The Premier One-Day Public Interest Law Program
Hosted in Notre Dame, IN at University of Notre Dame Law School
Saturday, February 27, 2027
Casebooks give you the holding but at IJ’s upcoming Legal Intensive, we’ll give you everything that comes before it. Over a single immersive day, IJ attorneys will walk you through how a constitutional case actually gets built: the strategy behind a filing, the judgment calls along the way, the clients whose lives are at stake, and the long road from complaint to the Supreme Court lectern. You’ll see the work up close, and then try some of it yourself.
What to Expect
- This year’s Legal Intensive will spotlight IJ’s Education Entrepreneurship work, a new focus within our Economic Liberty pillar. You’ll also hear directly from IJ clients about the impact of public interest litigation on Americans fighting government abuse.
- Get a behind-the-scenes look at how IJ advances cases in state and federal courts—and how attorneys turn an issue in the headlines into an opportunity for legal change.
- Put litigation strategies into practice during our practitioner breakout sessions, where you’ll work through a mock IJ case to identify legal claims and develop discovery and media strategies.
- If you’re a law student interested in constitutional law, public interest litigation, or using the courts to change the law, this is your chance to learn from attorneys who do it every day.
Meet our speakers
Michael Bindas is a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, where he focuses on educational choice and religious liberty. He leads IJ’s educational choice team and argued Carson v. Makin at the U.S. Supreme Court, where the Court struck down Maine’s exclusion of religious schools from its choice program.
Marie Miller is an attorney at the Institute for Justice’s Phoenix office, where she focuses on immunity and accountability, property rights, and free speech.
Andrew Wimer is the director of media relations at the Institute for Justice, where he makes the case for economic liberty, free speech, property rights, and school choice in the court of public opinion. He previously served as a communications advisor on Capitol Hill and as speechwriter to the U.S. Secretary of Labor.
Are you interested in attending but live outside of the conference area? This event is open to law students nationwide!
This event is open to law students across the country. We know not everyone will be a walk or a train ride away from the conference venue, so we are pleased to cover travel and lodging expenses for students that aren’t local. Come spend your weekend with us!
