SYLLABUS

LAW AND PUBLIC SERVICE, Spring 2022
Professor Annie Kim, Assistant Dean for Public Service
akim@law.virginia.edu | Office Hours: Tues. 2:30-3:45, Fri. 10:00-12:00

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COURSE OVERVIEW

We’ll explore two broad questions throughout the semester:

(1) How do public service attorneys seek justice for their clients, causes, and communities?

(2) How will you develop as a future public service attorney?

We’ll tackle the first through units beginning with the foundational problems of poverty and inequality and how civil legal direct service attorneys combat those. Then we’ll explore the work of criminal direct service attorneys, systemic advocacy attorneys, and government attorneys. For many of these classes we’ll be joined by practitioners—innovative and distinguished public interest attorneys—who will help us understand key issues in their fields and what it’s like to work in them.

In between these units, we’ll also focus on your professional development. Public service financing, clinical offerings at the Law School, choosing career paths, understanding postgraduate entry-level hiring, and thinking about self-care as an attorney will be part of these units.

CLASS ATTENDANCE

Attending class is crucial to your success because we’ll be learning mainly from each other and from engaging in real-time with our speakers. All classes will be recorded and recordings will be available to all students for any reason. Missing a class may require completing make-up work to approximate in-class activities we did in class. If illness or some other personal emergency might cause you to miss a class, please email me in advance of class about your absence.

GROUND RULES

Because we’ll be discussing issues that matter to us, sometimes we’ll disagree. I hope so. Constructive, respectful debate is the cornerstone of legal advocacy and legal reform. Uncritically affirming other people’s ideas doesn’t help you learn. It won’t prepare you for the intellectual challenges of public interest advocacy.

At the same time, we do need to create an environment in which everyone can practice articulating their concerns and questions without worrying about being permanently judged if their words come out imperfectly. We’ll all make mistakes along the way, including me. But I hope we’ll approach each other with the same presumption of good faith that we’d like others to give to us. That we’ll listen first and speak afterwards. And that we’ll try our best to create a community that’s both fully open and supportive.

SPEAKERS IN-PERSON AND BY ZOOM

Some of our speakers will be coming in-person while others will be participating by Zoom. We may have a mix during any given class. For speakers participating by Zoom, I will ask you to open the Zoom session (see Canvas’s “Zoom” tab for the class date) on your laptop with your audio off.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

† Understand the broad spectrum of public service legal fields and lawyering.

† Evaluate public service attorneys’ different approaches to working toward justice, the strengths and limitations of each, and how they align (or don’t) with your values.

† Analyze some contemporary issues and debates among public interest lawyers about how to work with clients, communities and causes.

† Construct knowledge about public service fields through interviewing attorneys and researching legal problems and their solutions.

† Start building the foundation for your own public service pursuits in law school and for a potential career in public service.

† Develop community with like-minded peers at the Law School who share an interest in public service lawyering and social justice.

WHERE WILL READINGS BE POSTED?

The “Course Schedule” section of this website provides a full-semester preview of readings and assignments. You do not need to purchase any books for this class—all readings will be posted in Canvas (“Files”/ “Readings”) or linked to external websites. All assignments (i.e., materials that you must actually submit) will also be linked here and take you to an assignment in Canvas. While the first several weeks of classes will be “finished” as of the start of the semester in this course schedule, please check back each week because I will add and modify the course schedule as we go along based on how the class is doing.

WHEN WILL WORK BE DUE?

We learn best when we assimilate and test our knowledge as we go, rather than waiting until the end. Accordingly, I’ve structured this class so that a good percentage of your graded work will be submitted before your final paper. That will be mostly short written assignments that you can complete quickly (well under an hour in most cases).

These assignments will generally be due in Canvas on Tuesday nights before class by 11:59pm EST unless otherwise noted. The Final Policy Brief will be due in EXPO on the last day of the exam period, May 13th)

OFFICE HOURS & MEETINGS

One aspect of teaching I truly enjoy is spending time one-on-one with students outside of class. In addition to anything related to our class, I’m interested in talking with you about your career goals, our public service community, and whatever else is on your mind.

In addition to my regular office hours (Tues. 2:30-3:45, Fri. 10:00-12:00), I’ll be happy to meet by appointment (in-person or Zoom) if you can’t make office hours. Please email me if you’d like to meet.

HOW WILL LEARNING BE ASSESSED?

Class Contribution (10%)
Active, engaged, thoughtful class participation and regular attendance will be key for this part of your grade. You’ll sign up in pairs to be a class facilitator for one class session, which will help you know in advance when you should be most prepared. I will determine class contribution grades using the following scale:

  • Highest: Consistently well-prepared, thoughtful, regular participation that furthers class learning;

  • Above average: Mostly well-prepared, thoughtful participation that is perhaps less consistently strong in content or less regular in frequency;

  • Average: Occasional and/or sporadically well-prepared participation;

  • Below average: Very infrequent and/or ill-prepared participation that demonstrates disengagement from class activities.

Short Assignments (30%)
Short written assignments will be due on Tuesday nights in order to help you critically examine, apply, and synthesize the readings and our in-class discussions. These include “takeaways & reflections” (capturing your thoughts about speakers and readings), and 1-2 check-in assignments to help you stay on track for writing the policy brief.

In addition, you will do two team projects:

  • 1 interview of a practitioner conducted in pairs that allows you to learn directly from public service attorneys about their work (roughly 20-30 minutes each; short summary submitted in Canvas; full credit received if submitted on time); and

  • 4 live meetings with a discussion group made up of 4 other students in class in which you’ll work on case studies and professional development planning (45 minutes each; team notes recorded in Google Docs; ungraded).

Policy Brief (60%)
10-12 page policy brief (1.2 spaced) that analyzes a single public interest legal problem arising from a significant injustice. Detailed instructions and a rubric are provided in the Canvas assignment.

NOTE: All of your individual assignments will be graded on a point basis. These are not graded on a strict curve, although I do assign and review point values across the class to ensure consistency and equity. Only the final, cumulative grade for this course is subject to the Law School’s curve.

LAW SCHOOL RESOURCES

I want you to succeed in this course and get the most out of your time at Virginia Law. If something in your life is preventing you from doing so, I hope you’ll consider coming to talk to me, Student Affairs, or our CAPS counselor Dr. Kate Gibson.