opportunity for students to participate in an immersive and practical day of learning right in their own backyards. Our Legal Intensives are intended to supplement the legal theory and skills that students learn in the classroom. The experts at IJ will teach attendees about public interest law and how to take what students have learned so far in law school and put it into action.
What to Expect
- Throughout the one-day conference, IJ attorneys will guide you through informative and interactive sessions on public interest law versus private practice, litigation strategies, how to develop a case from beginning to end, and more.
- Walk away with behind-the-scenes insight on how to advance a case on the state and federal level and what steps to take when you see something in the headlines that you want to change through litigation.
- Hear directly from IJ clients and see the real impact public interest litigation has on Americans fighting against government abuse.
- Learn how to put public interest litigation strategies into practice in our practitioner breakout sessions where we use a mock IJ case to decide what legal claims to bring, and develop a deposition and media strategy.
- The theme of this years’ Legal Intensive will highlight IJ’s Economic Liberty Pillar through our Deep Dive session: Food Freedom, Home-Based Businesses and Licenses to Work
Meet our speakers
Paul Avelar is the Managing Attorney of IJ’s Arizona office and litigates cases across all four of IJ’s pillars, with a particular focus on economic liberty and free speech. He leads IJ’s national Braiding Freedom Initiative and has been instrumental in reforms that protect the right to earn an honest living.
Keith Neely is an attorney with the Institute for Justice who works on cases across all four of IJ’s pillars, with a special focus on educational choice and governmental immunities. He also co-hosts IJ’s Beyond the Brief podcast, which highlights the stories behind IJ’s cases.
Dan King is IJ’s Communications Project Manager and works to make the case for economic liberty, free speech, private property rights, and educational choice in the court of public opinion.
Are you interested in attending but live outside of the nashville area? This event is open to law students nationwide!
Our fall Legal Intensive is open to law students across the country. We know not everyone will be a walk or a train ride away from the venue, so we are pleased to cover travel and lodging expenses for students that aren’t local. Come spend your weekend with us!