Law 464 --Public Interest Law and Policy. This course offers an overview of the issues faced by lawyers representing low income clients and lawyers who serve under-represented and disenfranchised groups. The course will begin with an investigation of the meaning of public interest law. The bulk of the course will cover the key cases decided and legislation passed since the 1960s when the Johnson Administration launched its war on poverty in the United States. These cases may include court decisions and legislation affecting income support for low income people including federal welfare programs, social security and state general assistance programs. Low income housing, medical care, nutrition and access to courts may also be explored. In addition, the course will explore ethical issues that arise when lawyers represent low income clients and professionalism questions that are raised by the special role lawyers play in providing access to justice.

The Course Information page contains details about how to contact me and explains how the course will be graded. The Assignments page will contain the assignment for each class. New material and changes to assignments, as well as the outlines that I use in class, will be posted there. The Student Work page describes the team project and team assignments for the Case Studies each student will do during the course.

The Assignment for the first class on August 25, 2009 is as follows:

The New Public Interest Lawyers, 79 Yale L. J. 1069, 1069-1072 (1969-70). Link to Excerpts

Robert L. Rabin, Lawyers for Social Change: Perspectives on Public Interest Law, 28 Stan. L. Rev. 207 224-231 (1975-76).

Link to Excerpts 

Ann Southworth, Conservative Lawyers and the Contest Over the Meaning of "Public Interest Law," 52 U.C.L.A. L. Rev. 1223, 1234-1245 (2004-2005) Link to Excerpts