Clinical Law Prof Blog

Access to Justice for Veterans. A Conference at Pepperdine University, Nov. 3-4, 2016

Please join Pepperdine University School of Law for Access to Justice for Veterans: Coordinated Responses of a Grateful Nation on Nov. 3-4, 2016. The conference will address coordinated community responses for veterans’ legal needs and complex intersecting issues. Speakers and conferees will discuss public and private responses in policy and practice, culture and law. The School of Law invites lawyers, academics, and professionals to participate with speakers representing diverse disciplines and institutions. Our nation faces a critical moment of reckoning and response to a crisis in veterans’ housing, health, and well-being. Pepperdine hopes that this conference can advance our communities toward restoration and honor for these public servants.  

Prominent keynote speakers, multidisciplinary panels, guided networking sessions, and concurrent sessions will address these complex issues and generate ideas for creative collaboration to address veterans. Thursday evening will feature the documentary, Thank You for the Service, and a talk-back session with some of the film-makers. Enjoy breakfast and lunch with others committed to justice and resources for veterans. 

Follow this link for more information and registration details: http://bit.ly/vetconf 

CLEA Elections: Nominations Due Oct. 1

Via Prof. Anju Gupta:

Just a reminder that the CLEA Elections Committee—Anju Gupta (Rutgers School of Law), Steven Wright (University of Wisconsin School of Law), Erma Bonadero (University of Houston Law Center) and Tiffany Murphy (University of Arkansas School of Law)—is soliciting nominations of individuals to serve on the CLEA Board starting in January 2017. In addition, we are also seeking nominations for the Vice-President and Treasurer positions on the Executive Committee. Nominations are due October 1, 2016.

All positions require a three-year commitment. We have attached a memo prepared by last year's CLEA Elections Committee, which sets forth the activities and responsibilities of CLEA Board members in more detail.

Current CLEA members are invited to nominate themselves or other CLEA members as candidates for one of these positions. The committee also encourages “new clinicians” (defined as clinicians with fewer than 6 years of experience) to run for the CLEA Board. Our Bylaws create a separate election process for candidates identified as “new clinicians,” to ensure that the identified “new clinician” candidate who receives the greatest number of votes will be assured a place on the Board.

The Committee strongly encourages CLEA members to nominate individuals from groups that are currently underrepresented within the leadership of various clinical institutions, including CLEA, the AALS Section on Clinical Legal Education, and the Clinical Law Review.

The nomination process is simple. Nominate yourself or someone else by replying to this email (please do not reply-all). If you are nominating yourself, please include a paragraph or two about why you are running and a link to your faculty profile, which will be included with the elections materials to be sent later in the fall. If you are nominating another CLEA member, there is no need to include such a paragraph; the name of the individual and institution will suffice, and the Election Committee will contact the nominee for further information. If you have fewer than six years of clinical teaching experience and wish to be identified as a “new clinician” candidate, or if you want to nominate a candidate for the “new clinician” category, please indicate that as well. Although the process of nomination is easy, our Bylaws set a strict deadline for receiving nominations. All nominations must be received by October 1, 2016.

If you have questions about the CLEA Elections process, please reply to this email or contact the Chair of the Elections Committee, Anju Gupta, at [email protected].

 

Download Responsibilities of Members of the Board of Directors of CLEA

 

JOBS: UDC's General Practice Clinic and Externship Program

Via Prof. Kristina Campbell: 

Tenure-Track Clinical Professors 

THE UNIVERSITY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DAVID A. CLARKE SCHOOL OF LAW (UDC-DCSL) invites applications for: (1) a tenure-track law professor to work in the School of Law’s General Practice Clinic, and (2) a tenure-track law professor to work in the school of law’s clinical law program and direct the externship program.  Both positions begin July 16, 2017.  We will consider exceptionally talented applicants at the assistant or associate professor level. Candidates must demonstrate a record of strong academic performance and excellent potential for scholarly achievement. Relevant experience and a demonstrated potential for outstanding clinical teaching is expected.     

