Racial Equity Strategies Clinic

Introduction

The Racial Equity Strategies ("RES") Clinic is a semester-long, five-credit course that focuses on the legal strategies employed by the Legal Defense Fund ("LDF"), the nation’s first and premier civil rights law organization, to defend and advance the full dignity and citizenship of Black people in America. The RES Clinic involves a mixture of fieldwork, oral advocacy, legal research and writing, and weekly seminars on the various strategies used to advance racial justice equality, and an inclusive society.

Course Description

The RES Clinic engages students in LDF’s legal practice and in a critical examination of the strategies LDF employs to achieve racial equity and justice in its principal practice areas: education, economic justice, the criminal legal system, and political participation. For the fieldwork component, students will be assigned to work on an LDF case or matter in one of these areas and will have an opportunity to contribute to the development and execution of comprehensive legal strategies. For the seminar component, students have the opportunity to study historical and contemporary strategies for achieving racial justice through litigation, organizing, and communications. Students also have the opportunity to conceptualize and develop new tactics to address modern challenges to racial justice issues.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the semester, students will have acquired the following substantive knowledge and skills:  

• Experience with multiple phases of litigation and advocacy surrounding racial discrimination claims. This includes investigations of race discrimination issues, drafting of pleadings and other substantive filings, legal research and memo writing, and participation in active discovery and other phases of litigation.  
• Historical knowledge regarding the country’s foundation and the impact of this foundation on modern legal frameworks and on movements for racial justice.  
• Problem-solving skills and strategies involved in impact litigation.
• Knowledge of substantive and procedural law in the practice areas relevant to fieldwork.
• Substantive law in the areas of political participation, the criminal legal system, education equity, and economic justice.  
• Experience with non-litigation tools, including community organizing and communication strategies, to address racial inequities.  
• Enhanced cross-cultural competence, including the ability to recognize and address bias and racism in legal systems. 

Fieldwork

Students are supervised by the RES Clinic professors and will work with a team of LDF attorneys on an active case or matter for the semester. Students participate in all facets of litigation, including research, meetings, interviews, memo writing, document preparation, and case rounds. As part of their fieldwork, students may be provided with appropriate case or matter-related public speaking opportunities and given the opportunity for travel (generally to states in the South or Washington D.C.) to attend trial proceedings, hearings, depositions, community or client meetings, or other events on their cases or matters as needed. Students are required to commit 9-15 hours per week to fieldwork projects and participate in weekly meetings with the LDF teams, and supervisory check-ins with the RES Clinic professors.

Seminar

The course will be conducted through weekly seminars held at LDF’s headquarters (40 Rector Street, New York) and fieldwork opportunities based on LDF cases and matters. The seminar component is co-taught by two LDF lawyers. The seminar will meet weekly for two hours. Readings include court filings and opinions, case-related documents, law review articles, and texts by scholars in the field of civil rights, education, law enforcement, political theory, voting rights, and racial justice. We will also be joined by guest lecturers who include the leading thinkers, organizers, and litigators in the relevant fields of practice.

Additionally, students will have access to LDF’s archival case material (some of which are not yet available to the public). Using these resources, students will analyze the various lawyering strategies used to achieve racial and economic justice, provide educational equity, ensure equitable access to the political process, and promote fair and effective policing and law enforcement.

Students will also participate in case rounds, simulations, or other legal practice skills trainings.

Qualifications for Applicants

Students in the RES Clinic are expected to have taken or be taking civil procedure and constitutional law.

Application Procedure

Students should submit an application, resume and transcript on-line via CAMS. There will be no interview.

Student Contacts

Interested students should speak to the following Spring 2025 clinic students:

Hart Ayoob
Sydnie Caster
Stacey Kim
Kenneth Noble
Asra Shuaib
Maeve Emerson Vitello
Maeve Wiesen
Madeline Wood

* 5 credits include 3 clinical credits and 2 academic seminar credits.