Electives: Social Justice
E. Social Justice
Introduction
The Social Justice Institute (SJI) has designed three curricular plans for students preparing for careers in public interest law and social justice advocacy. These practice areas are designed to prepare students in fields of greatest relevance to the under-represented and most vulnerable in our communities in the following areas:
Criminal Justice
Family and Children
Elders and Persons with Disabilities
When focusing on practice area options and selecting courses, students must keep in mind that public interest organizations want to know that job candidates have a solid foundation in substantive law in their area of practice, but do not expect students to have focused solely on that area of practice. While substantive law courses are of some importance to public interest employers, participation in related clinics and externships are of much greater significance.
The 1L curriculum allows only one elective course. Students preparing for careers in public interest law and social justice advocacy should elect Fundamentals of Law Practice as their Perspective Course during their first year spring semester. Fundamentals of Law Practice is the gateway course to all of the SJI curricular tracks, providing students with simulated practical experiences including client and witness interviews, hearings, and motion practice in civil and criminal cases. Unlike some of Pierce Law’s fundamental and introductory courses, Fundamentals of Law Practice is only offered to first year students.
While preparing for public interest careers, students should avoid becoming “one trick ponies” in law school. It is advisable for all law students – even those keenly focused on careers in a particular area of concentration – to enroll in some courses outside of their focus area. For instance, if a student knows nothing about Intellectual Property Law, or business, they should take a course in this area, which is of importance to virtually everyone.
The SJI practice areas are intended as guides for course selection – they are not rigid templates. It is not necessary for a student to choose a single area, although this may be helpful to those with a strong interest in a specific discipline. For students with a range of practice area interests within the SJI fields, Fundamentals of Law Practice is a good starting point. In addition to exposing students to situations requiring application of civil and criminal law, the course also provides students with a working knowledge of the nuts and bolts of a general law practice. This experience is quite valuable for summer employment after the first year in law school with non-profits and government agencies. These types of summer internships typically sharpen the focus on a particular area of substantive law, allowing students to make informed course selections during their second and third years of law school.
In addition to Fundamentals of Law Practice, two other courses are also essential for all SJI practice areas – Evidence and Trial Advocacy. Whether a student is preparing for a career in litigation or not, it is important to obtain at least foundational exposure to trial practice and the rules of evidence in order to fully and effectively represent the interests of clients. Vulnerable and disadvantaged people are often denied access to justice because they are unable to effectively tell their story to those in authority - landlords, creditors, marital masters, judges, etc. Often it is the competent voice of a lawyer that a vulnerable and disadvantaged client needs most. Of course, negotiation skills are important, but a lawyer with training in oral advocacy and trial practice is of much greater assistance to a client than one who avoids litigation due to discomfort or inexperience in that area. Clients need lawyers who are fully prepared to fight for them and their rights. In order to assist clients in any of the SJI areas of concentration, students should be prepared to go to court to advocate for the client’s interests.
Practice Area Descriptions
The practice possibilities within each SJI practice area are to some extent self explanatory. Criminal Justice is designed to prepare students for careers as criminal defense attorneys or as prosecutors. Criminal lawyers on both sides must understand criminal law and procedure and must be prepared to go to court to defend or prosecute people charged with committing crimes. Typically criminal lawyers start off handling the less serious misdemeanor criminal matters such as trespass, harassment, simple assault, etc. In a busy public defender or prosecution office an attorney will be expected to learn quickly and to be prepared to handle the more serious felony matters, often within the first year of practice. For this reason, it is critically important that students acquire a solid knowledge of substantive criminal law and process, including constitutional due process rights, as well as trial skills and negotiation training in clinics and externships while in law school. Beyond prosecution and defense, criminal law careers may also lead to practice in other related areas such as civil rights advocacy and prisoner rights advocacy.
Family and Children’s Law prepares students for careers in family law matters such as divorce, child custody, child support and domestic relations. Family law practitioners spend a good deal of time navigating emotional minefields involving child custody and division of assets. Because of the highly charged emotions surrounding these issues, clients are frequently unable or unwilling to consider resolution short of litigation. In order to effectively counsel clients in these cases, a skilled family law practitioner must have a solid working knowledge of trial skills but also of dispute resolution alternatives to trial. This is true for a number of reasons, not the least of which is to avoid dissipation of assets on unnecessary attorneys’ fees, as well as consideration of the emotional best interests of children. Course work in Taxation and in Wills, Trusts and Estates is also essential for a student preparing for a career as a family lawyer. Some family law practitioners provide related services by serving as attorney guardians ad litem (GALs) for children in custody disputes and for victims of child abuse or neglect. Other practitioners develop practices which provide services relating to adoption. In all of these areas mediation and negotiation skills are critically important. An understanding of education law and criminal law is often useful in these areas as well, as is at least a foundational understanding of bankruptcy law. Policy work is also an option for practitioners in this track area. Finally, for those who will do divorce cases involving distribution of small businesses or real estate, courses on the business aspects of such entities will prove very useful.
