Movement lawyering and community-centered learning are hot topics in clinical legal education, and rightfully so. But to prevent these crucial concepts from becoming mere buzzwords, we need to develop, articulate, and critique concrete strategies and tools for putting clinical movement lawyering into practice. How can clinics work in solidarity with communities and as part of larger movements for social justice? What do movement lawyering approaches mean for pedagogy? In this panel, clinical teachers across different geographical contexts, institutions, and practice areas will share how their clinics have partnered with impacted communities, responded to community organizing and feedback, and refined their approaches using lessons learned.
The session will include discussions on decentering lawyers and shifting power; navigating tensions between pedagogy and responsibilities to community partners; and using storytelling, participatory design, and creative problem-solving tools for movement lawyering.