Clinical Legal Education and Poverty Law Joint Program

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This joint session will focus on women in poverty and the role of advocacy in assisting poor women and addressing the conditions that contribute to the gender and race of poverty.  Panelists will examine the reasons that women, especially those from minority communities, are more likely to experience poverty, the negative consequences of poverty in their lives, and the legal and social systems that support the status quo.  Topics include challenges facing families with members who have disabilities, battered mothers, migrant farmworkers, and innovative approaches toward solutions, such as community empowerment and interdisciplinary pedagogy, which are vital to understanding and ending poverty among women. The legal academy has a unique opportunity to develop and disseminate theory and information about the legal systems and processes that create and perpetuate the low socio-economic status of women and minority communities.  Clinicians and poverty law teachers are particularly well situated to identify and address these issues through our teaching and research.