Teaching Written Advocacy in a Law Clinic Setting
Tamar Ezer, University of Miami
Written advocacy is a critical
lawyering skill and core component of student work in many clinics. This is
particularly true in policy-based clinics, such as those focused on human
rights advocacy. This work requires facility with multiple legal frameworks at
the domestic, regional, and international levels and the ability to integrate
structural patterns with individual stories, connect abstract principles to
specific experiences, digest complex material and present it clearly and simply,
and construct a compelling narrative. There is a rich literature on teaching
legal writing, but little discussion of its applicability in the fast-paced law
clinic setting, where written products have real world consequences and
need to be of high quality. This paper delves into this literature, identifying
lessons to be applied in the clinical setting, including both pedagogical
techniques and good feedback principles. It further provides an opportunity for
self-reflection and assessment of techniques and exercises with which our human
rights clinic is currently experimenting.
This piece further engages with
the following questions: What are important elements in a student’s mindset when
approaching written advocacy? How can clinical faculty assist students in
shifting from objective to persuasive writing? What are the core competencies
students need to develop for effective written advocacy, and what are
particular exercises and techniques clinical faculty can use to strengthen
them? How should
clinical faculty approach feedback on student writing? How can
clinical faculty support student writing while retaining student ownership and
accountability?
Racial and Gender
Diversity in Clinical Law Teaching
Shobha
Mahadev, Northwestern
Caitlin
Barry, Villanova
The CLEA Diversity in Clinical
Legal Education Committee is examining available data and analyzing trends on
racial and gender diversity among clinical faculty between 1980 and 2017. As
far as we are aware, no substantive writing on clinical faculty diversity has
been produced since Jon Dubin wrote “Faculty Diversity as a Clinical Legal
Education Imperative” in 2000. Recognizing that faculty diversity is a key
element in improving the quality of clinical education and moving towards
racial equity in the profession, we are looking at data gathered by CSALE, SALT
and AALS. Our initial findings are that while gender diversity has greatly
improved, racial diversity has grown at a slower rate, and representation of
clinicians who are black has only nominally increased in that time period. In
2017, nearly 8 in 10 clinical faculty members were white. The committee
will present a draft of our report and would like to solicit feedback on the
framing and utility of our research for future advocacy.