The students participating in the Sheller Center\u2019s \u201cpracticum discussion series\u201d this spring are all working in real-life legal settings \u2013a women\u2019s rights organization, a district attorney\u2019s office, an immigrant services organization, a growing business, and others.\u00a0 What happens when students have a chance to talk, across subject-matter lines, around some of the questions that confront new lawyers — especially those committed to social justice?<\/p>\n
As it turns out, quite a lot. \u00a0Many\u00a0of our conversations are about day-to-day problems, such as how to relate to clients and to supervisors.\u00a0 Others involve larger themes, such as last week’s issue of how young lawyers can think about, and where necessary challenge, the “status quo\u2019s\u201d that they encounter in the world of legal practice.<\/p>\n
Some of those status-quo’s — aspects of legal practice, that is, that don’t necessarily make sense but are accepted because “this is how it’s done” — involve how lawyers work together (or don\u2019t). Others have to do with how clients are treated. \u00a0Still others involve laws and practices that result in systemic injustices.<\/p>\n
We encourage students to question these practices. \u00a0So when one student saw unrepresented clients struggling to make sense of nearly-incomprehensible Family Court procedures, he came up with an idea for a chart that would help simplify things. \u00a0Another student was struck that the younger lawyers at the government agency where he works don\u2019t last very long; perhaps, he reflected, some aspects of the work environment at the agency could be changed. \u00a0Another student wondered why, in immigration proceedings, single men seem to be at a disadvantage as compared to women and children \u2013 even though their legal claims are essentially identical.<\/p>\n
Too often, students and new graduates are viewed as \u201cbaby lawyers.\u201d\u00a0 We don\u2019t see it that way. \u00a0In our view, young lawyers have fresh insights and\u00a0perspectives that our sometimes conservative profession badly needs.\u00a0 \u00a0Hopefully, our discussions are leading students to see themselves\u00a0in that light too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"