Many Roads to Rome? A Dialogue on Promoting Social Justice Using Other Frameworks

Many clinical legal educators share a deep commitment to social justice and indeed, view ourselves as social justice advocates. And yet, for a variety of reasons we may teach in parts of the clinical or experiential curriculum where a social justice agenda is not an easy fit. For instance, a number of in-house clinicians and practitioners with a background in public interest work have moved into roles where the main focus is explicitly on teaching skills rather than on social justice or poverty law. Others with similar backgrounds are teaching in broad-based externship or other field placement programs where students are working in a variety of settings, including law firms and in-house counsel positions at private and for-profit institutions. The main goal of this interactive workshop will be to explore whether and to what extent it may be possible to promote or foster a social justice ethic when teaching in these types of contexts. Specifically, we will address the following questions: Is it possible for clinicians who are teaching in settings not explicitly focused on social justice to foster an ethic of social justice using other approaches, such as, for instance, a focus on leadership or emotional intelligence? What aspects of a curriculum focused on leadership or emotional intelligence and other relational skills could be viewed as supporting an ethic of social justice? Do efforts to promote social justice using other frameworks risk undermining or watering down the longstanding commitments to promoting social justice in clinical legal education? If so, is it possible to address and resolve these concerns effectively? Our modest proposal is that teaching relational competencies, including leadership and emotional intelligence, is necessary-- though probably not sufficient by itself--to supporting our students’ formation of a professional identity that includes a commitment to social justice