CLINIC REGISTRATION

CLINIC

REGISTRATION

2014-2015

2014

-2015

STREET LAW HIGH SCHOOLS CLINIC

STREET LAW HIGH SCHOOLS CLINIC

Credits:

6

Upper-Level Writing

Credit:

No

Duration:

Full Year

No. of Participants:

20

Perquisites:

None.

Eligibility:

Students with 20 credits completed by the time clinic classes begin.

Conflicts:

None.

Faculty:

Prof. Richard Roe and Teaching Fellow Efrain Marimon

Seminar Hours:

Thurs., 3:30-5:30 PM

Time Commitment:

An average of 12-15 per week.

Orientation:

A multi-day orientation will be held the week before classes begin in

_{the Fall}

Information Session(s):

March 21st from 11:30am to 12:30pm, McD 347

_{March 24th from 3:00pm to 4:00pm, McD 437}

STREET LAW HIGH SCHOOLS CLINIC

In the Street Law High Schools Clinic, established in 1972, law students teach one full-year or two semester-long elective course(s) in practical law to students in public senior high schools throughout the District of Columbia. In the 2015-2015 year, 15 classes are being taught in 12 District of Columbia public senior high schools. Law students who have completed their first year of law school in either the full-time or the part-time division are eligible for the clinic.

Note: Students who take Street Law and who apply for a live-client clinic in a subsequent year (or vice versa), will be given the same preference in selection as students who have never taken a clinic.

The Street Law high school course covers negotiations, criminal law and procedure, individual rights, torts, family law, consumer law and housing law. The highlight of the class is a city-wide mock trial tournament, in which teams of high school students coached by their law student instructors play the roles of lawyers and witnesses in mock trials conducted before D.C. Superior Court judges and other legal

will be held in the D.C. Superior Court, and the mock trial championship will be held on the GULC campus. We encourage clinic applicants to attend and to score a mock trial at the Superior Court, or to attend the championship round on the GULC campus. Please contact the clinic office (662-9615) to register to be a scorer or email Teaching Fellow Efrain Marimon at [email protected].

CLINIC GOALS

High school students typically take the year-long Street Law course as an elective. As a result of their participation in a Street Law course, high school students learn: (1) the basic structure of the legal system, including the relationship among legislatures, courts, and agencies, and how citizens relate to the lawmaking processes of each branch of government; (2) the fundamental constitutional rights, laws and processes involved in the criminal and juvenile justice systems, and pertaining to family, housing, and individual rights areas; and (3) the function and operation of trials and other legal proceedings.

In addition to learning about the practical law they encounter every day, students in Street Law courses acquire the skills citizens need to participate effectively within the legal system, including the ability to: (1) understand and use basic legal terminology; (2) read, comprehend, and complete legal forms such as contracts, leases, and small claims court complaint forms; (3) respond appropriately to police and law enforcement officers; (4) choose appropriate courses of action to avoid potential legal problems; and (5) seek appropriate remedies for legal problems, e.g., writing effective letters of complaint.

Besides learning what the law is, students also learn to examine underlying policies and values to assess what the law should be. The students are encouraged to draw on their own knowledge and experience to assess laws and their underlying policies, rationales and values. For instance, when students examine a specific problem, they are asked to think about it in their own terms and then from other points of view. They determine and apply the appropriate law, determine available legal remedies, and discuss the often-competing policy concerns, societal interests and underlying values on which these policies are based. As well as studying specific constitutional rights, students inquire as to whether such goals as fairness, due process, and justice are attained through such rights. Students also study how our legal system balances competing values that come into conflict. For instance, students examine how the First Amendment “freedom of speech” may be balanced against society’s interest in protecting itself from injurious, obscene or dangerous words.

The Street Law courses accomplish these objectives by using a variety of learner-centered methods, including role plays, simulations, large and small group discussions, lectures, case studies, news articles, video clips, guest participants, field trips, and simulations of legal proceedings. The centerpiece of the program is the annual mock trial, in which high school students play the roles of lawyers and witnesses in a hypothetical case brought before actual judges at the Superior Court. In addition to learning communication and preparation skills, trial procedures, and teamwork, students practice the spectrum of cognitive skills as they study a complicated fact pattern, apply the law to the facts, analyze and evaluate factual and legal issues, and synthesize these many components into a unified mock trial presentation.

As they study the law, students develop basic academic skills such as reading, writing, listening, oral expression, problem-solving, and analytical thinking. Moreover, the objectives of the Street Law courses correlate with and complement the D.C. Schools’ history and government curricula. The Street Law high school students also participate in a number of extra-curricular programs, including Workplace Street Law, conducted in collaboration with the D.C. Bar Labor and Employment Section.

Another feature of the course is the Mentor program, in which each Street Law class is paired with a law firm or legal organization. The Mentor firm is involved in Street Law during the mock trial

tournament preparations in cooperation with the law student instructor. Additionally, some mentor firms take the high school students on a law-related field trip, such as a visit to a Superior Court trial, a

Congressional hearing, or to the U.S. Supreme Court. Often, the firms invite the Street Law class to a visit to the firm itself, where the students learn about the operations of a law firm, observe potential careers from legal secretary to lawyer, and perhaps examine the development of a case in some detail.

