Abstract
Arguing against the trend toward specialization in clinical legal education, this essay addresses potential limitations of specialized legal clinics in furthering the dual mission of clinical legal education: social justice and skills training. It points out that specialized clinics limit access to justice by leaving the myriad needs of clients partially unmet. They limit students' learning about the complex needs of clients and students' ability to discover broad inequities in the legal system. Specialization makes it more difficult to train students to be creative problem solvers, and affects their professional socialization. The essay concludes that the dual aspects of the clinical mission - social justice and skills training - are best served by a clinical experience designed to serve the needs of a community or specific client base. It describes the University of New Mexico Law School clinics and argues that clinics should discover the needs of the clients, and then strive to serve those needs, using community education and other non-traditional ways of problem solving and serving the community, if appropriate. A clinic should not limit the subject matter of representation without considering the impact of that decision on a clinic's mission.
Publication Title
Clinical Law Review
Volume
7
Issue
2
First Page
307
Recommended Citation
Antoinette S. Lopez,
Learning Through Service in a Clinical Setting: The Effect of Specialization on Social Justice and Skills Training,
7
Clinical L. Rev
307
(2001).
Available at:
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/clr/vol7/iss2/3