Inside Out: A Conversation about Clinic Models in Practices Outside the Law School

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Session Type: AALS Programs

Session Capacity: N/A

Location: N/A

Room: Crystal Room

Floor: Third Floor

In many law schools, clinical programs need or want to expand in order to respond to the acute legal needs of increasingly vulnerable populations and to meet heightened demands for clinical opportunities. Acute legal needs come from a hostile political climate, and heightened demand comes from multiple sources including new ABA regulations, requirements of state bar associations, and law students who perceive limitations in the legal employment market that necessitate a sharper focus on developing professional experience in practice-like settings. Yet law schools are in an era of fiscal constraint. Restrictions on resources raise considerable challenges in expanding clinical opportunities to meet acute needs and heightened demands.

New models that involve collaboration with law offices outside the law school are emerging from these pressures. Some are called “hybrids,” others are called “external clinics.” We see a need for conversation and collaboration about them. This concurrent will open that conversation among clinicians, including teachers in clinics, externships, and other models. We will explore strategies for expanding clinical opportunities outside the traditional in-house clinic while maintaining important pedagogies for learning and lawyering that clinicians have developed over many years. Together we will work through the questions posed by the possibilities for expanding clinical opportunities in ways that confront current challenges, meet new regulatory requirements, and accomplish meaningful pedagogical goals.