Sometimes, the most impactful clinical experiences do not involve “hard skills,” but the opportunity to explore client relationships, ethics, and personal/professional identity. This is particularly rich when the relationships involve issues of positionality and the role of the lawyer in fighting subordination. This is true whether the clinic involves community lawyering, direct representation, or a combination of the two.
We will begin the workshop by engaging the group in developing a shared vocabulary and framework for the ethical and professional issues we’ll be discussing. We’ll then lay out one or more hypothetical situations that present a rich opportunity for discussion. We’ll survey in advance of the conference to determine what topics are of most interest, but they could include:
o The role of a lawyer as part of a larger social justice/community movement
o Roles of client versus stakeholder versus community
o Legal ethics and relationship building in a complex community setting
o Balancing client empowerment with the client’s desire for assistance/advice
o Positionality and integrating personal and professional identity
We will then engage in a series of breakouts for rounds-like discussion (in groups divided by type – direct services or community lawyering) of these topics. With prompts from the presenters and facilitators, the groups will use the hypothetical(s) to explore a core issue and develop ideas for ways to better prepare students to wrestle with and resolve the issue when they encounter it in clinic work or future practice. Participants will leave the workshop with group-sourced materials, lesson plans, and activities designed to incorporate these issues into the clinic.