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A Rationale and Roadmap for Paralegal Clinics: Advocating for Disabled Children and Youth

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Abstract

The terms lay advocate, lay practitioner, legal assistant, non-lawyer, non-lawyer advocate, paralegal, and paraprofessional are used interchangeably. In this chapter, Attorney and Disability Scholar Stephen Rosenbaum proposes a degree program for paralegals with a strong clinical component that would take advantage of the many attributes that lay advocates bring to the legal profession. The curriculum could concentrate on non-costly and non-adversarial dispute resolution, sensitivity to human and cultural aspects of client rapport, and collaboration between paralegals and other members of the legal profession. Rosenbaum uses the example of special education advocacy to show how trained paraprofessionals can be particularly effective in real-world scenarios. While his exemplar is a lay advocate working on behalf of disabled students in a school setting and their right to education, the value added by paralegals is not limited to that field of law. He also suggests that would-be lawyers and paralegal professionals might share curricular content and physical space under one co-educational roof.

This chapter, in some sections, draws from the author’s open access work, Rosenbaum (2008).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Panel Discussion (1987) (remarks of Professor Dean Hill Rivkin) [hereinafter Clinical Legal Education: Reflections].

  2. 2.

    The terms paralegal, lay advocate, non-lawyer, paraprofessional, lay practitioner, and legal assistant are used interchangeably, although there are some real and perceived distinctions. Note that the United States pre-eminent attorneys’ organization no longer uses the term legal assistant ‘in order to reflect terminology that more accurately represents the type of substantive work that paralegals perform’. American Bar Association (ABA), Current ABA Definition of Paralegal, https://www.americanbar.org/groups/paralegals/profession-information/current_aba_definition_of_legal_assistant_paralegal/. The National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA) has discontinued the use of non-lawyer in favor of legal paraprofessional: ‘In no other industry is the term “non-[professional]” used as a descriptor for other types of service providers. We don’t call nurses or physician assistants “non-doctors”’. See NFPA Position Statement on Non-Lawyer Professionals (2022).

  3. 3.

    I am obliged to make a disclaimer about use of the term ‘disabled clients’ in lieu of ‘clients with a disability’. For some members of the disability community, it is important always to use ‘people first’ language to emphasize their humanity, not their disability; others prefer to accentuate the disability as a matter of identity or pride. See Massey and Rosenbaum (2005) (explaining reclaimed epithets and ‘disability first’ language). In more recent years, ‘identity first’ language seems to be prevailing.

  4. 4.

    See generally, Bloch (2011) and Qafisheh and Rosenbaum (2016).

  5. 5.

    See The Myanmar CLE Programme Consortium (2016).

  6. 6.

    See Bloch and Noone (2011) (clinic could be located in community or within local legal aid organization) and Massey and Rosenbaum, supra note 3 at 299 (law faculties could form partnerships with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or consortium of law faculties for attorney-supervised ‘service-learning’ or externship placements).

  7. 7.

    Wilson (2009). In Professor Wilson’s view, the learning must also be done ‘for academic credit’. Id.

  8. 8.

    Applied Legal Education: A Short History and Definition, Center for the Study of Applied Legal Education, http://csale.org/appliedlegaleducation.html (Rabé and Rosenbaum 2010).

  9. 9.

    Ojienda and Oduor (2002). See also Rabé and Rosenbaum, supra note 8 at 297, n. 2 (‘legitimate pedagogical debate’ about best experiential model ‘sometimes manifested in a divisiveness and competitiveness’ between ‘live clinic’ and ‘skills’ clinicians and between those favoring in-house and externships).

  10. 10.

    Black and Wirtz (1997).

  11. 11.

    The report was issued by a task force on law schools and the profession, chaired by Attorney Robert MacCrate (American Bar Association 1992).

  12. 12.

    Black and Wirtz, supra note 10, at 1014. See, e.g., MacCrate Report, supra note 11, at 135–141, 233–268 (describing ‘educational continuum’ through which law school students acquire professional skills and values).

