SALT Teaching Conference: Teaching Social Justice, Expanding Access to Justice: The Role of Legal Education & the Legal Profession--October 5-6, 2012, Baltimore, MD

Teaching Social Justice, Expanding Access to Justice:  The Role of Legal Education & the Legal Profession, October 5-6, 2012, at University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law will examine innovative efforts to advance social justice within the law school curriculum and important efforts to extend access to justice to underserved individuals and communities. Download a PDF of the full Call for Panels & Papers. 

A current critique of legal education is that students are not graduating with practice-ready skills.  Some students gain hands-on experience in clinic courses that provide real-world training and connect students with the underserved outside community.  However, first year students usually lack clinical learning opportunities; the opportunity to work on real cases and for real clients is typically limited to relatively few second and third year students.  Although many students enroll in law school with a passion to serve others, the law school experience can depress, postpone, or re-route that passion.  Moreover, burdened by law school debt, some students may feel pushed to choose between a social justice career and making a living. 

Meanwhile, a persistent lack of meaningful access to justice plagues many segments of society. This deficit of non-representation for lower- and middle-income people unable to afford counsel is exacerbated by the current economic crisis.  Law schools and the legal profession must confront this need for greater access to legal services.  Many law schools are pursuing innovative ways to reinforce the ethical principle of the lawyer as a public citizen who has a special responsibility for the quality of justice in society.  The legal academy and profession can do more to instill a commitment to social justice and public service in marginalized, subordinated, or underrepresented clients and causes. 

This conference provides an opportunity to engage in broad, supportive discussions about the role of legal education and the legal profession in teaching social justice and expanding access to justice.  We are seeking ideas for a range of sessions including panels and workshops that fit within the conference themes. Download a PDF of the full Call for Panels & Papers.

We are currently exploring publication options for presentations at the October 2012 teaching conference.  The 2010 Vulnerable Populations conference, co-sponsored by SALT and Golden Gate University School of Law, resulted in the publication in March 2011 of VULNERABLE POPULATIONS AND TRANSFORMATIVE LAW TEACHING:  A Critical Reader (Carolina Academic Press). 

The December 2010 SALT teaching conference, hosted by the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai'i provided publication opportunities in two journals: Pacific McGeorge Global Business & Development Law Journal and Seattle Journal for Social Justice. 

To assist you in crafting your proposal, the programs for the December 2010 Hawaii and March 2010 Golden Gate conferences are here for your review.

December 2010 Program--Teaching in a Transformative Era

March 2010 Program--Vulnerable Populations, Economic Realities