Centering the Client: A Framework for Advocacy in a Post-Ferguson World

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Session Type: Concurrent Sessions

Session Capacity: N/A

Hotel: N/A

Room: Franciscan B

Floor: Ballroom Level

Over the last ten years, more and more students entering law clinics have a baseline understanding of the inequities that people of color and other traditionally marginalized communities face. In this new era where students are more attuned to systemic injustice, we want to re-center the client–how do these issues impact our individual, complex clients. In this session we will provide a concrete framework that clinicians can use to help students better understand their clients and the intersectionality of their life experiences. Distinct lenses such as the client’s race, life stage, and diagnoses of mental illness or intellectual disability are used to examine all aspects of a case, including investigation, motions practice, theory of the case, theory of disposition, and our relationship to clients. This framework helps guard against assumptions (our own and others), sharpen our arguments, and push back against harmful reductionist systems. Too often, we discuss the immense problems with society and the legal system as something that happens to our clients, without really understanding what that means for our clients. By re-centering the client in these discussions, we are better able to ensure that we are truly representing them and their expressed interests against these seemingly intractable systems. Participants in this session will leave with an adaptable framework that can be applied in any clinic that is responsive not just to development of the clinical students, but also, importantly, to representing the clinic clients. In addition, participants will have access to a folder of materials including sample syllabi and teaching notes, multimedia materials, and other teaching tools that can be used to implement this framework.