Public Interest Commons^™

Teaching Client Counseling In The Shadow Of Homelessness, Gregory Zlotnick

Faculty Articles

Working with clients at risk of or experiencing, homelessness teaches personal and professional humility like few other experiences in law school or the practice of law. Yet such sensitive work also provides an opportunity for law students to develop both a keener understanding of their own professional identity-with its capacities and limitations and critical counseling skills. This essay draws upon experiences gained in three distinct law school projects that work with clients at risk of or experiencing, homelessness.

After providing a brief overview of each project, the essay will explore methods used for training and supervising students during their counseling …

Robbing Peter To Pay Paul: In The Absence Of School Finance Equity, Texas School Districts Forced To Choose Between Funding Academics Or Safety Reform, Emily Mann

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

This comment addresses the intersection between two discussions frequenting the Texas legislative floor – school safety and school finance. Following the deadliest school shooting in Texas history, Texas public schools are under political pressure to “harden” campuses rapidly and at great expense. Unsurprising, however, the high costs accompanying safety investment, coupled with the lack of financial backing from the state, puts districts in a challenging position. Any discussion of investment in Texas public schools also triggers questions of equity.

Debate over lack of equity across Texas public schools is no stranger to the Texas Supreme Court. Nonetheless, inequity persists in …

One Day, All Americans..: Considering A Tfa-Style Lawyer Corps, Gregory Zlotnick

Faculty Articles

This Note argues for the creation of a public interest recruiting and placement organization like Teach for America, in the tradition of Edgar and Jean Cahn's call for federally funded neighborhood legal services and TFA founder Wendy Kopp's call for the creation of a national teacher corps. Part I argues that such a recruiting and placement organization should be implemented now, in light of the constitutional and legal limitations of federally funded legal services; an excess supply of lawyers coupled with a disparity in those receiving legal services; cutbacks in public interest positions such as legal aid and public defender …