course schedule

AUG. 26

• GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER

• EVALUATING CASES & CLIENTS, PART I
  
  

DUE:  One Thing We Did Last Summer

READ/WATCH:

• Case Evaluation: Two Nonprofits’ Approaches

• VIDEO: Conversation with Angela Ciolfi ’02, Executive Director, Legal Aid Justice Center (27 m.) 

• Civil Justice Defenders (“CJD”) New Client Memo

• National Center for Transgender Equality: “Know Your Rights: Employment”

• Articles about recent discrimination against transgender firefighters/EMTs:

  • San Francisco Examiner: “Lawsuit Alleges SF Fire Department Failed to Stop Harassment of Transgender Paramedic”

  • ABC News/AP: “Transgender Fire Chief Files Discrimination Suit Over Firing”
    
    

SEPT. 2

• EVALUATING CASES & CLIENTS, PART II

DUE: Email to Supervisor Re: Virginia Human Rights Act

READ/WATCH:

• Virginia Human Rights Act, §§ 2.2-3900, 2.2-3901, 2.2-3905, 2.2-3907, 2.2-3908

• OPTIONAL: Two short practitioner articles summarizing VHRA amendments:

  • National Law Review: “Virginia Enacts Expansive Changes to its Employment Laws, Including Major Amendments to its Human Rights Act”

  • Whiteford Taylor Preston: “The Values Act Adds Teeth to the Virginia Human Rights Act”

• Preparing a Client Interview Outline

• VIDEO: Interview of Margaret Edwards, LPC: “Trauma-informed Client Interviews” (PowerPoint here)

SEPT. 9

• INVESTIGATING & INTERVIEWING, PART I:
  CLIENT INTERVIEWS

• Guest speaker Jamar Walker, Ass’t. U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of Virginia

DUE: Client Interview Outline

READ/WATCH:

• Jamar Walker: “Investigative Interview Techniques”

• Case materials for Jamar Walker’s lecture/discussion:

  • U.S. v. Foster – Indictment

  • U.S. v. Foster – Interview Report of Victim A

  • U.S. v. Foster – Interview Report of Victim B

• Confidentiality and Discoverability of Client and Witness Interview-Related Documents

  • Presnell on Privileges: “Witness Statements and Work Product: Is it Deceptively Simple?”

  • Edna Epstein: “Attorney-Client Privilege & the Work-Product Doctrine” (excerpts)

SEPT. 16

• INVESTIGATING & INTERVIEWING, PART II:
  LEGAL AND FACTUAL RESEARCH

DUE: Client Interview (submit link & passcode to your recording in Canvas)

READ/WATCH:

• Virginia Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) §§2.2-3700, -3701, -3704, -3705.1 and -3706

• Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press – Open Government Guide for Every State (read Virginia sections: Foreword and II.A.1.)

• SKIM National Freedom of Information Coalition – Sample State FOIA Letters

• SKIM Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) – FOIA Resources - FAQs

SEPT. 23

• INVESTIGATING & INTERVIEWING, PART III: LEGAL AND FACTUAL RESEARCH

• THEORIES OF CHANGE

DUE: Email to Supervisor Re: Client Interview Follow-Up

READ/WATCH:

• Barbara Klugman: “Effective Social Justice Advocacy: A Theory of Change” (pp. 146-153, 155-56 (“Increased support for a specific problem”))

• Deborah Stone, Policy Paradox, Chapter 10: Interests

• Christine Cimini: “An Innovative Approach to Movement Lawyering: The Immigrant Rights Case Study” (read p. 5 “In order to address these questions…” through top of p. 10, “…integrative and distributed organizing models”; pp. 34-47 ending at section break)

• CJD Legal Director Yin’s Email to Staff Attorneys, 9/21/21

• Underlying ICE/Milton County Case Study Materials:

  • ICE-Culpeper 287(g) Agreement

  • McClary v. Jenkins - Complaint

  • McClary v. Jenkins – Sheriff Jenkins’ Appellee Brief

  • McClary v. Jenkins – Supreme Court of VA Opinion

SEPT. 30

• THEORIES OF CHANGE, PART II:
  COMMUNITY LAWYERING & ORGANIZING

• Guest Speaker Luis Oyola, Director of Organizing,
  Legal Aid Justice Center

DUE: Freedom of Information Act Request

READ/WATCH:

• Legal Aid Justice Center: “De-ICE Virginia” 

• Legal Aid Justice Center: “ICE on the Harbor: Norfolk City Jail Helps Arrest and Deport Virginia Immigrants”

• William P. Quigley: “Reflections of Community Organizers: Lawyering for Empowerment of Community Organizations”

• VIDEO: Clinical Legal Education Association: “Teaching Movement and Community Lawyering” (watch 4:00 – 19:15)

• Law for Black Lives: Mission Statement

• Start reviewing Demand Letter materials:

  • Sample Demand Letters:
    ACLU Women’s Rights Project Lttr to American Bd. of Int’l. Med.
    Lambda Legal Lttr to Gov.Vazquez Garced
    NAACP LDF Lttr to Att. Gen. Cameron
    Transgender Law Center Lttr to Kenosha Unif. Sch. Dist.

  • Demand Letter Assignment

OCT. 7

• THEORIES OF CHANGE, PART III:
  CREATIVE COALITIONS

• Guest speaker Ashley Carter,
  Deputy Director, Advancement Project

DUE: Nothing!

