Legal writing, clincal faculty collaborate
CAMDEN — Legal writing courses and clinical work are two fundamental parts of a law student’s education. But while most law schools separate the two, the Rutgers School of Law–Camden is taking a different approach.“Rutgers–Camden stands in a fairly unique position in that it’s had more integration between the clinicians and writing professors than what’s common at many other law schools,” says Ruth Anne Robbins, a clinical professor of law at Rutgers–Camden.
Robbins says Rutgers–Camden focuses on strategically exposing law students to the multiple roles that attorneys simultaneously play: scholars of law, client counselors, and advocates in court.
The model of integrated lawyering at Rutgers–Camden includes hybrid legal writing/clinic courses, upper level writing courses that focus on interdisciplinary theories of persuasive strategy, and a wide array of pro bono programs.
This interdependence and client-centered focus is reflected in the collaboration between the faculty members at the Rutgers School of Law–Camden, as many legal writing professors teach extensively in or work with the clinical and pro bono programs.
Furthermore, the clinicians at Rutgers–Camden draw upon the expertise of the writing faculty in teaching the writing aspects of their cases.
“This model of collaboration is somewhat unusual as clinic and legal writing are typically at opposite ends of the law school spectrum,” says Robbins, who teaches courses in both legal writing and New Jersey domestic violence.
At Rutgers–Camden, students see the collaboration on the first day they arrive at law school.
“At orientation, legal writing and clinic are introduced together,” says Robbins. “So, the first time first-year students meet one of the legal writing professors, she is standing next to a clinician.”
Victoria Chase, a clinical associate professor and the chair of clinical programs at the Rutgers School of Law–Camden, says, “Law students can have experiences with the combined programs through their entire law school careers.”
Rutgers–Camden is committed to developing legal writing opportunities to give students the chance to grow as legal writers while also exposing first-year students to a courtroom experience so they can observe how their writing and research will be applied in practice.
One example of how the collaboration pays off occurred during the spring 2011 semester when a group of first-year law students were invited to observe third-year students during a trial.
The first-year law students had written a memo about simple assault, then a brief about domestic violence using a brief previously written by clinic students as an example. Then, the first-year students attended a trial in which domestic violence clinic students represented a victim seeking a restraining order.
Between their first and third years at Rutgers–Camden, students also have the opportunity to continue these types of experiences by getting involved with related pro bono experiences and by taking doctrinal courses. Then, in their last year of law school, they become the clinic students who model for first year students.
“There is very little in our curriculum that does not connect doctrinal classes with client opportunities,” Chase says. “Rutgers–Camden has, over the past 10 years, developed a very strong program when it comes to looking at law school as a whole.”
Each year, clinics at the Rutgers School of Law–Camden handle hundreds of cases with student attorneys providing free legal services to the Camden community.
“The experiences are equally about some level of basic skills training and assisting the student in identifying the aspects of what it means to be a lawyer,” Chase says. “Over the years, our program has grown significantly to include four in-house clinics designed to meet community needs and four hybrid clinics, all of which have some connection to actual practice.”
The four clinical programs at Rutgers–Camden are the Child and Family Advocacy Clinic, the Children’s Justice Clinic, the Civil Practice Clinic, and the Domestic Violence Clinic.
Clinical and writing hybrid courses include Small Business Counseling, Human Rights Advocacy and Litigation, Advanced Legal Writing: Community Based Practice, and Public Interest Legal Research and Writing.
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Media Contact: Ed Moorhouse
(856) 225-6759
E-mail: ejmoor@camden.rutgers.edu