UDC-DCSL is one of only six American Bar Association accredited law schools at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and is the nation’s only urban, public land grant university.   UDC-DCSL has a three-part statutory mission:

• to recruit and enroll students from groups underrepresented at the bar,
• to provide a well-rounded theoretical and practical legal education that will enable students to be effective and ethical advocates, and
• to represent the legal needs of low-income residents through the School’s legal clinics.

The School of Law has been a leader in experiential and clinical education for more than 40 years beginning with its predecessor Antioch School of Law.  Every student completes two 350 hour clinical courses, as well as forty hours of community service.  UDC-DCSL offers nine legal clinics in the following areas: juvenile and special education; housing and consumer; general practice; community development; legislation; low-income taxpayer; government accountability; immigration and human rights and criminal defense. 

UDC-DCSL consistently earns high rankings for its diversity, clinical program, and public interest mission. U.S. News & World Report's “Best Law Schools 2016” ranked UDC-DCSL second in diversity in its rankings of 198 law schools fully accredited by the American Bar Association.  It also ranked UDC-DCSL seventh in the country for its clinical program in 2016. PreLaw Magazine has given an “A+” to the law school and ranks it the second most diverse law school in the nation for students and faculty.  The magazine also ranked UDC-DCSL #8 in its “Best Schools for Public Service” rankings. The 2016 edition of the Princeton Review’s “The Best 173 Law Schools” awarded UDC-DCSL top ten rankings in three categories: 2nd for “Most Chosen by Older Students”; 2nd for “Most Diverse Faculty”; and 2nd for “Best Environment for Minority Students.”  Through its robust clinic program, vast internship and externship options and the Summer Public Interest Fellowship program, UDC-DCSL has garnered the #7 spot for its government & public interest job placement rate nationally.

Although we will accept applications until the position is filled, we strongly encourage interested applicants to submit applications immediately. Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume. UDC-DCSL has a strong commitment to diversity among its faculty and encourages applications from minorities and women.

Contact:  Professor Andrew G. Ferguson, Co-Chair, Faculty Appointments Committee, University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law, 4200 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008.  (email: to Faculty Secretary, Ms. Loretta Young-Jones – [email protected]).

Reminder: September 26 Proposal Deadline: 2017 AALS Clinical Conference RFP and Save the Date!

2017 AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education

“Serving the Client in Tumultuous Times: Fostering Responsibility to Individuals, Communities, and Society in Clinical Legal Education”

Law Clinic Directors Workshop
“Leading in Tumultuous Times”

Friday, May 5 – Tuesday, May 9, 2017, Denver, CO

The 2017 AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education will be held Saturday, May 6, through Tuesday, May 9, 2017, at the Sheraton Denver Downtown. The bi-annual Law Clinic Directors Workshop will take place before the start of the main conference, with events and programming on Friday and Saturday, May 5 and 6.

We invite clinical educators to join us at the 40th Clinical Conference, and to consider submitting proposals for concurrent sessions, workshops, poster presentations, and working group facilitators.

Conference on Clinical Legal Education
Clinical legal education plays a critical role in defining and developing the skills, judgment, and values that future lawyers will need to fulfill their responsibilities to their clients and society. Clinicians prepare these future lawyers for practice in the face of declining law school admissions, pressures for more experiential courses, and increasing uncertainty in the job market. The communities we serve also face crises including hostile police-community relations, racial tension, bias against immigrants, loss of jobs and housing, and poverty—all while changes in national leadership, problems in national security, increasing inequality, and global instability compound these challenges.

In these tumultuous times, we must teach students transferable skills and abilities. They must be able to respond flexibly in their roles in a changing service profession that imposes multiple responsibilities, especially because most graduates will likely have several different jobs during their careers. These times pose extraordinary opportunities and challenges for lawyers as advocates for social justice and the common good.

