Fordham Recommendations, Part I

Note: This material is offered for the convenience of users. Official citation should be to, and quotation should be from, 67 Fordham Law Rev. (1999)

RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CONFERENCE ON THE DELIVERY OF LEGAL SERVICES TO LOW-INCOME PERSONS (1)

RECOMMENDATIONS 67 FORDHAM LAW REVIEW 1751 (1999)

1. The recommendations are consecutively numbered for ease of reference. Citations to these recommendations elsewhere in this volume shall be as follows:
Recommendations of the Conference on the Delivery of Legal Services to Low-Income Persons, 67 Fordham L. Rev. 1751, Recommendation ___, at ___ (1999) [hereinafter
Recommendations].

RECOMMENDATIONS 67 FORDHAM LAW REVIEW 1791 (1999)

VII. REPRESENTATION WITHIN LAW SCHOOL SETTINGS

Theme: The Group urges that law schools should be, and should be viewed as, a part of the solution to the current crisis in providing legal
representation to low-income persons. Law schools need to reach out to others who represent low-income persons and also need to make
both providers and clients feel welcome in and a part of the law schools.

Introduction

A law school has two important roles to play in the provision of legal services to low-income persons. First, through their clinics, pro
bono programs and other initiatives, law schools are significant prov-iders of legal services. In this role, law schools should see themselves
as part of a network of legal providers and should work together with other providers and the community in deciding what services to pro-vide.
Second, law schools, as the first socializer of law students into their professional role, have the opportunity and duty to make stu-dents
aware of their professional responsibilities to serve low-income persons.

A. The Mission

108. Law schools shall encourage and provide opportunities for students, faculty, and graduates to provide legal services to
low-income individuals and groups and shall socialize stu-dents to their responsibility as lawyers to provide legal serv-ices
to low-income persons.

B. Increasing Support by Other Institutions for Representation Within Law Schools

109. The Conference endorses the CLEA proposal to amend ABA Accreditation Standard 302( e) regarding law school re-sponsibility
to encourage and provide opportunities for pro bono service to persons unable to afford legal representation.
The current Standard provides that law schools "should" do so. The CLEA proposal recommends that "should" be
changed to "shall."

C. The Law School's Programmatic Responsibilities

110. In furtherance of this responsibility, law schools should con-sider the following options:

RECOMMENDATIONS 67 FORDHAM LAW REVIEW 1792 (1999)

(a) Encourage students to enroll in live-client clinics, extern-ships, or other courses that provide opportunities for ser-vice
to low-income clients and to do research and writing of use to providers of legal services.
(b) Provide instruction and information to students in clinical and non-clinical courses, and in other fora, about
the maldistribution of legal services and the unmet legal needs of the poor.
(c) Sensitize students throughout the curriculum, and partic-ularly in professional responsibility and clinical courses,
to the unique ethical considerations that arise in provid-ing legal services to low-income clients.
(d) Create curricular offerings that will assist students plan-ning to enter private practice to identify and design pro
bono projects that they can carry out in private practice. (e) Provide financial assistance to students to enable them
to do public service legal work, including: (i) establishing loan repayment assistance programs;
(ii) providing grants to defray tuition; (iii) funding summer public interest fellowships;
(iv) creating postgraduate public service fellowships; (v) counseling students about loan repayment options;
and (vi) supporting and encouraging student fundraising ef-forts
for public interest work. (f) Provide access to the law library and other research facil-ities
to low-income individuals and their lawyers. (g) Provide access to law school technological resources to
provide access to legal materials and explore other ways those resources could assist in providing representation
to low-income persons.

D. The Law School Role in Increasing Pro Bono Activities

111. Law schools should encourage pro bono legal activities on behalf of low-income clients by demonstrating commitment
by faculty and administration, encouraging alumni to engage in and model pro bono activities, and by providing financial
and in-kind support. These activities would both increase legal representation to low-income persons and promote a
professional identity that includes and values pro bono legal services.
(a) Each law school should adopt Model Rule of Profes-sional Responsibility 6.1 for both faculty and students.
The rule sets an aspirational goal of fifty hours per year of pro bono legal service for persons or organizations
that cannot afford representation.

RECOMMENDATIONS 67 FORDHAM LAW REVIEW 1793 (1999)

(b) Law schools should provide significant institutional sup-port for student pro bono activities. That vital support
should include setting up a public interest resource center or similar office, staffed by a full time pro bono coordina-tor.
The coordinator shall develop pro bono opportuni-ties within and without the law school, including
placement opportunities, quality control, by matching students with appropriate legal work, and by supporting
student-initiated projects. Work with other legal services providers shall be encouraged and facilitated. Pro bono
responsibilities and opportunities shall be a part of the first-year student orientation and continue through all of
law school. The law school should provide recognition and awards for pro bono activities by both students and
faculty. (

c) Law schools should actively involve alumni in the law
school pro bono legal activities by providing them pro bono opportunities, encouraging consultation with law
students, and supporting recent law school graduates in continuing pro bono work. Alumni can effectively
model professional commitment and provide a voice for increasing public interest and pro bono representation
among the practicing bar.

