Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law

Legal Education

Community lawyering

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Alinsky's Prescription: Democracy Alongside Law, Barbara L. Bezdek Jan 2009

Alinsky's Prescription: Democracy Alongside Law, Barbara L. Bezdek

Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the import of the life’s work of Saul Alinsky—arguably the most prominent founder of contemporary organizing—to the content and methodologies of today’s legal education. I review the community organizing theory and practice of Saul Alinsky for its synergies and lessons on two approaches by legal theorists and educators working in law schools today — “community lawyering” and “social justice”education. These approaches embrace the special responsibility of the legal profession for the quality of justice in society[1] by extending the traditional conceptions of lawyers’ relationships with clients in ways that are informed by the insights of community organizers, …


Conversations On "Community Lawyering:" The Newest (Oldest) Wave In Clinical Legal Education, Karen Tokarz, Nancy L. Cook, Susan Brooks, Brenda Bratton Blom Jan 2008

Conversations On "Community Lawyering:" The Newest (Oldest) Wave In Clinical Legal Education, Karen Tokarz, Nancy L. Cook, Susan Brooks, Brenda Bratton Blom

Faculty Scholarship

This Article explores the pedagogical and professional challenges and rewards of community lawyering and clinical legal education. The authors are clinical law faculty who self-identify as community lawyers and teachers of community lawyering clinics. They have gathered in recent years with a larger group of similarly engaged colleagues to discuss what is meant by community lawyering, how it is taught, and how it is practiced. This Article seeks to capture some of those conversations, crystallize some of the ideas that have arisen out of the discussions, and examine the implications of these ruminations for future directions in clinical legal education.