THINKING OUTSIDE THE LAW FACULTY:
A CALL FOR A SPECIALIZED PLE PROGRAM

Aisha Topsakal and Barbara Cuber

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.

-Alice Walker

During the 1960s and 70s, jurists began to question whether the legal problems of society’s most vulnerable groups could be adequately addressed through pro bono and charity work alone. In an oft-quoted article entitled “Practicing Law for Poor People”, American lawyer Stephen Wexler argued that case-by-case litigation does little to advance the overall lot of the poor; instead, he called on lawyers to shift their focus from providing legal representation to sharing legal knowledge. This spirit of empowerment now forms the foundation of public legal education (PLE) in Canada, which seeks to inform the public about the law and the legal system. Developments in the field of PLE over the last few decades reflect a growing conviction among Canadians that they are entitled to legal information on the issues that directly affect their lives.

Today, PLE services take on a number of forms and cover almost every area of the law, including court procedure, family law, employment and housing, to name a few. The Canadian legal landscape is dotted with a wide variety of PLE providers, from grassroots community clinics to government agencies. In 1987, a nation-wide umbrella group, the Public Legal Education Association of Canada, was formed to act as the voice of organizations that promote, develop or support PLE initiatives. Many law faculties themselves offer education and information services to the public, be it through university-based legal clinics, student-run advocacy groups or initiatives like the recent McGill Mini-Law courses.

For law students seeking a career in the public interest, PLE is an excellent means by which to promote access to justice. Yet many law students are unaware of the opportunities that exist in this field or are unsure of how to prepare themselves academically to undertake such work. If PLE is to be an effective, long-term empowerment tool, interested law students must be equipped with the skills and knowledge that are required of “PLE practitioners”. To this end, it is time to start thinking about what a specialized law faculty PLE curriculum might look like. Ideally, such a program would prepare students for the multi-disciplinary nature of PLE by including non-law courses and inter-departmental collaboration.

 

The diversity of PLE services

The range of services that fall under the heading of “PLE” is varied and continually growing to meet community needs. Some typical activities are walk-in legal clinics, pamphlet and poster campaigns, door-to-door community outreach, and informational websites. Another popular avenue is law-related education, which is geared towards teaching young people about the law through school-based projects at the primary and secondary levels. These projects might involve teaching kits, mock trials or law-themed day camps. Potential careers in this field are equally diverse. Some examples are: staff lawyer at a community legal clinic, project coordinator at a PLE organization, lawyer with a government department, and staff writer for a consumer protection magazine.

While PLE activities and careers are wide-ranging, they are united by one overriding goal: increasing access to justice by providing the individual with information about the law, whether in general or specific terms. As such, future PLE practitioners need a solid grounding in many areas of the law, particularly because their work will tend to be more varied than the specialized tasks undertaken in traditional legal practice. However it cannot be overemphasized that “knowing the law” is only the beginning for a PLE practitioner. In order to go about educating and informing the public effectively, lawyers must also develop a familiarity with other relevant areas, such as communications and educational theory. Once the multi-disciplinary nature of PLE is recognized, it is possible to begin envisioning a specialized program for future PLE practitioners.

Toward a multi-disciplinary PLE curriculum

Since a varied skill set is required to effectively educate and inform the public, the ideal law faculty PLE program would emphasize the importance of multi-disciplinary learning. Law students would be required to enroll in pertinent non-law courses and to undertake inter-disciplinary research on the theory and practice of PLE for the completion of their degree. They might even be encouraged to engage in team projects with students from other faculties. Such an approach, while increasing student skills, would also encourage future practitioners to think globally about knowledge-sharing across fields and ultimately with the public. A brief description of some PLE-related skills is set out below, as well as the university faculties and departments that could play a useful role in a PLE curriculum.

