Category: Format – Article
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Bill Ong Hing, “Raising Personal Identification Issues of Class, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Physical Disability, and Age in Lawyering Courses”
This paper describes how personal identification issues are raised in three different lawyering classes, one of which is an immigration clinic, and how issues of identity difference can be raised more effectively. In this immigration clinic course, students meet weekly in a group and with supervising attorneys to discuss their work. The group meeting consists…
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Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, “Making and Breaking Habits: Teaching (and Learning) Cultural Context, Self-Awareness, and Intercultural Communication through Case Supervision in a Client-Service Legal Clinic”
This article discusses the teaching and learning of cultural knowledge, awareness, and skills in clinical programs through a variety of methods, including research, reading, roleplay, case rounds, observation, and group discussion. The article offers teaching objectives that can be used to focus supervision and education on effective representation of clients from a variety of cultures.…
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Anne D Gordon, “Cleaning up Our Own Houses: Creating Anti-Racist Clinical Programs”
This article seeks to guide legal clinics to self-evaluate regarding how clinics perpetuate racism unconsciously. This article offers concrete suggestions for implementing change. Law schools are homes to white supremacist culture. Beliefs, values, norms, and standards support the widespread ideology that whiteness holds value. Characteristics of this culture include: perfectionism, either/or thinking, quantity over quality,…
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Robert L Jones Jr, Gerard F Glynn & John J Francis, “When Things Go Wrong in the Clinic: How to Prevent and Respond to Serious Student Misconduct”
This article provides clinical professors with information and an analytical framework to deal thoughtfully with situations of student misconduct in clinical settings. A survey of clinical professors found that most incidents of student misconduct fell into one of three categories: egregious neglect of case responsibilities, dishonest or deliberate misuse of a student practice license (including…
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Nancy M Maurer & Robert F Seibel, “Addressing Problems of Power and Supervision in Field Placements”
This article examines the power dynamics that exist in the supervision of law students in legal clinics. The authors explore the potential consequences of failing to address the issues arising from those dynamics, including ethical ramifications, termination of the program, or possible worksite sexual harassment. This paper suggests that supervision is the primary vehicle for…
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Margaret Moore Jackson & Daniel M Schaffzin, “Preaching to the Trier: Why Judicial Understanding of Law School Clinics is Essential to Continued Progress in Legal Education”
This article examines the judicial misconceptions held with respect to student legal clinics and student attorneys. It explores how clinicians should inform judicial decision-makers about clinical legal education methods and objectives. Law clinics should be proactive in educating the judiciary about the historical evolution, goals, and distinctive attributes of clinical pedagogy. A failure to do…
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Margaret Castles, “Marriage of Convenience or a Match Made in Heaven? A Collaboration between a Law School Clinic and a Commercial Law Firm”
This article explores the “reverse externship[s]” where private solicitors attend clinics to assist with the supervision of students within the Australian law school context. Standard legal clinics require supervision, which often manifests in a ratio of 8:1, making supervision more costly than lecturers. The costs associated with legal clinics is a major issue within legal…
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YA Vawda, “Learning from experience: the art and science of clinical law”
This article examines the legal clinic system in South Africa. This article sets out a model for clinical supervision which attempts to combine close supervision with a highly interactive and participatory approach. This model requires that students are present at the clinic for an entire day during intake of clients. A typical intake day would…