Police Misconduct Externship

Course Description

Students in the Police Misconduct Externship will work out of the Bronx Defenders to provide direct client representation and seek systemic accountability for the harms caused by police violence and abuse of power.

Despite a wave of reforms following protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death, policing presence and power has only expanded in New York City in recent years and, along with it, widespread violations that primarily impact Black and Latino communities. These communities face the everyday violence of a pervasive police presence that all too often brings about false arrests, brutal assaults, and theft of property – and all the numerous direct and collateral consequences that befall them as a result. Students will be responsible for the representation of individual clients of the Bronx Defenders to seek redress and reparations for these violations and will also work with BXD’s holistic services on systemic reform efforts.

The program is available in the fall semester with an optional (but strongly encouraged) spring semester advanced component.  The first semester course will give students an opportunity to touch on each of these areas of focus. The second semester advanced course will focus on developing litigation, trial and advocacy skills while also allowing students to have more in-depth engagement with their assigned cases and systemic reform work.

Learning Outcomes

Through fieldwork and the complementary seminar, this externship seeks to introduce students to the scope and impact of police misconduct, while equipping them with practical legal and advocacy skills to enter the field of civil rights and racial justice.  This course will develop fundamental lawyering skills that will include problem solving; factual investigation; client interviewing and counseling; negotiation; collaboration; legal writing; and an understanding of litigation. Additionally, the externship will provide students the opportunity to engage in case planning and decision making while reflecting on the role and demands of the lawyer, particularly within the sphere of movement lawyering. Throughout the course, we will also consider the impact of bias and racism on the criminal legal system and beyond.

Fieldwork

In the fieldwork portion of the externship students can expect to spend approximately 10-12 hours per week engaging in all aspects of individual client representation in police misconduct litigation and holistic advocacy. Students will directly represent clients under the supervision of the professors and in collaboration with Bronx Defenders attorneys.  We expect that students will conduct client intake, perform investigations, identify claims and develop case strategy, file Notices of Claim against New York City, prepare and defend clients in depositions, handle settlement negotiations, and participate in state and federal police misconduct litigation.

In addition, students will have the opportunity to engage in systemic advocacy related to police reform through strategic litigation, legislative advocacy and community organizing. The first semester introductory course will provide a sampling of this kind of work, while the optional advanced course will allow students to more fully develop skills through the continuation of their case work and take on additional systemic components. Through the fieldwork, students will become adept at working with indigent clients impacted by trauma while developing fundamental litigation and advocacy skills.

Some fieldwork, such as client meetings and hearings, may require presence in the Bronx and at the Bronx Defenders, while other fieldwork may be completed remotely.

Faculty

Emily Ponder Williams has spent over a decade working as a civil rights practitioner within public defense offices, dedicating her career to addressing the civil punishments of contact with the criminal legal system. She has experience litigating across nearly every civil and administrative forum in New York, ranging from challenging the unlawful police seizure of property at arrest to fighting for the right of incarcerated individuals to access COVID-19 vaccination, demanding redress for the illegal cooperation between the NYPD and ICE, and bringing dozens of claims for the widespread police abuses that occurred during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. Currently, Emily is the Legal Director of the Civil Action Practice at The Bronx Defenders where she engages in strategic advocacy to advance the legal work of a diverse practice representing indigent clients facing the numerous collateral and direct civil consequences of contact with the criminal legal system including housing loss and exclusion, employment discrimination, asset forfeiture, police misconduct, and reentry matters, as well as those entitled to the right to civil counsel in Housing Court. Before her time at The Bronx Defenders, Emily served as a Managing Attorney, as well as a Supervising Attorney and Staff Attorney in the Civil Defense Practice at Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (NDS), where she oversaw the significant expansion of a civil legal services program similarly focused on the intersection of poverty and the criminal legal system. Across The Bronx Defenders and NDS, Emily has supervised and trained hundreds of attorneys and law students. Additionally, Emily is actively involved in numerous efforts to promote reform in the criminal and civil legal system across New York City and New York State and has served on the New York City Bar Association's Mass Incarceration Task Force and the New York State Bar Association Committee on Legal Aid, Task Force on Racism, Social Equity and the Law and Task Force on Homelessness. She has additionally published academic articles related to her work, including an examination of the disparate impact of drug enforcement as it relates to housing.
 
Alice Fontier has over twenty years of experience working in some of the most highly respected state and federal public defender offices in the country. She has tried dozens of cases to verdict, including extremely complex and high-profile terrorism and homicide cases, and argued appeals. She is currently a Project Managing Attorney at the Legal Aid Society of New York, as well as the Director of Administration and Operations at the National Association for Public Defense. In these two roles, Alice is focused on training and development of lawyers and advocates. She previously served as the Managing Director of NDS, and as the Managing Director of the Criminal Defense Practice of the Bronx Defenders. She began her career at the Federal Defenders of San Diego. Alice’s work in holistic offices, and representation of thousands of people from the communities in which she lives and works, inspired her to develop and co-teach this externship. As criminal defense attorneys we witness the pain and trauma that is inflicted on our communities and the people subject to police interactions on a daily basis, this externship is designed to begin to address those wrongs on an individual level through direct representation and to teach the skills and knowledge that is needed to address police misconduct on a systemic level.

While at NDS, through engagement with NDS's Criminal Defense Practice, Emily and Alice observed the routine, systemic police violence that saturated Harlem's overpoliced neighborhoods. Despite the widespread abuse of police power, however, there seemed to be little hope for accountability — particularly when private civil rights attorneys were unlikely to provide representation for lower-level, though still severe, violations. To fill this gap, Emily began the unique practice of providing holistic representation to indigent clients experiencing police violence who were unlikely to otherwise find counsel. When Alice joined NDS, she brought with her a deep expertise in policing and the criminal legal system and the two began to expand the scope of NDS's police misconduct work. In 2023, the Police Accountability Externship was launched and has since worked with students file Notices of Claim and CCRB complaints, represent clients in hearings and negotiations, prepare law-testing litigation, and engage with the community on issues of police violence and accountability.

Seminar

The classroom component of the externship, which meets weekly for two hours, will equip students with the context and tools required to engage deeply in each area of fieldwork and develop practical and culturally competent lawyering skills. In the first semester component, students will gain familiarity with critical legal issues as well as practical lawyering skills necessary for their fieldwork, such as witness preparation, negotiation techniques, ethics, and trauma-informed lawyering. Students will also reflect on the demands and constraints of their role as lawyers as it relates to their clients, opposing counsel, and the systems they are working within. In the advanced semester, the seminar primarily focuses on further developing litigation and advocacy skills, including through workshops and simulations.

Grading

The externship fieldwork is assessed on a credit/fail basis. The seminar receives a letter grade based on class participation, completion of in-class exercises, and submission of writing assignments and self-evaluation.

Application Procedure

Students interested in applying for the clinic should submit the standard application, resume, and transcript online through CAMS. Please indicate in your application whether you are interested in the advanced course as well as the introductory course. Students in the first semester will be invited to enroll in the advanced course during the fall semester. If you have questions regarding the application procedure, please contact Emily Ponder Williams or Alice Fontier.

Student Contacts

Jacob Hill
Gwen Everett

* Consult the Clinics Open to LL.M. Students page to see if the clinic is available to LL.M.s in the current year. Please note there is a separate application form for LL.M.s. The deadline is different from that for JDs and is posted on the Clinic Application Timelines page.

** 5 credits include 3 clinical (fieldwork) credits and 2 academic seminar credits.