Certificate in Child and Family Law


A nationally recognized leader in legal education and advocacy for children, Loyola's School of Law offers the Certificate in Child and Family Law for J.D. students. As part of this interdisciplinary program, Loyola gives its students the most comprehensive child law curriculum and library collection of any law school in the country.

Drawing on its strength as part of a large urban university with respected programs in medicine, social work, psychology, education and criminal justice, the law school's innovative interdisciplinary curriculum is designed to give students the substantive knowledge, practical skills and ethical grounding they need to represent children in a variety of legal proceedings, including abuse and neglect cases, delinquency adjudications, custody disputes and education rights cases.

Course Offerings

Students who wish to earn the Certificate in Child and Family Law select their elective courses from among the following offerings:


Extracurricular Activities

In addition to the academic curriculum, the law school offers students a range of co-curricular and externship opportunities in pediatric law. Each semester students and faculty are invited to attend a symposia series in which local and national experts share interdisciplinary knowledge and experience drawn from front-line work on behalf of children and families.

The Office of Career Services maintains an extensive databank on child-related externship placements. The ChildLaw Society is a student-run organization open to anyone interested in child welfare policy and the exchange of information and ideas about children and families.

Students who have satisfied the requirements of the Illinois student practice rule may represent child clients in the Loyola Child and Family Law Clinic housed at 16 E. Pearson.

Second- and third-year students have the opportunity to enhance their research, writing and editing skills by working on the Children's Legal Rights Journal, a quarterly publication edited by students and the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law.

Community Service

In addition to work with children and their families, students in the Child and Family Law certificate program have the opportunity to focus on community service as well. In fact, special projects and activities in the child advocacy community can influence policy and practice.

Examples of recent community service include:


Today, graduates of Loyola's ChildLaw program work in a broad and geographically diverse range of settings, serving the legal needs of children across the county.

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Academics