Progressive practitioners have become increasingly involved in outreach, education, and organizing as alternatives and supplements to more familiar dimensions of law practice (litigation, planning, deal-making, lobbying, negotiation, policy work.) Yet for all the buzz about �community-based practice� and �grassroots mobilization,� the training lawyers receive in and after law school largely neglects the theories, relationships, skills, and sensibilities implicated in outreach, education, and organizing. Rather than treat these less familiar activities as beyond or beneath lawyers, this workshop intends to reveal what these aspects of law practice entail and approaches to pursuing them productively. Along the way, the workshop emphasizes how outreach, education, and organizing illuminate how lawyers collaborate with others in framing problems, designing and implementing strategies, monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of any intervention, managing resources and institutions, and educating all involved about how always to get better at the problem solving at the heart of lawyering.
In this workshop, we will study contemporary theories of progressive lawyering, grassroots mobilizing, and community organizing; "case studies" of outreach, education and organizing campaigns; ideas about race, culture, class, gender, and democracy that inform and echo these theories and campaigns. We will draw on methods and bodies of thought found in sources as diverse as social theory, street theater, and self-help programs. This is a graded, five-unit course, with mandatory attendance, active participation, and a final paper required. There are no prerequisites. Enrollment is limited to 12 students and admission is by consent of instructor.