Prosecution Clinics: Unlocking Their Potential to Unite

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Session Type: Concurrent Sessions

Session Capacity: N/A

Hotel: N/A

Room: Franciscan C

Floor: Ballroom Level

Few legal topics draw more national interest and spark more spirited debate than criminal justice reform, and while recent advances show promise, the criminal justice system remains a highly polarized setting into which hundreds of recent law school graduates are thrust each year. This raises the question: Are our institutions doing enough to prepare aspiring prosecutors and defense attorneys for careers in such a contentious environment? Is it possible to teach students that the adversarial system in which they’ll practice need not be so . . . adversarial?
This session presents a comparison of prosecution clinic models at three Boston-area law schools, highlighting the various ways in which they and their defense counterparts work together to promote consistency, civility, and other positive approaches to their pursuit of social justice. We will discuss the value of exposing students in prosecution and defense clinics to the legal, ethical, and practical issues, pressures, and other considerations the other side must confront, and how by bringing them together they can learn from each other not only about their own roles, but about themselves. This session will be highly interactive, as we view this as an opportunity for prosecution and defense clinical faculty to engage in frank discussion and share ways in which our clinics can—or cannot—work together to achieve the common goal of equality and the fair administration of justice.