Learning About the Forest by Examining the Trees: Discussing Systemic Concerns in the Context of Direct Client Representation

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Session Type: Concurrent Sessions

Session Capacity: N/A

Hotel: N/A

Room: Yosemite B

Floor: Ballroom Level

Most clinicians represent individual clients in individual matters. Through the representation of their clients, professors teach a wide array of essential legal skills, including interviewing and counseling, problem-solving, collaboration, negotiation, and advocacy. But frequently our clients, and sometimes the matters themselves, also sit at the center of important societal issues such as mass incarceration, poverty, and race. In this session, we will first explore whether to raise these issues in the clinic because the societal issues may appear to be only indirectly related to the individual client representation. We will then explore how to discuss these issues in this age of polarization. Empirical research suggests that most human beings (even law professors) suffer from a bias “blind spot,” causing them to think that “other people” are biased, while they are fair and objective. This “blind spot” can complicate the discussion of controversial issues. If the academy in general is considered to lean to the left and the legal academy leans even further to the left, the clinical academy may lean so far to the left as to be almost horizontal. But not all our students share that perspective. How do we discuss these important societal issues openly so that our students who do not share our beliefs feel free to express their beliefs? And if we are successful in getting everyone to express their beliefs, how do we prevent students who are feeling marginalized from feeling even more marginalized by the expression of those beliefs?