Section Information
Section Description Provided by Instructor
The City and State Policy Advocacy Externship will expose students to the varied and important roles that lawyers are playing in policy experimentation and innovation in states and cities across the country. Course content and fieldwork will focus on the role of a lawyer in supporting community-conceived policy initiatives at the city and state level - from analyzing constraints on local authority to drafting policy proposals to advising on the political fight to win passage.
The externship will comprise (a) a weekly, 2-hour seminar, focused on core legal issues and academic literature bearing on state and local policymaking, and (b) 10 hours per week of fieldwork in ongoing policy initiatives with the National Employment Law Project (NELP) and the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD).
Students will receive four credits total, two graded academic credits for the in-class seminar and two ungraded credits for the field work component. The seminar will be graded on weekly class participation, class presentations and simulations, periodic short reflection papers on readings and fieldwork, and a final term paper.
Admission by application and instructor permission. The course will be open to JD and LL.M. candidates and will be limited to 10 students to facilitate active engagement and discussion. There are no prerequisites.
Semester
Fall 2012
Section
002
Schedule
None
Location
None
Points
2.0
Method of Evaluation
Paper
J.D. Writing Credit
No
Course Limitations
Pre-requisite Courses
None
Co-requisite Courses
None
Recommended Courses
None
Other Limitations
To apply, please submit a short cover letter describing your interest and any relevant background in the course and a resume to: Nisha Agarwal (nagarwal@populardemocracy.org), Amy Carroll (acarroll[@populardemocracy.org) and Paul Sonn (psonn@nelp.org).
