FAQ for Prospective Clinic Law Students

Do I need a car?

    Clinic participation is not dependent on access to a car. However, although many high schools are near Metro, some are not. Thus, if at all possible, you should try to obtain access to a car. Especially for the Street Law Community Clinic, since the classes are taught in the evenings, a car is highly desirable.

    Every effort is made to accommodate students without a car. However, access to a car will make your life much easier.

What about Safety?

    As in the case with all clinical programs that advocate directly for community members, participation is dependent upon traveling into poor and sometimes dangerous neighborhoods. Given the neighborhoods of many of the high schools, participation in the clinic carries some amount of risk. In deciding whether to enroll in this clinic, you should factor in whether you would feel comfortable traveling to and from your placement two to three times a week especially if you do not have access to a car. While the high schools have security staff and metal detectors, each year some schools report incidences of violence involving weapons. Street Law law student instructors have rarely been involved in violent incidents in the schools and are instructed to avoid such situations.

What is involved in preparation for Street Law?

    The basic textbook, Street Law: A Course in Practical Law, is provided to law students and high school students; law students are encouraged to supplement this text with materials and methods of their own creation. Additional resources are available in the clinic offices.

    There is substantial research and preparation for teaching, including a written lesson plan for each class. While textbooks and model lessons are provided, law students must adapt these materials to their own classes and individual styles. Since the law is always changing, students need to update and modify materials. Moreover, law students typically create lessons based on their own ideas. Also, law students create assessments (e.g., exams, quizzes, and group projects), homework assignments, and finally evaluate student work.

How are the law students graded?

    While the Clinic has no exam or paper requirement, there is substantial research and preparation for teaching, including a written lesson plan for each class. Grades are based on faculty observations of law students, lesson plans, seminar activities, journals, demonstration teaching, teaching materials and other innovative approaches developed by the law students.

FAQ for the Street Law High School Clinic

What are the Requirements of the Street Law High School Clinic?

1. attendance at the orientation seminars on teaching methodology at the beginning of the fall semester. This requires students to return to GULC a day or two before scheduled classes begin or attend additional seminars during the term on weekends or evening hours;
2. attendance of the 2-hour weekly seminar at GULC;
3. substantial planning and preparation to teach;
4. teaching approximately 3 classes per week (usually 1-1 1/2 hours per class) in a D.C. senior high school from September through April, excluding GULC vacation and exam periods; and
5. writing a journal of clinic experience and reflections.

    Law students are usually teamed with a social studies teacher from the assigned high school who teaches the days the law student does not teach.

How much time will the Street Law High School Clinic require?

    Students teach between 2-3 classes each week at one of the D.C. Public High Schools for a total of approximately three hours of actual classroom time each week. Each class requires preparation time which varies depending on the lesson plan you are creating and your comfort and experience in the classroom (students report that as the semester goes on, planning takes up less time if a substantial amount of time was devoted up front). Students also must attend a weekly two-hour seminar designed to expose students to teaching methodology, lesson planing, and a substantive overview of the unit topics. Students are required to submit lesson plans and journals each month as well as meet with clinical faculty. In addition, to help you prepare for your classes, we offer a two-day orientation.

Where will I teach as part of the Street Law High School Clinic?

    Clinical placements are determined by a number of factors, including

1. what D.C. Public High School fits into a student's class schedule;
2. student's work schedule or other activities
3. access to transportation; and
4. student preferences (every effort is made to match their preferences).

    Unfortunately, the schools do not complete their first semester schedules until September of the upcoming academic year so until that time we do not know classroom times. The key is to leave large blocks of time available in the mornings or afternoons and to keep this block available first and second semester. (Note: In general, classes in the high schools meet M-F, or M,W,F, or M,T,Th.)

FAQ for the Street Law Community Clinic

What are the requirements of the Street Law Community Clinic?

1. attendance at the clinic orientation seminars;
2. attendance at the 2-hour weekly seminar at GULC;
3. research and development of teaching materials for a series of community workshops;
4. teaching these workshops at least one evening each week at a community setting.

    Law students may also be involved in neighborhood activities related to clinic matters and recruitment of participants.

How much time will the Street Law Community Clinic require?

    Students teach at least one evening class each week at Perry School Community Center or at one of the local public housing projects. Each class requires preparation time, including research of the substantive law. Students must also attend a weekly two-hour seminar designed to expose students to teaching methodology, lesson planning, and a substantive overview of the various topics. Finally, to help you prepare for your classes, we offer a two-day orientation.

Where will I teach as part of the Street Law Community Clinic?

    Presently, the course is offered to homeless parents in transitional shelter or emergency housing at Bright Beginnings, a model preschool program for homeless children located in the Perry School Community Center, four blocks north of the Law Center. The course is also offered at Carver Terrace, a public housing project 20 blocks from the Law Center. The course may also be offered at a District of Columbia Correctional Facility.

Law Student Instructors 2007-2008  Street Law High School Clinic Barksdale, Anita J. Bonifant, Garland P. Brown, Matthew N. Canate, Diane Dickman, Kathleen Difo, Christophe Durojaiye,Ande Fisher, NealGordon, Tori Hagos, Lula Hopewell, Gregory Howard, Kristen M. Johnson, Jadine Justilien, Wiline Navarro, Angela Rodriguez, Luis Smith, Jaqueline Tassini, John Tria, Ann-Kathryn Wang, Tracy Ward, Sean