Case Studies from Fall 2007

Case Studies from Fall 2008

 

Fall 2008 Student Work

This course is designed to be an overview of the issues faced by public interest lawyers. Those issues include, as you would imagine in a law course, substantive law questions. They also include social and political questions and questions about the role of the lawyer in social change and policy development. Ethical issues also arise in this practice area.

To help explore as many of these issues as possible and to engage all of the class in the development of the key material that we will read to learn about these issues, each student in the course, as part of a small team, will help prepare the assigned materials for one week of the course. Here is how this will work:

The course will begin with a deep look at a famous Chicago case, Gautreaux v. CHA, through the eyes of the lead lawyer in the case, Alexander Polikoff. Mr. Polikoff’s first person account of this 40 year public interest case, Waiting for Gautreaux, is a rich source for exploring the law, legal tactics, the social and political issues and the role of the lawyer in a landmark public interest case. The class consideration of Gautreaux will culminate in a class session with Mr. Polikoff on September 11.

Right after Gautreaux we will study Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka which is perhaps the most important and well known public interest case. There is a rich Brown literature available in print and online covering the types of issues addressed in this course. We will explore some of that literature and video and web information.

For each of the remaining 10 weeks of the course we will consider an important public interest case, usually decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. The list of these cases is set out below.

While we cannot expect to gather the richness that Waiting for Gautreaux offers, the student teams will prepare Case Studies for each of the ten assigned cases. The Case Studies should include a paper and, in addition it can include bibliographies and selected readings as well as graphics and power points and videos that help the class understand:

· the nature of the controversy from which the case arose,

· the issues faced by the litigants and lawyers,

· the impact of the case decision on the litigants and the lawyers and

· finally, the impact the case has had on the public since its decision.

The Case Study will be assigned reading for the entire class for the week during which we study the covered case.

In addition to the normal Lexis and Google avenues for research, I encourage you to contact lawyers and litigants and people in the affected institutions. Interview them by phone or email or visit them if they are local. Include accounts of your interviews in the Case Study.

 

Case Study Student Assignments -

Fall 2008

Case Study 1: (9/23, 9/25)
endangered species and dam construction
TVA v. Hill (snail darter case)
Catherine Heindel, Adrian Guerrero, Benna Crawford, Victoria Hayes

Case Study 2: (10/2, 10/7)
parental termination, record transcript costs and poverty
M.L.B v. S.L.J.
Jenna Stewart, Emi Aprekuma, Brian Stefanich

Case Study 3: (10/14, 10/16)
minor children, Medicaid and access to medical care
Memisovski v. Maram
Matthew Andrachick, Ashley Decker, Alison Downs

Case Study 4: (10/21, 10/23)
2nd Amendment and handgun regulation
District of Columbia v. Heller
Alison Anixter, Benjamin Lyon, Craig Stern

Case Study 5: (10/28, 10/30)
Florida prohibition against adoption by a homosexual person
Lofton v. DCFS
Margaret Kuklewicz, Rachel O'Konis, Lindsay Weinberg

Case Study 6: (11/4, 11/6)
1st amendment and hate speech
Skokie v. National Socialist Party of America
Michael Burney, Adam Savin, Stephanie Fajuri

Case Study 7: (11/11, 11/13)
free exercise of religion and animal sacrifice
Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. Hialeah
Afia Yunus, Matthew Swenson , Lauren Schefman

Case Study 8: (11/18, 11/20)
racial discrimination and affirmative action in law school
Grutter v. Bollinger
Veronica Lopez, Ausaf Farooqi, Kimberly Muehleisen, Gwynne Kizer

Case Study 9: (11/25, 12/2)
sexual harassment and Title VII
Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson
Anne Kronenberg, Lillian McCartin, Elisa Rodriguez

Case Study 10: (12/4, 12/5)
undocumented aliens and public education
Plyler v. Doe
Arnold Hinojosa, Ruth Lopez, Anna Lucero