Elders and Persons with Disabilities is designed for students preparing for careers representing seniors and people with a range of disabilities including physical, mental and educational disabilities. These areas are often intertwined due to disabilities related to aging. This practice area track is of increasing relevance to all attorneys as our population approaches an unprecedented, and swiftly expanding, number of seniors. Elder Law and Disabilities Rights practitioners work in private practices and for non-profit and government agencies. Demand for practitioners in these areas is growing as the senior population grows. Practitioners in these areas represent people in matters regarding social security benefits claims, healthcare matters including Medicaid and Medicare issues, as well as in matters regarding estates, employment, access and discrimination. A solid foundation in substantive law and procedure is important to employers in this area, as are externships with organizations serving seniors or people with disabilities. Pierce Law’s Institute for Health, Law and Ethics offers student opportunities in this field. Essential courses include Wills, Trusts and Estates, Personal Tax, and Health Law Survey, among others. As with the other SJI track areas, practitioners can also develop satisfying careers in related policy work after working in the field and gaining necessary perspective and experience.
1. Criminal Justice
Designed for careers in criminal defense or prosecution.
Essential Courses
- Criminal Law: F, S
- Evidence: F, S
- Trial Advocacy: F, S
- Criminal Practice Clinic: F, S, Summer
- Expert Witnesses and Scientific Evidence: F
- Criminal Procedure II (offered odd years, e.g., 2007, 2009): S
- Advanced Trial Advocacy (by selection only): S
- Law and Mental Health (offered even years): F
- Cybercrime: S
- White Collar and Corporate Crime Seminar: (TBA)
- Immigration Law: F
- Appellate Defender Clinic: F, S, Summer
- Externship with trial judge and/or criminal defense lawyer or prosecutor: F, S
- Federal Courts: F
- Advanced Criminal Practice Clinic: F, S, Summer
- Innocence Project: F, S (currently being offered as Independent Study)
- Immigration Law F
- Street Law: S
- Family Law: S
- Pretrial Practice: F
- International Human Rights: S (offered even years)
- Advanced Topics in International Criminal Law: F
- Genetics and the Legal System: F
- First Amendment Law: S (tentative in ’09)
- Ethics, Morals and the Law: S
- Advanced Criminal Practice Clinic: F, S, Summer
- Advanced Trial Advocacy (by selection only): S
- Appellate Defender Clinic: F, S, Summer
- Externship with trial judge and/or criminal defense lawyer or prosecutor: F, S
- Innocence Project: F, S (currently being offered as Independent Study)
- Pretrial Practice: F
- Advanced Appellate Advocacy: F
- Advanced Topics in International Criminal Law: F
- Appellate Defender Clinic: F, S, Summer
- Ethics, Morals and the Law: S
- First Amendment Law: S (tentative in ’09)
- Genetics and the Legal System: S
- International Human Rights: S (offered even years)
- Judicial Opinion Drafting: S
- Pretrial Practice: F
Designed for students preparing for careers in family law in such matters as divorce, child custody, child support and domestic relations.
Essential Courses
- Family Law: S
- Personal Tax: F
- Children and the Law: F
- Wills, Trusts and Estates: F, S
- Evidence: F, S
- Trial Advocacy: F, S
- Negotiations Workshop: S
- Family Law Externship: F, S
- Administrative Law Advocacy Clinic: F, S, Summer
- Law Office Management: S
- Debtor / Creditor: F or Bankruptcy: S
- Estate Planning: S
- Dispute Resolution: F
- Essential Business Concepts: S
Related
- Special Education Law: S
- Education Law: F
- Law and Mental Health: F (offered even years)
- Street Law: S
- Immigration Law F
- Health Law Survey: F
- Ethics, Morals and the Law: F
- Pretrial Practice: F
- Genetics and the Legal System: S
- Administrative Law and Advocacy: F, S, Summer
- Appellate Defender Clinic: F, S, Summer
- Consumer and Commercial Law Clinic: F, S, Summer
- Criminal Practice Clinic: F, S, Summer
- Pretrial Practice: F
Related Upper-Level Writing Courses
- Advanced Appellate Advocacy: F
- Annual Survey of NH Law: S
- Appellate Defender Clinic: F, S, Summer
- Ethics, Morals and the Law: F
- Genetics and the Legal System: S
- Pretrial Practice: F
3. Elders and Persons with Disabilities
Designed for students preparing for careers representing people facing issues arising from aging or disability including social security and estate issues, employment, healthcare and discrimination.
Essential Courses
- Health Law Survey: F
- Special Education Law: S
- Administrative Law and Advocacy Clinic: F, S, Summer
- Wills, Trusts and Estates: F, S
- Personal Tax: F
- Trial Advocacy: F, S
- Evidence: F, S
- Disabilities Rights and/or Elder Law Externship: F, S
- Law and Mental Health: F (offered even years)
- Employment Law: S
- Nonprofit Corporations S
- Consumer and Commercial Law Clinic: F, S, Summer
- Dispute Resolution: F
- Negotiations Workshop: S
- Family Law: S
- Education Law: F
- Street Law: S
- Criminal Law Clinic: F, S, Summer
- Advanced Appellate Advocacy: F
- Annual Survey of NH Law: S
- Ethics, Morals and the Law: F
- Genetics and the Legal System: S
- Law Office Management: S
- Federal Courts: F
- Remedies: S
- Lobbying and the Legislative Process: S
- Administrative Law and Advocacy Clinic: F, S, Summer
- Advanced Appellate Advocacy: F
- Consumer and Commercial Law Clinic: F, S, Summer
- Disabilities Rights and/or Elder Law Externship: F, S
- Advanced Appellate Advocacy: F
- Annual Survey of NH Law: S
- Ethics, Morals and the Law: F
