Problem Solving in the Public Interest

This course focuses on the theory and practice of public interest lawyering. The course will situate public interest lawyering within the broader legal profession, as well as a longer history and tradition of lawyering. Through engagement with course material and class discussion, students will explore the contested boundaries of public interest law, the role of law in the process of social change, the ethical dilemmas that arise when lawyering with vulnerable populations, and the future of lawyering in the digital age.
Additionally, the course delves into reoccurring issues that arise in public interest lawyering, including the structural under-resourcing of public interest lawyering, the ethical complexities of cause lawyering, the role of identity and positionality in lawyering practice, and the lawyering dilemmas inaugurated by data-driven technologies. Students in the course will examine the myriad barriers that lawyers face when constructing sustainable and meaningful careers in public interest law, as well as the strategies lawyers use to overcome them.Students in this seminar will be assessed through a final examination that asks them to apply theoretical concepts learned in the course to realistic public interest lawyering dilemmas. Enrollment in this course is limited to students enrolled in the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law andPolicy.