Curriculum

NOTE: Since curricular requirements are reviewed and updated each academic year, you are required to complete the requirements that were in force in the year in which you affiliated. The following requirements apply to students who will affiliate with the Center in the spring of 2012. For students who affiliated in the spring of 2011 or earlier, please click here to review your requirements.


JAC CURRICULAR REQUIREMENTS (Spring 2012 Affiliates)
To download a PDF of the following requirements, please click here.

The Justice Action Center curriculum is designed to develop an interest in lawyering for justice, a sense of shared experience among JAC faculty and students, an awareness of problems faced by lawyers involved with social justice issues, and the ability to think critically about them. The JAC curriculum has three components: two required courses, a concentration in a particular area of social justice law, and a social justice placement. To complete the JAC affiliation successfully, students are required to:

  1. Complete a JAC gateway course;
  2. Satisfy the concentration requirements in a particular area of social justice law;
  3. Complete a social justice placement; and
  4. Fulfill the JAC capstone requirement in the final year of enrollment.

These requirements are described below.


I. JUSTICE ACTION CENTER GATEWAY COURSE

All JAC students must satisfy the JAC “gateway” course requirement. The gateway course is designed to develop a sense of shared experience among JAC faculty and students, an awareness of problems faced by lawyers involved with social justice issues, and the ability to think critically about them. Day division students satisfy the requirement by enrolling in the Justice Action Center Colloquium in the fall of their second year. Evening division students satisfy it by enrolling in the Colloquium or in Law, Public Policy, and Social Change in any semester before they graduate.

Justice Action Center Colloquium: Legal Practice for Social Change (2 credits)
The JAC Colloquium is a required, graded, two-credit seminar exclusively for JAC affiliates and taught by JAC faculty. All day division students must take the Colloquium in the fall semester of their second year. Evening division students may take the Colloquium at any time before they graduate. Through case studies including school segregation, Hurricane Katrina, the school-to-prison pipeline, and the war on drugs, Colloquium students learn about the potential of law to effectuate social change. We will consider different approaches to social change through law, including class action litigation, individual client representation in criminal and civil contexts, legislative advocacy, and community organizing. We will consider critiques of these models and alternative approaches, and study organizations involved in social change through law.

Law, Public Policy, and Social Change (2 credits)
This course is open to all JAC students. Evening division students may take this course to satisfy the JAC gateway course requirement. This course will challenge students to consider the various roles that lawyers play in movements for social change and the political nature of litigation, judicial decisions, and social change. Students will study past and present examples of lawyers working to advance public policy, including the work conducted by lawyers to end legal segregation of the public schools, organize the Montgomery bus boycott, build the post–September 11, 2001 civil liberties movement, and organize the growing movement to reform education and public safety policies that contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline.


II. CONCENTRATIONS

Each JAC student will complete a concentration of four courses in a particular area of social justice law. Each concentration contains a list of courses students can select to satisfy the four-course requirement. Most of the concentrations divide these courses into one or more courses the student must take to satisfy the concentration (required courses) and other courses that satisfy the four-course minimum but are not required (related courses). Other concentrations simply list courses that would satisfy the four-course requirement without dividing the list into required and related courses. Required courses are introductory courses in the field. Related courses generally cover advanced subjects in the field or other relevant subjects or skills. Not every course listed in a concentration is offered every year, so students should consult with faculty about course selection. Students may also design their own concentration in consultation with and with approval from the Director. Project-based learning courses may also satisfy a concentration course requirement with approval of the Director.

There are also several courses that are relevant to any student interested in social justice law. We recommend that you take one or more of these courses, although you may not necessarily be required to take them or use them to satisfy part of your concentration. The strongly recommended courses are Administrative Law, Civil Rights Law, Remedies, and Statutory Interpretation.

