Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

9-10-2013

SSRN Discipline

Economics Research Network; Legal Scholarship Network; PRN Subject Matter eJournals; Philosophy Research Network; Law School Research Papers - Legal Studies; Law & Society eJournals; LSN Subject Matter eJournals; Cognitive Science Network; Financial Economics Network; Humanities Network

Abstract

The explosive growth in the number of law school clinics over the last 50 years began with an individual client focus as a core component This contributed to reducing unmet legal needs in substantive areas such as landlordtenant family consumer and other areas These service clinics accomplished the dual purpose of training students in the daytoday challenges of practice while reducing the number of unrepresented poor In recent years however the trend has been to broaden the law school clinical experience beyond individual representation and preparation for law firm practice Socalled impact clinics typically address systemic change without significant individual client representation In this chapter from the forthcoming volume Beyond Elite Law Access To Civil Justice For Americans Of Average Means Samuel Estreicher Joy Radice eds Cambridge University Press forthcoming 2014 the authors argue that the shift from service clinics to impact clinics is partly driven by clinicians' search for status within the academy Specifically status plays an important role in a clinic design that permits clinicians to more easily engage in theoretical and doctrinal scholarship on subject matters that are more respected within the academy The authors predict that this trend toward development of impact clinics will continue particularly at higher ranked law schools with the unfortunate side effect of reducing clinics' contribution to addressing access to justice issues

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