Education Law Practicum

This course has two components—a seminar component and casework. The Education Law Practicum offers students the opportunity to engage in experiential learning while  providing legal services to individual organizations that provide educational programming. Students will learn fundamental practical skills necessary to represent clients in the educational and non-profit sector.

The first part of the course will be an intensive workshop series or boot-camp forum. Students will analyze the legal framework of educational entities (charter, public, private, foundation) and the intersection of law within the operational school environment. Students will work together on a single issue with an eye towards unpacking a typical school policy (e.g., student discipline policy) and reconstructing it based on the viewpoints of the various constituents in a school setting and through the lens of equity and inclusion.

During the second part of the course, students will participate on small teams to support individual clients on specific issues. Education non-profit clients may include after-school programs, charter authorizers, community charter schools, and private school clients. Students will advise education programs, interfacing with not only the school clients but the constituents they serve. Students will write memoranda of law and draft school policy documents that draw upon the law, in addition to current brain-based research and behavioral sciences.

Throughout the semester, we will address topics such as ethics, client management, and substantive education law including free speech, privacy, discipline, board governance and disability rights. We will have ongoing seminar discussions, exploring the role of educators and education in society and how the traditional framework of schools impedes or advances the interest of  its constituent groups. Students will develop a range of valuable lawyering skills including but not limited to 1) practice-oriented research, 2) client and client-constituent communication, 3) writing and drafting memoranda and policy, and 4) legal team work.

Seminar discussion and case work will be enriched by at least one field trip to a school setting and thought-partnering with a number of guest speakers from the educational sector.

The Education Law Practicum is a setting in which students:

• Develop a relationship with client schools.
• Explore the relationship of being “of counsel” in the non-profit sector.
• Provide legal representation to schools, while contemplating the various constituents groups that make up a school community.
• Rethink traditional educational approaches and policies.
• Develop key lawyering skills, including interviewing, counseling, fact investigation, drafting, and turn-keying information to constituent groups.
• Engage in reflective lawyering, showing the ability to evaluate past performances and continually improve future performances through planning.
• Establish personal learning goals in light of relevant professional standards, reflect on personal progress, and identify lessons for future work.
• Effectively thought-partner with other clinic students, clinic supervisors, and client constituent groups.
• Contemplate the role of the lawyer as change-maker, applying a human-centered social design approach to issues, with legal implications, in the school setting.
• Students will work with independent charter schools, independent schools and school-based organizations. Students will meet with these groups and develop a plan of action to provide legal support, specific to the school’s needs. This will involve legal and fact-based research, writing, interviews, meeting with potential clients and community members, and other work. The course may require travel to meet with clients and communities.
• Students will present final work product to a school board or constituent group of the school community.
• In parallel with their casework, students will participate in seminars focused on various topics in education. The seminar will include readings and other materials. There will also be guest speakers.