Direct Client Services and Law Reform – Clinics Tackling Two Big Jobs

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Session Type: Concurrent Sessions

Session Capacity: N/A

Location: N/A

Room: Union Square 15&16

Floor: Fourth Floor

Doing direct services work alone, without an eye towards law reform, can feel like an endless game of whack-a-mole—when you solve a problem for one client, another client with a very similar problem arises. As an advocate in a direct legal services clinic, do you wish you could do more not just to help clients, but to alter the legal landscape? Law schools often offer policy and legislative clinics separate and apart from direct legal services clinics, but what if we could leverage the insight we gain from clients to advocate for substantive changes to the laws that affect them? In this session, panelists from a variety of disciplines including civil litigation, housing, civil rights, and international human rights will offer lessons learned and practical tips for those seeking to connect their clinic work to law reform efforts. Questions addressed will include: How do you get started if you want to add policy work to your litigation or transactional clinic? What are some simple ways to involve students in law reform efforts? How can policy work support direct representation work and vice versa? Is there tension between traditional clinic litigation work and the restructuring of power systems that we might seek via law reform work? How can we effectively engage students in identifying the power and limitations of their roles as attorneys? Are there potential legal or ethical pitfalls in mixing litigation/transactional work with policy work? In an interactive session, panelists will help participants devise plans for incorporating policy and law reform work into traditional direct-services clinics.