  13. 13.

    Id., at 199–203.

  14. 14.

    See Stuckey et al. (2007) and Maranville et al. (2015).

  15. 15.

    Sullivan et al. (2007).

  16. 16.

    Id., at 97.

  17. 17.

    Id., at 185–186. See also Natt Gantt et al. (2015).

  18. 18.

    See Ambrose et al. (2015). In Id., at 48–87.

  19. 19.

    See Elson (1997).

  20. 20.

    Bloch and Noone, supra note 4, at 157. See also Bloch and Menon (2011). In Id., at 270.

  21. 21.

    Sparer et al. (1966).

  22. 22.

    Id., at 494.

  23. 23.

    Id., at 513.

  24. 24.

    Bellow (1994).

  25. 25.

    See Stapleton (2007) and Geraghty et al. (2007). In Id., at 53, 66.

  26. 26.

    Under Guideline 14, Member States are urged to develop ‘a nationwide scheme of paralegal services with standardised training curricula and accreditation schemes …’ that specifies the types of legal services provided by paralegals and allows court-accredited and trained paralegals to participate in court proceedings and give advice to criminal defendants when no lawyers are available UN Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems (2012).

  27. 27.

    Rhode (2000).

  28. 28.

    Bellow, supra note 24, at 376.

  29. 29.

    Id.

  30. 30.

    Rhode, supra note 27, at 190. See also UN Principles and Guidelines, supra note 26, at Annex, Guideline 14, ¶68(d) (urging court accreditation and training of paralegals and to give advice where there is a dearth of criminal defense lawyers). In Kenya, the National Legal Aid Act (No. 6), 2016 allows accredited paralegals to offer advice and assistance (http://kenyalaw.org). In the United States, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System has been advocating for regulatory reform that expands the scope of what paralegals, paraprofessionals, and other legal service providers can do, and a large number of state and local jurisdictions are in varying stages of creating licensing schemes. See NFPA Position Statement on Non-Lawyer Professionals (2022), supra note 2. See also ABA (2022a).

  31. 31.

    Sparer et al., supra note 21, at 493. See also Mootz (2000).

  32. 32.

    McQuoid-Mason (2018).

  33. 33.

    Golub (2003). The utility and success of the community paralegal paradigm are memorialized in the Kampala Declaration on Community Paralegals (2012), https://namati.org/kampala-declaration/, adopted by a number of African nations, building on earlier regional and international accords.

  34. 34.

    See Riaz (2021).

  35. 35.

    For example, the Paralegal Advisory Service Institute in Malawi maintains a national paralegal aid delivery service throughout the criminal justice system (https://www.pasimalawi.org) and Kituo Cha Sheria/Legal Advice Centre in Kenya offers direct services by paralegal officers and volunteer advocates, as well as lawyers (https://kituochaseria.or.ke). Other examples include Indonesia’s Legal Aid Act of 2011 and Moldova’s Law No. 198-XVI Law on State Guaranteed Legal Aid (2007). Riaz, supra note 34, at 126, n. 218. A pioneering legal empowerment network, Namati, is composed of 3300 NGOs and civil society organizations, including community paralegals, and operates in more than 170 countries (https://www.namati.org).

  36. 36.

    Zorza and Udell (2014).

  37. 37.

    Id., at 1268–1269, 1276–1277, 1298–1299. Although nascent, the community paralegal model is gaining currency in the United States among access to justice sectors receptive to non-lawyer strategies. Riaz, supra note 34 at 125.

  38. 38.

    Sparer et al., supra note 21, at 494. Sparer and co-authors reminded us that the canons of legal ethics and statutory restrictions on lawyering were not established with an ‘overriding concern with equal justice …’. Several years ago, the largest attorneys association in the United States actually had before it a report recommending development of proposals to authorize persons without a law degree to ‘Provide Limited Legal Services Without [Lawyer] Oversight’ and for educational programs to train them. However, the organization’s governing body never adopted the report (American Bar Association 2014).

