Abstract
The theme of social justice is a familiar one in clinical scholarship,2 and clinical scholars were among the first to pioneer the use of narrative in law review writing.3 We believe that the practitioners in our program, as lawyers transitioning from practice to the world of clinical teaching,4 can offer new insights into the connection between social justice and teaching and lawyering in a clinical setting. A good example of "three years in the life of a practitioner-in-residence" can be found in Professor Beth Lyon's description of her responsibilities during her time (1998-2001) as a practitioner-in-residence in our program.7 Professor Lyon describes her work at WCL as a "[t]hree-year teaching fellowship at [the] International Human Rights Law Clinic teaching [the] lawyering seminar and supervising students handling political asylum cases, habeas corpus litigation in federal district court, and petitions before human rights bodies. "8 During her tenure as a practitioner-in-residence, Professor Lyon designed an LLM externship seminar entitled "Lawyering Across Cultures," taught a seminar on "Economic, Social and Cultural Rights," guest lectured in other law school courses, and assisted with developing an initiative on gender in the legal curriculum in India.9 In many ways, Professor Lyon's teaching and service work in the early years of the practitioner program "appear[s] indistinguishable from that of the [permanent] faculty in most clinics,"10 and closely resembles the work of WCL's practitioners-in-residence today. Training New Teachers in the Art of Clinical Pedagogy, where he describes Georgetown Law School's course in clinical pedagogy.12 There is a vast literature about clinical legal education and lawyering theory, beginning in the early days of clinical scholarship and continuing to the present.