(d) Faculty should support pro bono legal activities. The
most significant support would be the faculty's own pro bono representation of low-income persons, which pro-vides
a powerful example to future lawyers. The faculty should also identify and consult with students on their
pro bono activities, support student fundraising for pro bono legal work, and provide recommendations for and
promote public interest fellowship applications and job opportunities. Faculty who are unable to provide direct
pro bono representation shall financially support student efforts. Faculty who have significant financial income
from outside consulting and legal work shall tithe in sup-port of student pro bono legal work.

(e) Courses for academic credit should satisfy a student's pro bono obligation so that students are equally en-couraged
to serve low-income clients in clinic, extern-ship, or other settings awarding academic credit.

E. Further Study of the Role of Law Students

112. Because law students should have an obligation to provide pro bono legal representation to low-income persons, we

must further examine the Rules of Professional Responsibil-ity to determine if they adequately protect clients, lawyers,

RECOMMENDATIONS 67 FORDHAM LAW REVIEW 1794 (1999)

and other students who consult with students or who super-vise them.

F. Further Study of Legal Ethics and Clinical Practice

113. Law school clinics frequently face ethical issues in the prac-tice of law that include circumstances that involve potential
conflicts of interest or unique challenges to protecting client confidentiality, as well as student activities that may raise
concerns about the unauthorized practice of law. Clinics could benefit from practice recommendations which address
their particular experience. We recommend the development of such practice guidelines.

G. State Student Practice Rules Must Protect the Law School's Educational Mission

114. In light of the recent inappropriate intrusions into a law school's pedagogic mission, we reaffirm the principle that
every state's student practice rule should assure that law schools can provide the broadest range of educational bene-fits
to students, and should properly model the broad provi-sion of legal services. Educational decisions should be made
by law-school faculties, not legislators or judges. Every state's student-practice rules should permit students to en-gage
in legal representation, policy advocacy, community ed-ucation, or other lawyering activities on behalf of all people
or groups who would otherwise be unrepresented, under-rep-resented, or represented by public interest or public service
lawyers unable to serve every client who seeks their assist-ance. Every state's student practice rule should be no more
restrictive of the scope of student practice than the ABA Model Student Practice Rule, which permits students, with
appropriate supervision, to represent any indigent person before courts and administrative tribunals and to engage in
"other activities."

H. The Role of Law School Clinics

115. Law school clinics should see themselves as a part of a broader legal provider network and should work together
with the network and the community in deciding what serv-ices to provide and how to provide them. Examples of what
law school clinics should do include: (a) taking on test cases that other offices cannot;
(b) working in a local legal services office or other commu-nity setting;

RECOMMENDATIONS 67 FORDHAM LAW REVIEW 1795 (1999)

(c) maximizing the benefits from the cases they do take by, for example, sharing work product with lawyers working
on similar issues; (d) undertaking project work beyond individual casework;
(e) considering the need of the community for a particular type of service when making representation decisions;
(f) engaging in regular discussion with other providers about the legal need of the community and approaches to ad-dressing
relevant areas of practice; and (g) consulting with other law school programs that are un-dertaking
or contemplating pro bono service.

I. Fostering Students' Public Interest Aspirations Through Clinics

116. One objective of law schools should be to provide educa-tional experiences that encourage and nurture the public-in-terest
aspirations of their students and prepare them for representing poor communities and clients. In doing so,
clinical teaching should focus on how to represent clients ef-fectively in a world of inadequate access to counsel and jus-tice.
Examples of issues clinics should address include: (a) coping with limits and making effective decisions in high-volume
practice; (b) remaining sensitive to issues of power, racial, and ethnic
dynamics; (c) taking the lead in developing a variety of approaches to
delivering services, such as community education, limited legal service programs, and pro se clinics;
(d) integrating other kinds of representation into programs that primarily provide full-service representation of cli-ents,
such as adding a pro se clinic or community educa-tion component to the clinic;
(e) focusing on the special ethical considerations that affect the representation of low-income personsÐ conflict is-sues,
confidentiality issues, financial-assistance-to-liti-gants rules, and unauthorized practice rules; and
(f) stressing the importance of situating legal work in the context of communities, both geographic and
substantive.

J. Fostering Faculty's Public Interest Aspirations by Bridging the Gap Between the Academy and Practice

117. In the law school's role of developing knowledge, there is knowledge that comes from practice. Law faculty should be
encouraged to engage in partnerships with organizations rep-resenting low-income persons. Examples include:
(a) allowing faculty to use sabbaticals for practice;

RECOMMENDATIONS 67 FORDHAM LAW REVIEW 1796 (1999)

(b) awarding research fellowships for practitioners and en-couraging collaboration between faculty and practition-ers
in scholarship; and (c) hiring practitioners for teaching visitorships.

K. Reaching Out to Other Groups

118. Law schools, and particularly law school clinics, are well placed to form liaisons with the community in order to use
the law school's resources, including its reputation and exper-tise, to influence public policy with regard to issues affecting
access to justice. Examples include: (a) improving the resources and practices in courts that
predominantly address the needs of low-income persons; (b) involvement in bar association committees that address
these types of issues; and (c) providing specialized knowledge to legislative and other
bodies that are considering issues affecting low-income people.

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