  39. 39.

    Rhode (1981). Attorney commentators Zorza and Udell provide an equally confounding definition: ‘Ask ten lawyers, bar associations, or judges what the practice of law is, and you are likely to get ten different answers. If you rephrase the question and ask what the practice of law by non-lawyers is, you will probably get one answer: they should not engage in the unauthorized practice of law’. Zorza and Udell, supra note 36, at 1287.

  40. 40.

    Judges tend to empathize with lawyers’ complaints about the damage done by the unauthorized practice of law than with consumer complaints about being denied the chance to use the legal system (Flynn 2005). See also McQuoid-Mason, supra note 32, at 494–495 (noting opposition to paralegal potential in developing countries, where bench and bar are invested in ‘big city’ lawyer availability and skepticism toward low-level courts and traditional informal means of dispute resolution).

  41. 41.

    See, e.g., Rosenbaum (Forthcoming, 2023) (noting adequate attorney supervision and court oversight, limited areas of practice, and no real evidence of paralegal or student legal clinic competition).

  42. 42.

    Rhode, supra note 27, at 137–139; see also Mootz, supra note 32, at 203–204 (suggesting other remedies to protect consumers against paralegal malpractice).

  43. 43.

    ABA (2022b) (e.g., Pima Community College, South Suburban College, and Pennsylvania Western University).

  44. 44.

    Id. (e.g., Madison College, Davenport University, and Pennsylvania Western University).

  45. 45.

    Zorza and Udell, supra note 36, at 1262 (statement by Judge Jonathan Lippman, New York Court of Appeals).

  46. 46.

    Id., at 1277.

  47. 47.

    See, Id., at 1289–1294.

  48. 48.

    See, Sparer et al., supra note 21, at 512.

  49. 49.

    Munneke (2001). Notwithstanding student reluctance or resistance, assigning group projects in legal courses can foster a generation of paraprofessionals who understand the mechanics and value of collaboration and teamwork.

  50. 50.

    See supra note 1.

  51. 51.

    See Brief for National Paralegal Institute as Amicus Curiae Supporting Respondents, Procunier v. Martinez, 414 U.S. 973 (1973).

  52. 52.

    Id., at *6–7. These pilot schools included Boston College Law School, Capital University, Columbia Law School, and Denver College of Law [sic]. Id.

  53. 53.

    See Brief for National Paralegal Institute, supra note 51, at *2–3 (arguing, for example that in performing these tasks, paralegals could help meet prisoners’ needs for more adequate legal services) and Msiska et al. (2007), supra note 25, at 157 et seq. (introduction of paralegals offering aid to detainees and prisoners, such as in understanding of the law and in facilitating communication, with state authorities in Benin, Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda).

  54. 54.

    That said, the disparity in earning potential between paralegals and attorneys conceivably might cause tension within the student body.

  55. 55.

    There will likely be ‘[r]esistance to change in a largely successful and comfortable academic enterprise …’. Sullivan, et al., supra note 15, at 202. Accord, Stuckey et al., supra note 14, at 283–285.

  56. 56.

    See, e.g., Monke (2005).

  57. 57.

    Sullivan et al., supra note 15, at 185–186. Professor Stuckey urged that professionalism be taught ‘pervasively and continuously’ throughout a student’s law school tenure, in both doctrinal and experiential courses and in the conduct of instructional staff and administrators. Stuckey et al., supra note 14, at 100–104, 129, 170. See also Natt Gantt et al., supra note 17, at 253–270 and 280–296.

  58. 58.

    Mandelbaum (2000).

  59. 59.

    Id., at 24; see also Sparer et al., supra note 21, at 498–499.

  60. 60.

    Mandelbaum, supra note 58, at 26.

  61. 61.

    See, e.g., Breger et al. (2000).

  62. 62.

    See Klempner (2006).

  63. 63.

