[The English version follows below the Russian message.] Прошедший клиническую юридическую подготовку и работающий в настоящее время в крупной юридической фирме юрист сказал следующее: «Юридическая клиника была бесценным средством, позволившим мне объяснять различные вопросы клиентам, судьям. Она помогла мне представить максимально просто, доступно любой юридический вопрос, объясняя его моим слушателям в классе. Это - совершенно бесценный опыт, позволивший мне работать в фирме и делать то же самое для моих клиентов. Несмотря на трудности вначале, большинство опрошенных юристов в конце концов были глубоко удовлетворены интерактивной методологией, используемой в юридической клинике, которая поощряет использование студентами их творческих способностей и не боится рисковать. Соревнование (учебно-показательный процесс) был действительно пиком их работы в клинике для большинства юристов, прошедших клиническую подготовку. Многие из них видели в нем опыт, который дает уверенность в своих силах, и некоторые из них отметили, что он дает такую же уверенность и учащимся школы. Особенно замечательно было их чувство гордости за подготовленных ими учащихся, а также гордость учащихся школы, которые ощутили, что они сумели пройти через это. Как было заключено юристом, который не так давно работает в Департаменте труда США: «Он дает детям ощущение позитивных аспектов судопроизводства. В известном смысле - уверенность в собственных силах, а может быть даже нацеленность на то, чтобы стать в будущем юристом. Он также служит объединению группы, дети работают вместе над проектом; проводились соревнования с другими школами были развиты отношения товарищества. Несколько тем, которые появились в ответ на вопрос о том, почему юридическим факультетам следует включать юридическую клинику как форму обучения по выбору: Юридическая клиника: 1) делает возможным для юридических факультетов обеспечивать оказание ценной услуги сообществу; 2) обеспечивает возможность лучшего понимания права через его применение; 3) формирует более отзывчивых людей/ более гуманных людей, которые с благодарностью возвращают свой долг обществу; 4) обеспечивает студентам-юристам возможность объяснять право простым языком; 5) формирует более квалифицированных юристов, которые имеют перспективы в реальном мире. Для тех, которые интересуются полным отчетом о данном исследовании, пожалуйста, связывайтесь со мной по электронной почте: MBern362@aol.com С уважением Marcy Bernbaum PhD ------------------------- Hello to all COLPI-SLClinics members, I have been asked to share with you my recent research on the impact of street-law type programs. Between September, 1999 and February, 2000 I conducted a study at Georgetown University Law Center (USA) to assess the impact of the Street Law clinic on the personal and professional lives of lawyers who took the clinic while enrolled at Georgetown. Street Law is one of several clinics that second and third year law students can opt to take as an elective while enrolled at the Georgetown University Law Center. Law students who participate in the year-long Street Law clinic are assigned to a public high school in the District of Columbia. During the year they teach applied law to high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors -- a number with limited literacy skills and who themselves have had problems with the law. Street Law culminates, at the end of the school year, with a mock trial competition at the D.C. Superior Court where high school students have an opportunity to put into practice the skills they have acquired during the course of the year. The mock trials are presided by District of Columbia judges. Since Street Law was first established in 1972 at the Georgetown University Law Center, some 600 law students have taken the Street Law clinic as an elective. These law students have, in turn, benefited approximately 18,000 District of Colombia high school students. The objectives of the study were i) to find out from lawyers who took the Street Law clinic while students at the Georgetown University Law Center anywhere from 3-15 years ago, what stood out in their memories about the program: what they particularly liked, what they didn't like; what suggestions they would have for improving the program; ii) assess what personal and professional the impacts the program had on the students; iii) assess what they see as the value added of having a Street Law program in a law school. A random sample of 21 lawyers, all graduates of the Street Law clinic, were interviewed for the study. They ranged in age from 28 to 47 and, at the time of the interview, were involved in a wide variety of occupations. (Four were in large law firms, three in small law firms, three in private practice, four with either the federal or state government, three with non-profit non-government organizations (NGOs), one is a lawyer in the army, one works for a brokerage firm, one is a prosecutor, and one is a senior judicial attorney to an associate judge in a state court of appeals.) For a number of the lawyers interviewed a highlight of the Street Law experience was the opportunity it afforded them to be exposed to the realities of the lives of people that they might not otherwise have been exposed to. Several attributed to Street Law helping them to be more understanding and compassionate with their clients; to be more effective in defending clients who come from backgrounds similar to those of the high school students that they worked with. The overwhelming majority of the lawyers interviewed felt that Street Law had helped them to explain the law in practical terms to their clients and other people they interact with -- be they in corporations, in family practice, in the court system. This, plus the confidence that a number have gained in public speaking while teaching Street Law, has contributed to their being more effective as lawyers. A graduate of Street Law who is currently working in a large law firm had the following to say: "Street Law has been an invaluable tool to be able to explain things to clients, judges. It has helped me to be able to simplify thing by having to stand in front of a classroom and learning to be able to explain things to my students in a simple way. It is invaluable to be able to go into law firm and do the same thing with clients." While difficult at the beginning, most of the lawyers interviewed ended up greatly appreciating the interactive methodology used in Street Law methodology which encouraged the law students to use their creativity and to take risks. The mock trial competition was clearly a highlight of the year for many of the lawyers who took Street Law. Many personally found it an empowering experience and several volunteered that it was empowering for their high schools students. Particularly notable was the pride they felt at having prepared their students for the mock trial competition and the pride the high school students felt having gone through it. As recalled by a lawyer who currently works at the U.S. Department of Labor: "It gave kids a sense of the positive aspects of a court room, a certain sense of empowerment, self-confidence, hope, goals as to maybe wanting to be lawyers. It also served to unify the group. They worked together on a project, there was a competition with other schools, camaraderie was developed" Several themes emerged in response to the question of why law schools should include a Street Law clinic as an elective: (1) Street Law makes it possible for law schools to provide a valuable service to the community; (2) Street Law provides an opportunity to better understand the law through application; (3) Street Law produces better rounded people/more human people who give back to their community; (4) Street Law provides law students with the ability to explain law in plain English; (5) It produces better lawyers who have a perspective on the real world. For anyone who is interested in the full report of the research, please contact me via e-mail at: MBern362@aol.com Kind regards, Marcy Bernbaum, PhD
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