INSTRUCTION

The Street Law High Schools Clinic requires law student instructors to attend a two-hour weekly seminar at GULC and to teach a 60 to 90 minute class several days each week in a D.C. public senior high school from September through April, excluding GULC holidays and exam periods. A basic textbook, Street Law: A Course in Practical Law, is available to law students, who are encouraged to supplement this text with materials and methods of their own creation and adapt materials from clinic resources and other sources. Students should expect to spend at least 1-2 hours in lesson planning for each class and

additional time grading and handling other administrative matters.

Law students engage in substantial research and preparation for teaching, including a written lesson plan for each class. Supervision of law student instructors includes faculty observations; review and critique of lesson plans; seminar activities; journals; demonstration teaching; and developing teaching materials. Prior to the start of teaching responsibilities in mid-September, law students attend seminars on teaching methodology, which require law students to return to GULC the week before scheduled classes begin and to attend an intensive five-day orientation program. The clinic faculty provides seminar instruction on substantive law and teaching methodology, as well as field supervision in the schools. The clinic faculty also has open office hours for consultation on lesson planning and other clinic matters.

SELECTION CRITERIA/APPLICATION PROCESS

Selection for the Street Law clinics is primarily by lottery, although the clinic director reserves the power to select a particularly qualified student. To apply, you must submit the general and supplemental clinic application online by 5:00 p.m. on April 1st. Applicants are required to attend an information session. If an applicant is unable to attend an information session, she/he may speak with two current clinic students in lieu of attending an information session. Information sessions will be held on March 21st from 11:30am to 12:30pm and March 24th from 3:00pm to 4:00pm. Acceptances and wait list spots will be posted online on April 23. Students must accept or reject the offer by phone or in person by 5:00 p.m. on April 28th.

STAFF

Professor Richard L. Roe: Professor directs the Law Center’s D.C. Street Law Project clinic and specializes in educating the public about the law. Prior to joining the Law Center faculty in 1983, he served as Program Director of the National Institute for Citizen Education in the Law and Executive Director of the Coalition for Law Related Education in Washington, D.C. He has also conducted numerous workshops throughout the country on teaching about the law to the public. He is the co-author of the high school textbook, Great Trials in American History. He has reviewed upcoming arguments in Preview of Supreme Court Cases, written several articles for Update on Law Related Education, edited the ABA publication Putting on Mock Trials and is the author of Valuing Student Speech in the California Law Review. Professor Roe was the founder and Director of the D.C. Family Literacy Project, which taught prisoners and homeless parents how to read with their children and other developmentally appropriate practices. He and a group law students created the Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School, acknowledged as one of the best charter schools in the nation, as one of the first GULC student initiated seminars. His present research focuses on learning theory and its implications for law and law teaching. Professor Roe also assists in the development of the street also program around the world. In 2013, he visited law school in Colombia, Chile, Czech Republic, Ireland, and Russia as well as hosted visitors from Jordan, The United Kingdom, and the Czech Republic, among others.

Efrain Marimon, Clinical Teaching Fellow: Efrain graduated from the Florida State University in 2005 with a B.A. in Communications and B.S. in Political Science. After graduation, he moved to Philadelphia where he served as a Teach for America corps member. Efrain earned a Master of Science in Education from the University of Pennsylvania and spent five years teaching middle school in Philadelphia. During this time, Efrain was awarded the “Top 100 Teachers” recognition by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and presented a formal commendation by the school district of Philadelphia’s superintendent for “Exemplary Community Leadership.” Additionally, Efrain spent his summers working as a Curriculum Specialist for Teach for America’s Philadelphia Institute.

Efrain attended Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center and graduated with honors. During law school, he served as an executive officer for the Democratic Law Student Council, worked as a Teaching Assistant for a Legal Writing Seminar, and was selected to compete in the 2012 Earl Zehmer Trial Competition. Efrain participated in the Street Law Program where he taught in a public high school and helped coordinate an annual mock trial. While attending law school, he clerked for the Miami-Dade School Board Attorney and the General Counsel for Florida’s Department of Education.

2013-2014 STREET LAW HIGH SCHOOLS CLINIC STUDENTS

Student Name Class Email

1 Aguilar-Rocha, Maria 2L [email protected] 2 Al-Henaid, Janan 2L [email protected]

3 Barton, Kenneth 2L [email protected]

4 Binetti, Ashley 2L [email protected]

5 Cook, Sean E. 2L [email protected]

6 Davis, Andrew 3L [email protected]

7 Gladych, John T. 2L [email protected] 8 Goldberg, Zachary 2L [email protected]

9 Greve, Mathew 2L [email protected]

10 Hon, Jimei 2L [email protected]

11 Jackson, Chayla 2L [email protected]

12 James, Sandy 3L [email protected]

13 Kritzberg, Suzanne 2L [email protected]

14 Lee, Yena 2L [email protected]

15 Pamarthi, Hima Bindhu 2L [email protected] 16 Peterson, Christopher 2L [email protected]

17 Rezai, Jayhoun 2L [email protected]

18 Sacks, Jordan 2L [email protected]

19 Singhal, Dhruv 2L [email protected]

20 Wiggins, Samantha 2L [email protected]

Street Law High School Supplemental Application 2014

For more information, visit: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/go/clinic-registration Question:

Please describe any experience you have had working or volunteering in any educational setting, or in other positions working with children or people in low-income communities. Please include the name of the organization, the dates, and a BRIEF description of your experience. You are also welcome to include a short statement of your interest in the clinic. Use the back of the form or separate sheet if necessary. Students without such experience or statement are not precluded from enrolling in the clinic. The majority of students accepted in the Clinic will be chosen by lottery.