    In a reiteration of this criticism, the Carnegie Foundation team wrote that law school reinforces ‘the habits of thinking like a student rather than an apprentice practitioner, thus conveying the impression that lawyers are more like competitive scholars than attorneys engaged with problems of clients’. Sullivan et al., supra note 15, at 188.

  64. 64.

    Professor Carrie Menkel-Meadow was among those who took the task force to task for its failure to address the human sensitivity factor in law school training. See Menkel-Meadow (1994). See also Weinstein (1999).

  65. 65.

    Bradway (1934). Professor Bradway explained that ‘viewing the law as one of the social sciences … introduces a distinctly new element—the human equation. Not only the legal problems of the client but all [their] problems—social, economic and otherwise—should pass in review’. Id.

  66. 66.

    Id., at 471.

  67. 67.

    Riaz, supra note 34, at 107. See also Global Rights (2011). Community-Based Paralegal Training Manual 12–13 (cited in Id., at 107, n. 109).

  68. 68.

    Weinstein and Morton (2007).

  69. 69.

    Id., at 842.

  70. 70.

    Id., at 840–843.

  71. 71.

    Among the classic literature on cultural competence, see Bryant (2001). See also, McCaffrey (2002) and Copps Hartley and Petrucci (2004) (asserting that educational models for developing cultural competence should be infused throughout law school curriculum, with attention to issues of power and oppression).

  72. 72.

    Riaz, supra note 34, at 89.

  73. 73.

    Stuckey et al., supra note 14, at 79 (discussing capacity to ‘relate appropriately’ to issues of culture and disability as well as ‘deal[ing] sensitively and effectively’ with those from a range of social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds).

  74. 74.

    See, e.g., Massey and Rosenbaum, supra note 3, at 285–294 (discussing student ‘dis-awareness’ in context of cultural competence). Dis-awareness, a term that I coined several years ago, might be viewed as a benign form of ableism, i.e., a mindset that ‘privileges able-bodiedness, promotes smooth forms of personhood and smooth health, creates space fit for normative citizens, encourages an institutional bias towards autonomous, independent bodies, and lends support to economic and material dependence on neoliberal and hyper-capitalist forms of production’ (Goodley 2014). Dis-awareness describes everything from bias or prejudice regarding disabled clients or colleagues, including those with ‘invisible’ disabilities, to ignorance, marginalization, or hyper-awareness.

  75. 75.

    A paralegal coordinator for a U.S. law firm recognized several years ago that, ‘[a]ttorneys don’t learn how to use paralegals in law school’ and are ill-equipped to know ‘how best to use them to their advantage’ (Tripoli 2007). See also, Mather (2007) (asking ‘[w]hat makes people think, that because they graduated from law school, they have a license to be abusive to secretaries, paralegals, mailroom personnel, information technology people …’?).

  76. 76.

    See Bryant (1993), Blaze (1997), and Munneke, supra note 49, at 146 (stating that human relations are a fundamental part of practice and lawyers must possess skills needed to work with others). Paralegals need these skills as well.

  77. 77.

    See, e.g., Weinstein and Morton (2016).

  78. 78.

    Blaze, supra note 76, at 954.

  79. 79.

    See, e.g., O’Grady (1998) (discussing demands on a new lawyer in working relationship with a senior partner).

  80. 80.

    See, e.g., Bryant, supra note 76, at 467–468 (examining hierarchy and bureaucracy in law firm culture).

  81. 81.

    O’Grady, supra note 79, at 512; see also Bryant, supra note 76, at 460.

  82. 82.

    O’Grady, supra note 79, at 521.

  83. 83.

    Id., at 522.

  84. 84.

    Blaze, supra note 76, at 956.

  85. 85.

    Dark (2004).

  86. 86.

    Id.; see also Black and Wirtz, supra note 10, at 1012–1015; Weinstein, supra note 64, at 324 (noting growing trend toward mediation, in practice as well as law school training). But see, Rhode, supra note 27, at 132–135 (advocating for broader range of procedural choices and more information about ADR effectiveness).

