Introduction: The Social Responsibility of Lawyers

Washington University School of Law inaugurated its Public Interest Law Speakers Series, entitled “Access to Justice: The Social Responsibility of Lawyers,” during the 1998-1999 school year. One of the goals of this on-going series is to highlight the social justice responsibility of lawyers. Through the series, the School hopes to send a strong message to our students and to the community that access to justice is an important part of the professional responsibility of lawyers and the professional responsibility education of Washington University graduates. Another goal of the series is to bring together students, faculty, alumni, and members of the community in an ongoing, interdisciplinary discussion about the future of the legal profession. A third goal is to highlight the excellence of the Law School clinical program, through which many of our students are exposed to pubic service and public interest law practice. In our clinical program, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1998-1999, law students assist indigent and underrepresented clients with domestic violence, employment rights, environmental, criminal defense, and death penalty cases, and work with state and federal judges, Congressional committees, and federal agencies. The year-long series featured a number of speakers, from diverse backgrounds and careers, each independently dedicated to providing access to justice, each demonstrating in their personal and professional lives the best of the legal profession–extraordinary integrity, inexhaustible courage, and unbounded compassion. The talks ranged in focus from international criminal justice, to systemic race and poverty biases in our legal system, to the role of our federal courts in influencing public interest law, to the day-to-day fights confronted by individual consumers, to public service in government and private practice. The series soundly dispelled the myth that lawyers work only for high wages and prestige, and provided an inspirational look, through the lives and words of real individuals, at the responsibilities and possibilities the field of law offers

Introduction: The Social Responsibility of Lawyers

Like the prior eight volumes dedicated to Access to Justice, most of the Articles and Essays in this volume are written by presenters in the School of Law’s annual Public Interest Law & Policy Speaker Series, entitled “Access to Justice: The Social Responsibility of Lawyers.” These presenters are prominent academics, practitioners, and authors from diverse backgrounds in areas such as international human rights, the economics of poverty, racial justice, immigration, capital punishment, conflict resolution, clinical legal education, government public service, and pro bono private practice, who share a commitment to access to justice. The Public Interest Law & Policy Speaker Series was developed in 1998–99 in celebration of the School’s nationally recognized Clinical Education Program, through which many of our students are introduced to public service and public interest law practice. The Series informs the Washington University community and wider community on issues of justice through the presentations of the speakers (that are posted on the law school’s web site), through the Articles drawn from the presentations that are published in the Journal, and through the seminar course that accompanies the series in which students have the opportunity to meet with the speakers, read their work, and develop papers that focus on the speakers’ ideas

Introduction

The 1999-2000 school year marked the second annual Washington University School of Law Public Interest Law Speakers Series, entitled “Access to Justice: The Social Responsibility of Lawyers.” This important Series serves to further three essential goals in educating students and the legal community: first, highlighting the social justice responsibility of lawyers to provide access to justice; second, bringing together students, faculty, alumni, and members of the community in an evolving, interdisciplinary discussion about the future of the legal profession; and third, celebrating the excellence of the Law School clinical program, through which many of our students experience public service and public interest law practice, and confront first-hand their personal and professional responsibility to provide access to justice to all individuals. This Series continues to dispel soundly the myth that lawyers work only for high wages and “prestige,” and provides a truly inspirational look, through the words and stories of real leaders, at the broad responsibilities and aspirations of lawyers

Poverty, Justice, and Community Lawyering: Interdisciplinary and Clinical Perspectives

This introduction recognizes the efforts toward social justice through interdisciplinary clinical teaching and practice. The goals of this project are three-fold: to raise awareness about interdisciplinary clinical teaching and practice, to inspire thoughtful discussion and debate, and to develop scholarship, guidelines, and course materials. Throughout the project, there has been a focus on questions raised in both academia and practice: What are the goals, the rewards, and the challenges of interdisciplinary teaching and practice? How does one go about designing and developing an interdisciplinary clinic or course? What are the ethical issues that arise in interdisciplinary education and practice, and what are some guidelines for resolving them? What can we learn from reports from the field as to what are the best practices, different models, and likely problems? In what ways do interdisciplinary collaborations advance or impede the delivery of legal services and justice

Women Judges and Merit Selection Under the Missouri Plan

The use of nonpartisan, merit judicial selection raises many public policy concerns: the effect of the procedure on the quality of judges ultimately chosen, the appropriate balance of public, professional, and government involvement in the process, the proper role of politics in judicial selection, and the influence of the selection and retention method on judicial decision-making. This Article addresses one additional facet of that debate: the impact of the Missouri Plan on women\u27s opportunities to become judges. The research conducted by this author demonstrates that in Missouri, the mother state of merit selection, women paradoxically are elected to the judiciary far more often than they are chosen under the Missouri Plan. Missouri trails the rest of the country in merit selection of women to its judiciary, especially at the appellate level. Missouri also lags behind other states in the overall percentage of women judges on the bench. This Article discusses the development of various methods of judicial selection in the United States, including the Missouri Plan. It analyzes the progress of women lawyers gaining access to the bench, both nationwide and in Missouri. The Article points out suggestions to improve the operation of the Missouri Plan and calls on Missouri to assume a leadership role in reforming the Plan

Introduction: The Social Responsibility of Lawyers

This volume marks the fifth annual volume published by the Washington University Journal of Law & Policy dedicated to Access to Justice. Each year, the special issue includes articles from nationally and internationally prominent academics and practitioners—from diverse backgrounds in areas such as international human rights, the economics of poverty, racial justice, capital punishment, clinical legal education, government public service, and pro bono private practice—who share a commitment to access to justice. Many of the articles are drawn from presentations in the School of Law’s annual Public Interest Law Speakers Series, entitled Access to Justice: The Social Responsibility of Lawyers. This Series introduces our community to the ideas of outstanding academics and practitioners, highlights the responsibility of lawyers to ensure access to justice, and provides a forum for the law school and the wider University community to engage in a discussion of legal, social, and ethical issues that bear upon access to justice. This Series, begun in 1998–99, was developed in celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the School’s nationally recognized Clinical Education Program, through which many of our students are introduced to public service and public interest law practice. Some of the articles are drawn from the Clinical Education Program’s annual Access to Equal Justice Colloquium on Creating Collaborations Between the University and the Community to Improve Access to Justice in Our Region. This colloquium, initiated in 2000–01 by the Association of American Law Schools, brings together civil and criminal attorneys; community leaders; government officials; judges; and faculty, staff, and students from local law schools and universities to collaborate on improving access to justice and the delivery of legal services in the region. This volume, like the prior four volumes, provides a truly inspirational look, through the words and stories of real leaders, at the broad social justice responsibilities and aspirations of lawyers to foster access to justice for all