a) Educational theory and techniques

In order to design effective educational projects related to the law, it would be helpful for PLE practitioners to have a sound understanding of basic pedagogical theory and practice. By taking courses or pursuing research in collaboration with the Faculty of Education, law students might build a firm foundation from which to plan successful law-related education projects. Particular attention should be paid to how teaching might be tailored to suit different target audiences – for example, adults and children.

b) Effective communication skills

The oral and written communication of legal information to the public requires an ability to explain the law with clarity and concision. During their studies, law students develop a sophisticated vocabulary of juridical terms, but the future PLE practitioner should have a firm understanding of the potentially alienating effect of such language on society’s most vulnerable groups. As such, students interested in PLE should be encouraged to study language, communication and marketing in order to prepare them for the challenges of conveying complex legal concepts in simple terms. Communications courses could also familiarize students with the various media tools and techniques that can be used to deliver PLE.

c) Organizational and human resource management

Today, non-profit organizations find themselves in a constant struggle to survive. Government cuts to funding and dwindling social programs mean that while the demand for legal information has risen, the resources available to provide such services have been drained. Clinic directors and managers are often called upon to provide quality legal services while also tending to increasingly demanding management and human resource functions within the organization. Because many non-profit groups operate in the absence of adequate specialization in these fields, completion of management and human resources courses would be an invaluable asset for students seeking leadership positions in clinics and non-profit organizations.

d) Familiarity with psychology and social work

PLE providers frequently find themselves dealing directly with clients who are facing traumatic ordeals, such as eviction, personal bankruptcy, the breakdown of a relationship, spousal abuse, welfare cuts and similar problems. Clients often turn to legal clinics as a last resort, and their needs and concerns tend to transcend the legal realm. By acquiring a familiarity with psychology and social work, future PLE practitioners would be better equipped to identify their clients’ non-law needs and provide appropriate referral services.

e) Sociological and historical understanding

Many of PLE’s primary beneficiaries are traditionally-marginalized persons and groups who lack the resources needed to effectively address their legal problems and engage with the justice system. Practitioners should therefore have a socio-historical appreciation of the interacting forces of oppression, exclusion and indifference that operate against communities such as the poor, elderly, visible minorities, cultural communities and recent immigrants.

Potential benefits of a PLE program

The above is a non-exhaustive list and is merely intended to illustrate the manner in which a multi-disciplinary approach can contribute to an effective PLE curriculum. Practical legal clinic courses are an excellent start, but academic training must extend beyond the Law Faculty to adequately prepare students interested in pursuing a career in this field. Law students and lawyers tend to inhabit a world with its own language, culture and ethos. It is imperative that students interested in PLE avoid this tendency by building strong, co-operative links with other disciplines. In the process, the Law Faculty might increase its appeal among community-minded students who would not otherwise think to pursue a law degree.

By undertaking research into the theory and practice of PLE, students can begin to consider how they might contribute to sustaining an ongoing dialogue between the public and the legal system. Such a sensitivity to the needs of the public can benefit all future lawyers by nourishing client-centered professional relationships built on mutual understanding. One can easily see the benefit of such an approach for practitioners in a small family law firm or legal aid lawyers who provide assistance to financially-disadvantaged clients. Some measure of PLE training could also prove useful for any lawyer intending to pursue community-orientedactivities, such as sitting on the Board of a community clinic or accepting pro bono files from underprivileged clients.

In many ways, the Law Faculty may be the final frontier for PLE. Lawyers working in PLE have spent years forging relationships with community organizations, primary and secondary school staff, government departments and other funding agencies, yet the field has maintained a relatively low profile among law students themselves. As access to justice concerns become all the more pressing in Canadian society, so too does the need for law students to wrestle with the multi-disciplinary reality of PLE. Indeed, it is only by recognizing that law does not hold all the answers that jurists can succeed in making it a far more useful tool of empowerment.

* Aisha Topsakal is a Project Coordinator at Éducaloi, a Montréal-based PLE organization. Barbara Cuber is a third-year law student at McGill University.