  87. 87.

    For example, the Center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education (CADRE) issues publications, sponsors symposia, and maintains a comprehensive website on alternative dispute resolution in the special education context. See CADRE, https://www.cadreworks.org/; see also Massey and Rosenbaum, supra note 3, at 308 (noting that other commentators have said a mediation clinic can encourage ‘party empowerment and self-help’ even more than a litigation clinic).

  88. 88.

    See Sparer et al., supra note 21, at 502.

  89. 89.

    See, e.g., Cummings and Eagly (2001).

  90. 90.

    See, e.g., Id., at 493–495, 500–501, Diamond (2000), and Riaz, supra note 34, at 104.

  91. 91.

    See Massey and Rosenbaum, supra note 3, at 311–315.

  92. 92.

    Professor Katherine Kruse has written about teaching skills for problem-solving for a client community, not just for individual clients (Kruse 2002). Professor Shin Imai has also written about training students for work mainly in indigenous communities and other communities of color (Imai 2002).

  93. 93.

    Professor Paula Galowitz has catalogued the possible roles played by social workers, including teaching lawyers about working with community groups and community analysis (Galowitz 1999). See also Aiken and Wizner (2003) (arguing that empowerment of groups and communities, pursuit of social and economic justice, and reform are central to social workers’ professional obligations).

  94. 94.

    Cummings and Eagly, supra note 89, at 481–484.

  95. 95.

    See Pualani Enos and Kanter (2002) (indicating that increasing number of legal programs use multidisciplinary approach to service delivery by forming partnerships with other professionals).

  96. 96.

    See Rosenbaum (2004), Aiken and Wizner, supra note 93, at 65–66.

  97. 97.

    Riaz, supra note 34, at 108 (quoting Namati founder Vivek Maru). According to activist and scholar Maru, a promising paralegal institution is ‘one that maintains a focus on achieving concrete solutions to people’s justice problems but which employs, in addition to litigation, the more flexible, creative tools of social movements’. Id.

  98. 98.

    The hallmark of United States special education programming, the Individualized Education Program (IEP), is a written statement of a child’s educational levels of academic achievement and functional performance and measurable goals, as well as instructional methodologies and services developed by a team of educators and parents for meeting these goals. See 20 U.S.C. § 1401(19) (2000 and Supp. 2007).

  99. 99.

    Rosenbaum (2001).

  100. 100.

    Engel (1991). See also Marchese (2001) (parents face school officials ‘often speaking to each other in technical terms’).

  101. 101.

    20 U.S.C. § 1412 (Supp. 2006) (originally enacted as Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975).

  102. 102.

    National Council on Disability (2000).

  103. 103.

    Bd. of Educ. v. Rowley, 458 U.S. 176, 178, 209 (1982). I have previously argued that ardor may not be enough to achieve success in light of some of the jurisprudential and legislative setbacks in the IDEA (Rosenbaum 2005).

  104. 104.

    Winkelman v. Parma City Sch. Dist., 127 S. Ct. 1994, 2000 (2007) (noting that the Act sets out ‘general procedural safeguards that protect the informed involvement of parents in the development of an education for their child’).

  105. 105.

    There are extensive procedural protections for parents as the educational representatives of their children. 20 U.S.C. § 1415 (Supp. 2006).

  106. 106.

    Rosenbaum, supra note 99, at 166–167, 172–186 (describing trials and frustrations inherent in IEP design and implementation).

  107. 107.

    See, e.g., Trubek and Farnham (2000) (describing collaborative relationship with counselors, victim advocates, and other service providers in domestic violence context).

  108. 108.

    Sparer et al., supra note 21, at 506 (stating that ability to ‘add[] hope and a sense of human dignity’ is an important skill).

  109. 109.

    Massey and Rosenbaum, supra note 3, at 306–307.

  110. 110.

    Aiken and Wizner, supra note 93, at 63.

  111. 111.