Listed below are the Center’s twelve pre-approved concentrations. These concentrations can also be tailored to fit a student’s particular interests or to reflect new or modified course offerings. Students must take a total of four courses in a concentration—including the required courses—to complete the concentration course requirements. Not every course listed in a concentration is offered every year, so students should consult with faculty about course selection. Please click on a concentration for a complete list of course requirements:

Expand or CollapseAnti-Discrimination Law

Expand or CollapseCivil Liberties

Expand or CollapseCriminal Law

Expand or CollapseEconomic Justice: Advocacy

Expand or CollapseEconomic Justice: Community Economic Development

Expand or CollapseEducation Law

Expand or CollapseEnvironmental Law

Expand or CollapseFamily Law

Expand or CollapseImmigration Law

Expand or CollapseInternational Human Rights Law

Expand or CollapseLabor and Employment Law

Expand or CollapseMental Disability Law

Expand or CollapseSocial Change Advocacy


III. SOCIAL JUSTICE PLACEMENTS

JAC students are required to complete a social justice placement related to their concentration. JAC students can complete the social justice placement requirement through a job, an externship, a clinical course, or a workshop course after the first year of law studies. During the semester or summer in which a student is completing the social justice requirement, the student will meet three times with a JAC faculty member to discuss the placement and the student’s experience. In many instances, if a student satisfies the placement requirement through a course, that course will also count toward a concentration course requirement. Placements must be pre-approved by the director or associate director.

Current students may download the requisite forms by clicking the links below:


IV. JUSTICE ACTION CENTER CAPSTONE EXPERIENCE

All JAC students must complete a capstone experience in their final year of enrollment. There are four options for completing the capstone: the JAC Capstone Project course; a project-based learning course approved by the Director; a clinic or field placement course approved by the Director; or participating in the JAC Law Review Note Symposium. (Students cannot satisfy their social justice placement and capstone experience requirements through the same course.) Students satisfying the capstone will make a presentation of their project to members of the JAC community at the end of the school year, either as part of the particular course in which they are enrolled or through separately scheduled presentations.

Justice Action Center Capstone Project (2 credits)
The JAC Capstone Project is a two-credit course exclusively for JAC affiliates. The Capstone is a year-long project. Students in the course work under the supervision of a JAC faculty member on projects including, for example, an analysis of empirical data, a policy paper, model legislation, regulatory comments, a practice manual, an amicus brief, or a project developing out of a clinical course experience.

Project-Based Learning Courses
Project-based learning (PBL) courses are small-group classes. Students in PBL courses work on a particular project. The following PBL courses satisfy the capstone requirement:

Administration for Children's Services
Civil Justice Through the Courts
Community-Based Initiatives: Family Law Reforms
The Creation of a Disability Rights Tribunal for Asia and the Pacific
Conservation Law and Policy
Detention in the War Against Terrorism
Education Law and Practice
The Guardianship Project
Immigration Law and Litigation
Racial Justice Litigation

Click here to view the capstone syllabus for students fulfilling the capstone requirement through a project-based learning course.

Clinics and Field Placements
Students can also satisfy the capstone requirement by enrolling in an approved clinic or field placement course. Students satisfying the capstone through a clinic or field placement will also submit a five-page narrative description of their experience, including a portfolio of their work. The following clinics and field placements satisfy the JAC capstone requirement:

Civil Rights Clinic
Criminal Defense Clinic
Criminal Prosecution Clinic
Domestic Violence Litigation Field Placement
Elder Law Clinic
Immigration and Refugee Rights Field Placement
Mediation Clinic

To view the capstone syllabus corresponding to clinics and field placements, click here.

Law Review Note Symposium
Day and evening division students completing a Law Review note in their final year of study (the third year for day division students and the fourth year for evening division students) can satisfy the capstone requirement by writing their notes and planning a symposium at which all Law Review students who elect this option will present their notes to a general audience. Students will plan the symposium, including developing the program, preparing an invitation list, designing the invitation, and soliciting guests. Students will also draft and seek to publish in an appropriate venue a short (500–750 word) opinion piece relating to their notes.

To view the capstone syllabus for students using a Law Review note to complete the capstone requirement, click here.