[This information is distributed to students enrolled in the Center for Applied Legal Studies, as part of their "Office Manual," when they begin to work in the clinic.]

I.  Introduction

     Some of the most important relationships this semester will develop between students and advisors in case team meetings. While these are not the only relationships that call for intensive thought, they are surely some of the most important for your learning. In case teams, the students rather than the advisors are expected to lead the work. Case team meetings offer a very special opportunity for education. The unusual nature of the student/advisor relationship motivates us to spell out as explicitly as possible our roles as advisors in case team meetings: what we hope to do -- and perhaps more vividly, what we hope not to do -- in working with you.  

    Two caveats are in order at the outset. First, clinical education is very different from both classroom education and legal practice. What we do in case team meetings consists largely of structured dialogue, not a lecture or a barrage of commands. We advisors ask (and answer) lots of questions, and our purpose is at least as much to stimulate your thinking and reflection as it is to move the case forward. It may take three or four meetings before you are used to this routine. We have written this Chapter to make it easier for you to understand our goals and methods. The Chapter is also a foundation for later discussion of our roles, which (as you will see) you can propose to change. We urge you to study it carefully now and to return to it periodically throughout the semester.

    Second, it is anomalous to write about "advisors' roles," precisely because much of what we propose for the student/advisor relationship is subject to discussion and possible alteration by the case team. We hope that discussion of roles will be a recurrent feature of case team operation. This chapter, therefore, constitutes the first, not the last, word regarding our respective roles.