This course is designed to provide a broad exposure to students who are considering a career in "public interest" law, a term that is broadly conceived to include civil and criminal matters and government and non-government work for any entity that does not have a profit-making goal. The instructor practiced public interest law for more than 30 years, but also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for nearly four years. Much of his experience is in litigation, and so some, but not a majority, of the course deals with litigation issues and problems arising from litigation. Other areas include administrative advocacy, reviewing a proposed new rule on electronic discovery, and advising a non-profit on what activities involving issue advocacy and electioneering it may properly do. In a number of instances, the choice of tools is a focus of our discussion.
The course is composed of a series of cases, readings, and problems with several ends in mind. First, to give students a glimpse of the range of public interest activities that are available, as well as the intellectual content that underlies them. Second, to introduce them to some tools of public interest advocacy and consider the contexts in which they may be more or less effective. Third, to help develop skills and certain areas of expertise that will be particularly useful to those who enter the non-profit world and to provide the doctrinal analysis and understanding to be able to use them effectively. Fourth, to expose students to some important ethical issues that arise in public law contexts, for lawyers who are working inside the government and out.
The precise manner in which class will be conducted varies depending on the nature of the matter being considered. For some classes there are problems and cases and part of the time is spent examining the cases, and then applying them to the problem. In other classes, there are assigned readings, with a set of questions based on the readings, which constitute the focus of class discussion. In others there are specific problems, and students prepare their analyses of how those problems should be addressed. The first topic is to consider Brown v. Board of Education from the perspective of the lawyers who were bringing the case, not so much looking at the major constitutional issue at stake, but the many other decisions they made as public interest lawyers along the way.