Abstract
Lawyers working in low income and poorly resourced communities as well as teachers and law students working in clinical programs engage, from time to time, in a style of practice known as community lawyering. The practice is premised upon the belief that one way to remedy certain types of problems in poor communities is for the community to be an integral part of the development and implementation of the solutions to those problems. This style of lawyering envisions lawyers becoming a part of the community in which they work, bringing to the community the knowledge and expertise that they have gained from their education. Community lawyers recognize the need to learn about the neighborhoods in which they work from their neighbors. They collaborate with the community and together work toward solutions to the communities' problems. The work of the community lawyer departs from that of the traditional lawyer because of its emphasis on the community, the locale of the problem. When working with a client or client group, a community lawyer is always sensitive to the way in which the problem at hand affects the community at large. To do this effectively, the lawyer must be aware of the context in which the problem arises. The community lawyer does not solve her client's problem in a vacuum. She recognizes that the individual client (or client group) is a member of the community. When solving clients' problems the lawyer and the client examine the effect of the solutions on the community itself.
Publication Title
Clinical Law Review
Volume
7
Issue
1
First Page
147
Recommended Citation
Shauna I. Marshall,
Mission Impossible?: Ethical Community Lawyering,
7
Clinical L. Rev
147
(2000).
Available at:
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/clr/vol7/iss1/6