Issue Lawyering in Hostile State Climates

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Session Type: Concurrent Sessions

Session Capacity: N/A

Location: N/A

Room: Harborside Ballroom B

Floor: Fourth Floor

Issue Lawyering in Hostile State Climates: Clinics operating in “Red States” have, over the past decade, faced unique hurdles in furthering their clients’ interests. Increasingly hostile state environments have robbed these clinicians of certain conventional tools of social and economic justice and have led them to heavily rely upon, among other solutions, federal avenues of relief for their clients. Under the current Trump administration, however, many of these federal options are now jeopardized. The presenters direct clinics in Tennessee, where the state legislature has increasingly obstructed the adoption of progressive policies. Tennessee prohibits the enactment of a minimum wage, rent control, and inclusionary zoning. Right-to-work legislation has rendered unions anemic. There is no authorizing legislation for worker cooperatives, community benefits agreements, or other private structures designed to empower. State-level lobbying by progressive organizations is seldom effective. The presenters will share their experiences and strategies for navigating this hostile policy environment. They will encourage participants to brainstorm innovative avenues for change, including private market ordering and whether advocacy under certain federal law may still be possible. Presenters will provide examples of teaching tools and methodologies that they use in their respective clinics and encourage participants to do the same.