READ/WATCH:

• Ching, et al: “A Few Interventions and Offerings from Five Movement Lawyers to the Access to Justice Movement”

• Amna Akbar: “The Movement for Black Lives Offers an Abolitionist Approach to Police Reform”

• Center for Evaluation Impact: “Pathways for Change: 10 Theories to Inform Advocacy and Policy Change Efforts” (internal pp. 1-3, 9-15)

• Finish reviewing Demand Letter materials:

  • Sample Demand Letters:
    ACLU Women’s Rights Project Lttr to American Bd. of Int’l. Med.
    Lambda Legal Lttr to Gov.Vazquez Garced
    NAACP LDF Lttr to Att. Gen. Cameron
    Transgender Law Center Lttr to Kenosha Unif. Sch. Dist.

  • Demand Letter Assignment

• Sources for Transgender Workers’ Rights Resources:

  • Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: “Protections Against Employment Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity”

  • Spiggle Law Firm: “Can Transgender Employees Be Discriminated Against?”

OCT. 14

• PERSUADING THE POWERS THAT BE:
  AGENCIES AND CORPORATIONS

DUE: Nothing

READ/WATCH:

• Lydia Jackson Email re: Brief Assignment

  • This memo contains numerous, linked documents, including these: Deposition of Jason Bricker; Deposition of Meghan Stephens; Title VII/VHRA Memo to Lydia Jackson

• Kellogg School of Management: “How Does Activism Drive Corporate Change?”

• Harvard Business Review: “The New CEO Activists” (if you can’t access the external link, read the pdf here)

• Organizing for Social Change: “The Fundamentals of Direct-Action Organizing”

• Prison Policy Initiative: “The Company Store: A Deeper Look at Prison Commissaries”

OCT. 21

• PERSUADING THE POWERS THAT BE:
  COURTS

DUE: Demand Letter

READ/WATCH:

• Summary Judgment Brief Samples (various cases):

  • Chapman v. Carmike Cinemas - Defendants’ Brief in Support of Summary Judgment (Statement of Undisputed and Material Facts (starting at section D); internal pp. xxii-xxvi); Argument (internal pp. 1 - top of page 7))

  • Chapman v. Carmike Cinemas - Plaintiff’s Brief in Opposition to Summary Judgment (pp. 15-17 (II.A and II.B))

  • McKenzie v. Verizon Business - Defendant’s Brief in Support of Summary Judgment (internal pp. 1-5 (Introduction); pp. 18 – 29)

  • Tecsec v. IBM - Plaintiff’s Brief in Opposition to Summary Judgment (internal pp. 1-3 (Introduction); 16-19)

OCT. 28

• PERSUADING THE POWERS THAT BE:
  LEGISLATURES

• Guest Speaker The Hon. Sally Hudson,
  Virginia House Delegate

DUE: Nothing

READ/WATCH:

• Materials regarding two of Del. Hudson’s 2021 General Assembly criminal justice bills:

  • “Get in the Herd” Podcast: May 18, 2021 Episode with Special Guest Sally Hudson

  • Fauquier Times: “Bill to Reduce Felony Drug Possession Charge Dies in Subcommittee”

  • HJ 530 (study to find alternatives to carceral sentences for possession of drug offenses)

  • HB 2303 and impact statement

• Voices for Virginia’s Children: “Legislative Advocacy Guide”

• Animal Welfare Institute: “How to Communicate Effectively with Legislators”

nov. 4

• theories of change, part iv:
  shifting the narrative through education

DUE: Brief

READ/WATCH:

• Brandi M. Lupo: “Legal Rights, Real-World Consequences: The Ethics of Know Your Rights Efforts and Towards Improved Community Legal Education”

• Materials on preparing PowerPoint Presentations:

  • Lifehack: “10 Tips for More Effective PowerPoint Presentations”

  • National Conference of State Legislators: “Tips for Making Effective PowerPoint Presentations”

• Videos showing different approaches to virtual legal presentations. All of these videos have strengths and weaknesses that we will discuss in class.

  • SKIM: “Know Your Rights, Unemployment Benefits: Good Cause to Quit” (Nevada Legal Services Now!)

  • SKIM: “Know Your Rights in Police Encounters” (Illinois Legal Aid Online)

  • SKIM: “LGBT Sexual Orientation Discrimination” (Branigan Robertson)

  • OPTIONAL: for a topically relevant presentation that’s far longer than our assignment: “Changes in Virginia’s Laws: New Civil Rights Protections” (ACLU-VA)

nov. 11

• Theories of Change V:
  Broadening Access to Justice

DUE: Practice Quiz: “Pretend you’re not a law student and you need legal answers!”

• This is a timed, 50-minute practice “quiz” that asks you to put yourself in the shoes of a client with no access to a lawyer. You do not need to read anything in advance. You will receive full credit for the quiz if you complete and submit it on time. We will discuss the results of this quiz in class as a way to launch our discussion on broadening access to justice.

READ/WATCH:

• Work on your Know Your Rights Virtual Workshop

nov. 18

• defining success

• GUEST SPEAKER HELEN HARDIMAN ‘12, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL,
  OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS, VIRGINIA OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
  (joining us virtually)

DUE:

READ/WATCH:

• Helen Hardiman: “Monumental Changes to the Virginia Fair Housing Law: Five New Protected Classes”

• Work on Know Your Rights Virtual Workshop (due TUES., Nov. 23)