Social Justice

The 1999 – 2004 Long Range Plan was clear: “Our long term goal for the Law Center is to educate students to be superb lawyers who will promote justice and serve others both in their legal practices and in their lives.” Georgetown lawyers, it said, “will be the innovators and creative problem solvers of the profession.” And they will also be measured outside of the courtroom: “When a Georgetown lawyer moves in, the community will be better off.”

     As a matter of course, Georgetown Law students spend much of their time at the Law Center in service to others.
     Always a signature strength, clinics have become an increasingly important part of the Law Center curriculum and Georgetown now has the largest – and most highly regarded – clinical program in the country. The school offers 12 separate clinical courses including the Environmental Equity Clinic, Federal Legislation, Family Advocacy, Domestic Violence, and International Women’s Human Rights, and two Street Law Courses, overseen by 17 full-time faculty members. From the start of the first clinic in 1968, the faculty/student ratio has been small, to assure that students get the greatest benefit from the expert clinical faculty, whose value was again underscored in the mid-1990s when they became eligible for tenure.
     The Federal Legislation Clinic was established in 1994. Under the direction of Professor Chai Feldblum, the clinic gives students the opportunity to work as legislative lawyers on congressional legislation. Representing advocacy groups that do not have the funds to hire legislative attorneys, students research bills, draft proposed statutory and report language, and work with coalitions.

OPICS CREATED THE PRO BONO PLEDGE IN 2000. THE PLEDGE CHALLENGES STUDENTS TO PERFORM 75 HOURS OF PRO BONO SERVICE BEFORE GRADUATION. BY THE FALL OF 2003, SOME 270 GEORGETOWN STUDENTS HAD CONTRIBUTED 20,135 HOURS OF PRO BONO WORK.

 In 1998, the Domestic Violence and International Women’s Human Rights Clinics were created from the former Sex Discrimination Clinic. Students in the Domestic Violence Clinic represent victims of family abuse in the District of Columbia Superior Court. The International Women’s Human Rights Clinic was established in 1998 by Professor Susan Deller Ross with the mission of advancing women’s rights around the world.
     The goal of these clinics in providing help for those in need and working to protect the larger community meshes well with the Law Center’s emphasis on public service. “At Georgetown, we hope and expect to graduate students who take seriously the Jesuit belief that concern for people and social problems should never be absent,” Associate Dean for Clinical Education and Public Service Wallace Mlyniec said in 1995.
     Mlyniec went on to oversee the creation of the Office of Public Interest and Community Service (OPICS). The office’s purpose is to foster in students a commitment to public service that will stay with them throughout their professional life. OPICS, directed by Assistant Dean Barbara Moulton (L’89), who came to Georgetown from the Alliance of Justice, coordinates pro bono work for the Law Center and offers career counseling services to students and alumni who are contemplating a public service career.
     “To serve the public is ultimately the greatest calling of the law,” says Judge Arthur Gajarsa (L’67). “The Jesuit tradition of service has always been at the forefront (of a Georgetown Law education). You give back just because you are taking out. You don’t live in a vacuum or a cocoon. Today’s world is global. Georgetown teaches you that it’s not just a question of money but of being able to contribute time.” It was in this spirit that OPICS created the Pro Bono Pledge in 2000. The pledge challenges students to perform 75 hours of pro bono service before graduation. By the fall of 2003, some 270 Georgetown students had contributed 20,135 hours of pro bono work.

IN 2000, A SURVEY OF LOAN REPAYMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS CONDUCTED BY EQUAL JUSTICE WORKS FOUND THAT THE GEORGETOWN PROGRAM WAS ONE OF ONLY SIX THAT PROVIDE 70 PERCENT OF BENEFITS RECEIVED BY PARTICIPANTS OF ALL LRAP PROGRAMS IN THE NATION.

    Many students benefit from the school’s Loan Repayment Assistance Program, which pays or forgives the loans of graduates who accept positions in public interest or government service. “Today about 125 Georgetown graduates annually receive LRAP benefits, making the total expenditure about $650,000 a year,” according to Ruth Lammert Reeves, assistant dean for financial aid. In 2000, a survey of loan repayment assistance programs conducted by Equal Justice Works found that the Georgetown program was one of only six that provide 70 percent of benefits received by participants of all LRAP programs in the nation.
     Along with a focus on serving others, the Law Center encourages students of all faiths to pursue their own spiritual growth through the Campus Ministry, which is headed up by Father Alexei Michalenko and Sister Dorinda Young, who came to Georgetown in 1991. Michael Goldman (L’69) was named interim Jewish chaplain in 2002 and soon after became full-time. Arriving in 1999, Imam Yahya Hendi, serves as the first Muslim chaplain, working one day per week at the Law Center. Those looking for a place to worship are welcomed at the St. Thomas More Chapel, located in the center of the first floor of McDonough Hall. Renovated in time for 125th anniversary of the Law Center in 1995, “the space was completely transformed from its ‘neo-prison’ look: a large square room with dark red brick walls, a dark ceiling and dim lighting, to the inspiring look and feel it has today,” says Young. Officially re-dedicated by President O’Donovan in October 1995, the chapel is the site for daily and Sunday liturgies, memorial services, and Inter-religious events and services.