Clinical legal education must both maintain and extend its focus on the fundamental facets of practicing law. At this 40th clinical conference, we will explore both new and trusted tools for teaching lawyering abilities and the responsibilities of lawyers to their clients, communities, and social justice.

The conference will offer a robust schedule of concurrent sessions to allow expansion of the conference theme and exploration of implications for differing experiential models. Participants will be able to focus on particular areas in working groups or pre-reserved workshops. A full slate of works-in-progress will provide room for scholarly analysis and feedback. Posters will be presented during an opening reception and will remain displayed throughout the conference. Participants will leave with new teaching tools, new ideas to improve their programs, and renewed commitment to meet the challenges of these tumultuous times as we move forward into the next 40 years of clinical legal education.

Request for Proposals

We are inviting proposals for concurrent sessions, workshops, poster presentations, and working group facilitators. Please click on this link for more information and an online submission form:

http://aals-nfe2015test.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT01ODU0ODY4JnA9MSZ1PTEwNzY2NjU4NTEmbGk9MzczODc5NjY/index.html

Law Clinic Directors Workshop
As law schools face increasing pressures to prepare students for post-graduate careers, law clinic directors are challenged to enhance their programming to include more practice areas and skills, often while assisting in the expansion of experiential learning programs throughout their curricula. The Law Clinic Directors Workshop will provide a supportive environment for clinic directors to engage in dialogue on challenges, plans, developments, and successes. Directors will share how they are addressing the pressures of new regulations, decreasing resources, and the many other complexities of these tumultuous times for legal educators and the communities served by clinics.

Planning Committee for AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education

Luz E. Herrera, Texas A&M University School of Law
Margaret M. Jackson, University of North Dakota School of Law
Lydia Johnson, Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law
Paul Radvany, Fordham University School of Law
Alexander Scherr, University of Georgia School of Law
Robin Walker Sterling, University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Carol Suzuki, University of New Mexico School of Law, Chair

Registration and hotel reservations will be available at a later date.





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Informz

RFP: Veterans Access to Justice Conference at Pepperdine, Nov. 3-4, 2016

Access to Justice for Veterans: Coordinated Responses of a Grateful Nation

Pepperdine University School of Law, Malibu, California

November 3 – 4, 2016

Request for Proposals

On November 3 and 4, 2016, the Pepperdine University School of Law will host a conference on access to justice for veterans.  The conference will address coordinated community responses for veterans’ legal needs and complex intersecting issues. Speakers and conferees will discuss public and private responses in policy and practice, culture and law.  The School of Law invites lawyers, academics, and professionals to participate with speakers representing diverse disciplines and institutions.  Our nation faces a critical moment of reckoning and response to a crisis in veterans’ housing, health, and well-being. Pepperdine hopes that this conference can advance our communities toward restoration and honor for these public servants.  

The organizing committee requests proposals for panel presentations to address and explore issues and questions at the intersections of access to justice, government benefits, private services, physical and mental health, housing, addiction, incarceration, and other complex issues affecting veterans. We seek diverse, collaborative, multidisciplinary, interprofessional panels and panelists.  

These panels will be 90 minute concurrent sessions. The organizing committee has confirmed several panels to date, and we invite proposals for up to four additional sessions.    Confirmed panels will address homelessness, domestic violence, and alternative sentencing programs. The organizing committee requests proposals to complement, contrast, and build on these ideas.

Please submit proposals by October 3, 2016, to Prof. Jeffrey R. Baker at [email protected].   Proposals should be 300-500 words and should include contact information for the primary convener and should include the names of anticipated panelists, their respective fields and institutions.  

Please follow this link for event and registration information:

https://veteranjusticeconference.eventbrite.com

Midwest Clinical Legal Education Conference: Oct. 6-8 2016 at University of Tulsa College of Law

Via Prof. Elizabeth McCormick:

 

Teaching for Our Times

October 6–8, 2016

The University of Tulsa College of Law

Tulsa, Oklahoma

 

The University of Tulsa College of Law invites you and your colleagues to the 31st Annual Midwest Regional Clinical Legal Education Conference. Come to Tulsa to share ideas for engaging and inspiring today’s law students and tomorrow’s lawyers in the midst of a transformational time in legal education.

