Teaching Social Justice Lawyering: Systematically Including Community Legal Education in Clinical Legal Education

58 Pages Posted: 17 Sep 2011 Last revised: 21 May 2015

See all articles by Margaret Martin Barry

Margaret Martin Barry

Vermont Law School

A. Rachel Camp

Georgetown University Law Center

Margaret E. Johnson

University of Baltimore - School of Law

Catherine F. Klein

Catholic University of America (CUA) - Columbus School of Law

Lisa V. Martin

University of South Carolina School of Law

Date Written: September 8, 2011

Abstract

There is a body of literature on clinical legal theory that urges a focus in clinics beyond the single client to an explicit teaching of social justice lawyering. This Article adds to this emerging body of work by discussing the valuable role community legal education plays as a vehicle for teaching skills and values essential to single client representation and social justice lawyering. The Article examines the theoretical underpinnings of clinical legal education, community organizing and community education and how they influenced the authors’ design and implementation of community legal education within their clinics. It then discusses two projects designed to help victims of domestic violence. The first project has been ongoing for several years in a clinic with a long history of incorporating community education into its work. The second project was undertaken for the first time by a clinic teaching community legal education after a long hiatus. Through the discussion of these two projects, the Article evaluates and explains the pedagogical and logistical successes and challenges of incorporating community education into clinical programs and assesses the justice outcomes of their community work, both to the communities served and to their students.

Keywords: clinical education, community legal education, social justice, lawyering, domestic violence

Suggested Citation

Barry, Margaret Martin and Camp, Anna Rachel and Johnson, Margaret E. and Klein, Catherine F. and Martin, Lisa V., Teaching Social Justice Lawyering: Systematically Including Community Legal Education in Clinical Legal Education (September 8, 2011). 18 Clinical L. Rev. 401 (2012), NYLS Clinical Research Institute Paper No. 03/2012, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1924393

Margaret Martin Barry

Vermont Law School ( email )

68 North Windsor Street
P.O. Box 60
South Royalton, VT 05068
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.vermontlaw.edu/Our_Faculty/Faculty_Directory/Margaret_Martin_Barry.htm

Anna Rachel Camp

Georgetown University Law Center ( email )

600 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
United States

Margaret E. Johnson

University of Baltimore - School of Law ( email )

1420 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21218
United States

Catherine F. Klein

Catholic University of America (CUA) - Columbus School of Law ( email )

3600 John McCormack Rd., NE
Washington, DC 20064
United States

Lisa V. Martin (Contact Author)

University of South Carolina School of Law ( email )

1525 Senate Street
Columbia, SC 29208
United States

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