FAQ for Prospective Clinic Law Students

Do I need a car?

    Clinic participation is not dependent on access to a car, and every effort is made to accommodate students without a car. Accordingly, we place law students with a car at high schools that are not easily accessible by public transportation.  Access to a car is especially desirable for Street Law Community Clinic participants who teach in the evenings.

What about Safety?

     As in the case with all clinical programs that advocate directly for community members, participation involves 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, particularly 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. Law students participating in the Street Law Clinic have rarely been involved in violent incidents in the schools and are instructed how to handle such situations that may arise.

What is involved in preparation for Street Law?

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

    Substantial research and preparation is required for the Clinic, including preparing 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. Law students typically create unique lessons, as well as assessments (e.g., exams, quizzes, and group projects), homework assignments. Law students must also dedicate time to evaluating 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 preparing a written lesson plan for each class. Grades are based on faculty observations of law students, quality of lesson plans, law student participation in a weekly seminar, journals, in-seminar demonstration teaching, and preparation of teaching materials and other innovative approaches.

FAQ for the Street Law High School Clinic

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

1. Attendance at a 4-day orientation on teaching methodology at the beginning of the fall semester, which is held during the week before classes begin;
2. attendance at a 2-hour weekly seminar;
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 Georgetown vacation and exam periods; and
5. writing a journal of clinic experience and reflections.

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). Students also must attend a weekly two-hour seminar designed to expose students to teaching methodology, lesson planning, 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 to discuss progress in their classes.

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.

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; and
4. teaching these workshops at least one evening each week in a community setting.

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.

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.