    Id., at 74–77 (describing lawyer as social worker who serves her clients holistically and seeks to understand nature of all social diversity and oppression, including those related to mental or physical disability).

  112. 112.

    Back to School, supra note 102, at 217–218 (Recommendation VII.7). Given the particular needs of poor and underserved families, the Council recommended that a lawyer be available at each parent centre. Id., at 217.

  113. 113.

    20 U.S.C. §§ 1472–1473 (Supp. 2006).

  114. 114.

    See generally, Hyman et al. (2011).

  115. 115.

    One commentator on special education representation wrote, ‘On a more global level, people of low or moderate means often do not have access to the judicial system. Attorney fees are so extravagant that most of the populace cannot afford an attorney’s hourly rates’. Flynn, supra note 40, at 901–902 (citations omitted).

  116. 116.

    See Rosenbaum, supra note 99, at 167–171 (explaining ‘upsides and downsides’ of litigation under IDEA) and Rivkin (2008) (discussing mix of litigation and extrajudicial advocacy strategies necessary to enforce educational rights).

  117. 117.

    Kotler (1994), Rosenbaum, supra note 96, at 30–37 (describing need for ‘macro-advocacy’ on behalf of classes of (disabled) students, as well as ‘micro-advocacy’ in individualized IEP process).

  118. 118.

    Such councils were set up under the No Child Left Behind Act. 20 U.S.C. §§ 6316–7941 (2003).

  119. 119.

    Zachary and olatoye [sic] (2001).

  120. 120.

    See Slater et al. (2001) (stating that through value-based and skills-based training, professionals learn ways to empower parents to be strong and effective self-advocates), Rosenbaum, supra note 99, at 193–194 (providing examples of alliance building in special education context).

  121. 121.

    See supra note 74.

  122. 122.

    Massey and Rosenbaum, supra note 3, at 316–317. See also, Slater et al., supra note 108, at 408 (stating that law schools and other institutions of professional education should be ‘targets of parents’ advocacy efforts’).

  123. 123.

    Massey and Rosenbaum, supra note 3, at 317.

  124. 124.

    As noted above, another clinical prototype is a set of field placements or externships or short-term service-learning opportunities, which may be integrated into more traditional ‘black-letter law’ disability or educational law courses.

  125. 125.

    For a more detailed discussion of clinic types, see Massey and Rosenbaum, supra note 3, at 295–298 and Appendices.

  126. 126.

    See generally, ABA, Spotlight on ABA Approved Paralegal Programs, supra, note 43.

  127. 127.

    Bellow, supra note 24, at 376; Clinical Legal Education: Reflections, supra note 1, at 340–341; Sparer et al., supra note 21, at 494.

  128. 128.

    Elson, supra note 19, at 1135.

  129. 129.

    Blaze, supra note 76, at 939.

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Appendix

Appendix

These are some of the basic considerations involved in establishing a degree-granting paralegal clinical program embedded in a law faculty:

Program Structure

  • The institution may decide to establish a pilot program for an initial period of time as it experiments with facilities, curriculum, admissions, staffing, community partnerships, community needs, accreditation, etc.

  • Co-educating lawyers and paralegals in one building or on one campus fosters future collaboration and de-emphasizes hierarchical relationships.

  • The law faculty could offer joint doctrinal, ethics, and skills law classes for law students and paralegal candidates, and clinics and field placements, well as specialized paralegal curriculum. The tenure of lay paraprofessional students undoubtedly will be less than three years.

  • For course design, schools should review and revise existing law school course descriptions and syllabi as well as courses and syllabi available from other public institutions that offer paralegal studies degrees. Likewise, institutions should review materials for community-based training.

  • Students could take courses in other disciplines, such as social work, public policy, communications, or planning. These non-legal courses might be offered by other departments on campus, sister schools, or by jointly appointed teaching staff. There may also be interdisciplinary courses, which would meet at the law faculty and also be available to juris doctor students.

