LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY CLINIC (4) (CLC 411 & 412)

Professor Udi Ofer

The Legislative Advocacy Clinic will challenge students to conceptualize, plan, and implement a campaign to pass social justice legislation in the New York City Council. Working with the New York Civil Liberties Union, students will research relevant statutes and case law, draft legislation, and develop and implement an advocacy campaign to enact a bill. While in the clinic, students will interview clients and other interested parties, conduct legal and social science research, draft policy papers and proposed legislation, meet with community leaders and elected officials and draft testimony for a legislative hearing. The clinic’s work will include both proposing affirmative legislative initiatives and defensive efforts to respond to legislation proposed by others.

By the end of the course, students will have a framework for understanding the lawyer’s role as lobbyist, organizer, educator, coalition-builder, media spokesperson, and activist. Some clinic meetings will take place at the offices of the New York Civil Liberties Union in lower Manhattan. The clinic seminar will meet weekly for an hour and forty minutes. Students will be expected to complete an average of 6 to 10 hours of work on their cases each week.