Public Interest Law & Policy

1. Public Interest Law & Policy Recap and Review Ronald W. Staudt April 30, 2013

2. Public Interest Law & Policy • What is Public Interest Law? • New Lawyers- - Student Note - -1970 • Process v. preferred interests • Rabin’s article– 1976 • Change through litigation—not OEO or PD-underrepresented but selective about interests… • Southworth’s study of the right—2005 • Right to work, right to life, Midamerica…

3. Courts and social change • “American courts are not all-powerful institutions. They were designed with severe limitations and placed in a political system of divided powers. To ask them to produce significant social reform is to forget their history and ignore their constraints. It is to cloud our vision with a naive and romantic belief in the triumph of right over politics. And while romance and even naivete have their charms, they are not best exhibited in courtrooms.”Gerald N. Rosenberg, The Hollow Hope, Can Court Bring About Social Change? 2d Edition. U of C Press, 2008

4. Career satisfaction • “…alienation and anxiety about the nature of lawyering work do not affect all lawyers equally. For those whose idea and practice of lawyering involves service to a cause, many of the symptoms of alienation and anxiety are absent.”Scheingold and Sarat, Something to Believe In, Stanford U. Press, 2004.

5. Waiting for Gautreaux---Alexander Polikoff • “What would I say to the law students today…”

6. Your questions about public interest law and lawyering-- • Substantive law and public interest: What do you think of the Hope VI program and the current direction of public housing in Chicago, and nationally? • Client Autonomy and Cause Lawyering Can you talk about your current thoughts about the fact that Dorothy Gautreaux and the other class representatives and Chicago’s  black community groups did not get involved in the decisions you describe in the case, like the Model Cities issue or the decision to appeal or not to appeal major rulings?

7. Your questions about public interest law and lawyering-- • Litigation as a tool for social change- Can it work? Can judges administer major transformations without administrative resources? • Problems facing us today: how would you try to address the problem of gun violence in the city. In light of the Sandy Hook School shooting and other mass shootings that have occurred recently in the United States, do you think that an increase in mental health care benefits might alleviate some of the crime/violence in the United States or even further rehabilitate Chicago's ghettos?

8. Perspectives on careers and tactics • Gendered Lives of Legal Aid: Law, Social Work and the PoorProfessor Felice Batlan • Create Your Own Public Interest CareerChris Williams and Sarah Kaplan • Fee Shifting Josh Karsh • Qualified Immunity, Longterm Strategies, and Partial Victories Professor Carolyn Shapiro and Diane Redleaf • Public Interest and Government LawyeringBenjamin C. Weinberg • Public Interest and Collaboration: Medical/Legal Partnerships in IllinoisProfessor Alexander Boni-Saenz

9. Perspectives on Public Interest law and tactics • Arthur LaFrance • Public interest law and lawyering • Patrick Murphy • Social Change and litigation • Josh Karsh • Tactics in discrimination class actions • John Bowman • Lobbying and legislative advocacy • William Birdthistle • Legal theory and social change

10. Your Case Studies Goldberg v. Kelly due process, welfare benefit termination Boddie v. Connecticut due process, access to justice, filing fee waiver Lewis v. City of Chicago racial discrimination in hiring, firefighters Hobby Lobby Stores v. Sebelius 1st Amendment -Free exercise, ACA, access to contraception Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission 1st Amendment and campaign finance Legal Services Corporation v. Velazquez 1st Amendment and federal legal aid funding restrictions

11. Final task- the exam • Enrich the website with a web of annotated links.