Ex. Law, Power and Social Change

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 roles lawyers can play in supporting community-conceived policy initiatives at the city and state level - from analyzing constraints on local authority to drafting policy proposals to engaging in the political fight to win passage. Substantive issues covered in the seminar, and the fieldwork assignments, will include workers' rights, immigrants' rights and immigration reform, civil rights and racial justice issues, health care access, and more.

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 effective policy advocacy and (b) 10 hours per week of fieldwork in ongoing policy initiatives with 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.

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. Students will begin working on securing a placement as soon as they enroll in the class. To begin this process, please submit a short cover letter describing your interest and any relevant background in the course and a resume to: Shena Elrington, ([email protected]).

Co-registration with Law, Power & Social Change – Fieldwork (L6601-002) is required.