The conference is an opportunity to offer vision and share ideas for cultivating successful students who are well prepared for a professional career that will sustain them financially and emotionally, serve their clients and communities, and contribute to the quality of justice for everyone.

Among the rich array of topics that will be presented:

The Relationship Between Experiential Coursework and Bar and Employment Outcomes

Empirical Advocacy: Why Clinical Faculty Can and Should Conduct Empirical Research

Incubators: The Next Wave in the Access to Justice Movement

Vicarious Trauma and Vicarious Resiliency: Tools for the Social Justice Struggle

Dinner keynote on Friday, October 7, by Hannibal B. Johnson, attorney and author of Black Wall Street: From Riot to Renaissance in Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District.

Register by September 6 to receive the best rate of $140; $155 per person after September 6 or $175 at the door.

See conference schedule & hotel info.

For more information, please contact Barbette Veit at 918-631- 5604 or [email protected].

An Alternate Reality

Recently, I stumbled across an essay written by Heather MacDonald, a regular contributor to City Magazine, and a scholar at the Manhattan Institute. In the article, she posited that maybe law school clinics were stuck in the 1960’s. According to MacDonald, law school clinics had “triggered family breakdown” and had “unleashed an epidemic of crime in inner city neighborhoods.” In addition, according to MacDonald, law school clinics had "burdened entrepreneurs with unnecessary regulations.”

I am not surprised by MacDonald’s charges. Her writings in this area are consistent over the years. Her work strikes one as “anti-poor people” and “anti-black.” Yet, that doesn’t necessarily answer the question that her essay presented. What is it that made law school clinics so unique in the 1960’s and what about that period (that clinics continue to channel in their work) makes them unique and important now. It is simple: law school clinics pursue a fair and just system in the U.S. by trying to make the system work for all, not just some.

I am a product of a clinical law school (UDC-David A Clarke) and so for me, I have experienced clinical legal work from a variety of vantage points (clinician, director, colleague). There are all kinds of clinics these days but the clinics I am referring to are the clinics that assist new immigrants with their legal challenges, clinics that provide free representation to indigent individuals accused of crimes, and clinics that prevent (or try to prevent evictions).

There are, of course, many other types of law school clinics that seek equal justice and a fair and just system for their clients, but one still has to also ask: what is MacDonald referring to with her allegations that law school clinics “triggered family breakdowns” and “unleashed an epidemic of crime in inner city neighborhoods.” There is no basis for such allegations. Just as progressive policies were blamed for other problems in the 1960’s, the real failure of the 60’s was the lack of will and resources directed to the problem just when some progress was being made.

For example, many Americans are not aware that the poverty rate plunged from 22 percent to 11 percent during the 1960’s and early 70’s when poverty was attacked aggressively. In addition, black Americans secured, for the first time, basic rights and the criminal justice system was reformed to extend basic rights to individuals accused of crimes during this time period as well because activists and lawyers had the will to succeed and the support of the masses.

Yet, by 1973, under more conservative policies that MacDonald champions, the pushback began in America against progressive ideals, and the pursuit of a fair and just system stalled and receded. A different ideology would take hold in America and soon those who were disenfranchised began to be blamed for the problems created mostly by ideals rooted in 'neoliberalism.' These 'neoliberal' policies and approaches to governing have resulted in a widening gap in inequality in America, the incarceration of millions of people (disproportionately black) for non-violent drug offenses, wage stagnation, the destruction of organized labor, and a deterioration of the quality of life in many communities. 

All of this has potentially created more work for public interest lawyers and many law school clinics, though the damage is so severe now, it is not likely to improve absent a people’s movement for change outside the courtrooms and tribunals of America. Fact is, even with all of the great work each day by law school clinics, the task ahead is daunting and intimidating. We do what we can in the moment but mostly we are just trying to stop the bleeding.