“Radical Ready:” The Role of Clinics & Clinicians in Rapid Response & Movement Lawyering

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Session Type: AALS Programs

Session Capacity: N/A

Location: N/A

Room: Wabash Room

Floor: Third Floor

Current social justice crises have called for a shift in the mission of many clinics to both represent individual clients and support movements for radical change and resistance. Additionally, clinicians, some for decades and others more recently, have engaged in rapid response and movement lawyering in their personal capacity with other lawyers and students. Litigation and advocacy needs spurred by the present presidential administration’s Executive Orders, rampant police brutality and unaccountability, and disaster recovery inequities are examples that the session’s panelists can draw from to explore the opportunities and challenges of such work.

Questions addressed in this session will include: What is rapid response litigation and advocacy? What is movement lawyering? Are clinics generally well suited to conduct rapid response litigation and advocacy and work with social movements, such as Black Lives Matter and others? What roles can clinics play in rapid response efforts and supporting movement work? What changes may be needed to make to a clinic structure and pedagogy be of optimal use to social movements? How do clinicians engage in rapid response and movement lawyering in their personal capacity? Is there tension between traditional civil rights lawyering and the radical restructuring of power that many social movements seek? How can we effectively engage students in identifying the power and limitations of their roles as attorneys? How do you get started if you want to more closely align your clinic with a social movement or entirely transform your clinic into a movement lawyering endeavor? How do you address critiques within the academy of movement tactics, including “respectability politics?”

Panelists from a variety of disciplines—civil litigation, housing, civil rights, poverty law, international human rights, and immigration—will offer lessons learned and practical tips to those seeking to connect with rapid response work and social movements.