To Be or Not to Be: Setting the Stage for Community Lawyering, a Play in Three Acts

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Session Type: Concurrent Sessions

Session Capacity: N/A

Location: N/A

Room: Waterview D

Floor: Lobby Level

ow can clinical professors shift from a traditional service provision model to a partnership-driven approach that honors the expertise of impacted communities? This interactive session explores innovative strategies to prepare law students for meaningful engagement in community-led social justice movements. Through a theater-based framework, this session challenges clinical legal educators to rethink how lawyers engage with communities. Participants will examine the limitations of traditional legal service models and explore how law students can become facilitators and implementers in community-directed efforts. The session will introduce creative, experiential methods to help students recognize their role as supporting partners rather than public-facing leaders in social justice campaigns. By engaging in this session, participants will: identify the shortcomings of conventional legal service models in community lawyering; Articulate the benefits of a community-driven, partnership-based approach in legal education; Apply collaborative artistic processes to reframe students’ understanding of their role in community collaborations; and Design experiential activities that foster creativity and strengthen partnerships with community-led movements. Aligned with the conference theme, this session highlights the urgency for clinical professors to teach students to reshape their role as lawyers in advocacy spaces. By integrating theater as a metaphor, we will explore how de-centering legal expertise allows communities to lead, with lawyers playing a backstage, supporting role. Participants will leave with practical tools to foster student engagement in movement spaces and to cultivate a new generation of lawyers equipped for equitable, community-driven advocacy.