S-Term: Public Interest Lawyering

Catalog description

This course is about public interest lawyers' professional relationship to the larger community in which they work and live. This class explores the complexities of what it means to be a public interest lawyer and the difficulties in seeking to serve a community through lawyering. We will discuss traditional and nontraditional lawyering tools for serving communities and their needs. Class meetings will be dedicated largely to scholarship on the lawyer's tools and the role of the lawyer in a community. We will explore tools including impact litigation, legal aid, pro bono representation, lobbying, and organizing, interrogating the concept of community and what it means to serve one. The course will also draw upon the experience of public interest lawyers in the Bay Area and nationwide, who will visit the course either in person or virtually to discuss their work. Students are expected to write short reflections throughout the two-week course and to engage in thoughtful discussion with both their classmates and the course guests. Elements used in grading: Attendance, reading, class participation, written assignments. Interested SLS students should complete and submit an S-Term Course Selection Form 2024 available at https://law.stanford.edu/education/s-term/ by April 30, 2024. Forms received after the deadline will be processed on a rolling basis until the class is full. S-Term early start for Autumn Quarter.