•  
  •  
 

Abstract

Elsewhere in this issue of the Clinical Law Review, Stacy Caplow tells a "there and back again" story of her year-long foray into legal practice and her reflections upon it when she returned to the academy. I too have a "there and back again" story to tell, but mine is a tale of a return to the world of poverty law practice in New York City after a not-at-all-brief sojourn behind the ivy-coated walls of the academy. From 1971 to 1987, I was a staff attorney and managing attorney of Mobilization for Youth (MFY) Legal Services on the lower east side of Manhattan. Thereafter, until late 1994, I was director of clinical programs at Harvard Law School. In November 1994, I returned to New York City to head The Legal Aid Society, the nation's oldest and largest private poor people's law firm. Like Stacy, my travels across the divide - what might be viewed as an individual version of "bridging the gap" - have caused me to reflect on what the worlds of clinical teaching and legal practice have to offer each other. When I accepted the position with The Legal Aid Society, I did so with the firm belief that the knowledge and insights I acquired as a clinical teacher would make me a better lawyer and manager of a law office. In many respects, that has turned out to be even more true than I could have imagined. In the past year, I have been reminded on numerous occasions how much I learned, and how much I grew, as a result of working with phenomenally talented and dedicated people like Gary Bellow, Abbe Smith, and Charles Ogletree (to mention just a few of the many colleagues and co-workers who enriched my professional life during those years).

Publication Title

Clinical Law Review

Volume

3

Issue

1

First Page

249

Download

Share

COinS