In Chapter 1 of this Manual, we have set forth some of the goals of the Clinic as a whole. Later in this Chapter, we will be talking about students' goals for case team work. At this juncture, therefore, it seems reasonable for us to state more specifically our own goals as they relate to case teams, and to indicate how they affect the methodology that we favor.

     A key goal is to help you learn to be responsible lawyers. We believe that people learn best in an environment in which they have responsibility for what they are doing. Therefore, we sometimes hold back on giving advice, or remain silent when we might otherwise intervene, to make space for you to speak and act. In this way, law school clinics are fundamentally different from most law firms. Giving you space in which to learn is of enormous importance to us.

     A second goal is to affect your approach to handling cases and solving problems generally. We have identified, in the chapter of this Manual describing our institutional objectives, several goals other than those traditionally identified with an attorney's routine, that all of us can work on in the Clinic. The "methodology" we have developed in our clinical work is to practice law in slow motion -- to provide the practitioner with time and support for examining each decision that arises in the course of practice in great detail. This process helps you see the range of options that exist, and helps you learn to question your own assumptions about what to do in a particular situation.

     We take decisions that appear small and insignificant -- e.g., what to say in a phone call to another lawyer asking to stipulate the admissibility of a document -- and encourage you to plan them in great detail, anticipating every possible twist and turn and looking at the consequences of each sentence to be spoken. Then, after the phone call has been made, you might analyze it in equal depth -- looking at all the factors that affected the result. What did you do when opposing counsel asked a question about your client during this preliminary contact? Did you follow the lawyer's lead out of deference to greater experience? What determined which student made the call or, if both students were on the line, who did most of the talking? How was the call affected by the students' fear that the other lawyer would refuse the requested stipulation? And so on, until we have examined every corner of the event.

    Thoroughness is key to good lawyering. In every meeting we will try to identify questions that might not yet have occurred to you about your cases. (Our purpose in doing this is not to make you feel that you've somehow failed, but to help you scramble up the next rung of the ladder of excellent legal practice.) This methodology means that the Clinic work is different from ordinary law practice, in that much time is allowed for study. You will have many fewer cases than a practicing lawyer, and will spend far more time on them than you would in practice. This means that despite your relative inexperience you can offer first-rate representation, and that you can use your cases as learning tools without any sacrifice of your client's interest. (Should an apparent conflict arise between education and service, this, too, would become an object of careful study and decision-making.) This experience will be a reference point when you work in a setting in which you have more cases and less time for reflection.

     A third goal, encompassing several of the objectives specified in the first chapter, is to teach about collaboration. Collaboration usually produces better results than solo work. Collaboration can be great fun, and it can be difficult, but by studying the process of working with other people, one can become more skilled in collaborating. Many issues about how to divide up or delegate work, how to cope with differences in style or work habits, and what to do when you reach an impasse, can be better resolved by conscious examination. Therefore, in case team meetings we will ask questions about how the partnership is working, and will often make comments or ask questions about the work of the case team.

    A fourth goal -- and perhaps the most difficult and serious of our goals as teachers -- is to help you explore and perhaps to challenge your professional values and choices. We hope to help you see the power to affect society that you will have as lawyers, and to inspire you to use that power on behalf of under-represented people and groups. We would like to foster your sense of public duty -- to encourage you to view your professional responsibilities as including some public work. When possible, we prefer to represent people with low incomes in the Clinic in part because affluent clients do not need free legal assistance, but also because we believe that representing clients who cannot afford to pay for counsel offers better opportunities to examine one's values as a lawyer, and to understand the vast opportunities that exist in practicing law to help people whose needs are greatest. We will not attempt to direct your decisions about your careers, but we would like to spend time talking about the ethics and politics of lawyering, and about the consequences of choices about whom to represent and how to represent them.