  • In-house and community-based clinics and practice settings should be an integral part of the paralegal curriculum. This includes ‘hybrid clinics’ which are held in off-campus offices (governmental, NGOs, legal services, civil society) in partnership with the law school and field placements or externships at off-campus offices. These clinics would involve candidates for a law degree and the paralegal degree working in teams on litigation, policy, negotiation, and/or organizing campaigns.

  • A community needs assessment that should be conducted before any clinical component is added to the curriculum. Assessors would include instructional staff, students, administrators, community organizers, civil and faith-based organizations, lawyers, government officials, and/or other stakeholders.

  • Partnerships or other formalized relationships should be formed with local NGOs, civil society organizations, and informal dispute resolution facilitators and leaders as well as with bar associations and government lawyers. This helps to develop a culture of pro bono service, mentoring, and more integration of practitioners in local law faculties.

  • Accreditation must be considered. In the United States, the American Bar Association (ABA) is the major entity that oversees institutions that issue diplomas or certificates to future lawyers and paralegals. A list of the approximately 260 ABA-approved programs is available at https://www.paralegaledu.org/aba-approved-paralegal-schools/.

  • Distinct criteria for a para doctoral and juris doctoral degree may pose less of a problem administratively than philosophically or fiscally. Tensions may arise due to differences in students’ academic or intellectual orientation, socio-economic status, and/or divergent career paths. The temptation to track or segregate students may be greater than to integrate them.

  • Additional revenues that law schools receive from tuition paid by paralegal students may be offset by the cost of personnel and infrastructure. Even reduced fees are likely to be a burden for many paralegal applicants; law schools should consider providing financial aid and loan forgiveness schemes. Targeted recruitment of non-traditional students should be a priority. There may be a need for additional revenue to support needs peculiar to the clinical component.

  • Pedagogical objectives and student needs also influence individualized case selection. For some clinical programs, emphasis is placed on skills-building opportunities and for others, the emphasis is on major impact advocacy, or representation as a catalyst for systemic change.

  • In seeking to balance responsiveness to community needs with the goal of skills and ethics instruction, clinics often select a combination of cases that are likely to be resolved at the level of planning meetings or negotiations and those that might require administrative adjudications or litigation.

Disability Focus

  • In creating a special education clinic, there must be a process for determining the target client population and case selection. Given the large need for legal services and limited clinic capacity, only a small portion of the eligible families and children can be served. Some clinics may represent only low-income or otherwise marginalized families, while others accept clients by referral from the courts or other public agencies—with or without income screening.

  • The selection of special education clients based on the type of disability inevitably can also have an impact on law students’ understanding of disability or stigma, especially if they have little or no prior knowledge of intellectual or other developmental disabilities. That experience may be different from those representing pupils with the more ‘invisible’ learning disabilities or mental health issues. In either case, the experience should help dismantle ableist thinking.

  • Special attention needs to be paid to the physical, sensory, and programmatic accessibility of the facilities and written and audio materials.

Logistics

  • Ideally, the clinical program should have its own space, dedicated staffing, and governance. Governance might include a multi-stakeholder advisory board. The space must be accessible for persons with physical or sensory disabilities.

  • A periodic budget must be developed for personnel, transportation, information technology infrastructure, meals, multi-media promotional materials, translation/interpretation, and administrative costs.

  • The application procedure and criteria need to be established for new--and possibly, continuing--students and for evaluation of students.

  • Evolving procedures or guidelines will need to be established for intake, case review, professional-client relationships, community outreach, accessible documentation and procedures, etc.

  • An evolving process should be established for securing funds and in-kind contributions and for audits, program and staff evaluation, and other reporting.

  • A timeline should be developed for various phases of establishing the program, its scope, and short- and long-term objectives.

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Rosenbaum, S.A. (2023). A Rationale and Roadmap for Paralegal Clinics: Advocating for Disabled Children and Youth. In: Bajpai, A., Tushaus, D.W., Prasad, M.R.K. (eds) Human Rights and Legal Services for Children and Youth. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5551-0_5

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