As
law school enrollment is in decline and programs are asked to provide ever more
experiential education opportunities for students with less tuition revenue,
traditional “hard funded” clinics are being replaced with “soft funded” clinics
– those supported by private gifts, foundation donations, and competitive grants. Clinics and clinicians who can obtain outside
funding for their work have a greater chance of surviving and thriving in this
new financial normal. This panel will explore questions, benefits, and
challenges that arise as clinicians navigate more diverse funding structures.
The
addition of outside money often requires that alterations be made to
traditional case selection criteria and pedagogical emphasis. However, external funding can also offer
benefits, providing the impetus to incorporate more “real-world” and social
justice lawyering in the classroom and leading to meaningful collaborations
with local non-profit and government agencies that can propel the esteem of a
clinic within a law school and the larger community.
In
addition to exploring the pedagogical strengths and strains of soft funding,
the session will aim to provide practical insights for clinicians wishing to
find or increase outside funding. The
session will utilize facilitated small and large group discussions to give
participants an opportunity to consider how soft funding may benefit or detract
from their clinics and what outside funding sources may be available to them.