This session will explore how to develop the professional identity of student attorneys working in collaboration with community organizing groups. With attention to how issues of power play out in these spaces, we will discuss how to incorporate into classroom discussions how students’ identities- racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious, age, and others– will affect their practice and client representation. The conversation will explore how traditional cross-cultural lawyering classes often center whiteness, how professional identity classes can decenter whiteness to better address the experiences of diverse groups of students, and ways to develop egoless lawyering skills to strengthen relationships with community organizing groups.
The presenters will initially pose questions surrounding the issues that arise in teaching professional identity and will share 1-2 classroom exercises they use to explore these subjects. The bulk of the session will be spent in the collective examination of teaching strategies to explore these issues related to professional identity with nuance, and in a way that centers the varied identities and experiences of students in the classroom.