LAW819

Satisfies Experiential Learning requirement.

This course is the classroom component for the Government Law Clinic (LAW*919). The course examines the government lawyer's role by exploring real world issues and challenges routinely faced by government lawyers. Topics include, but are not limited to: Who is the government lawyer's client? What does it mean to advise a policymaker competently? When do conflicts of interest arise for government lawyers, and how are they handled? The course introduces participants to doctrines critical to the practice of government law, but typically not covered elsewhere, including freedom of information laws, open meeting laws, and ethical rules that govern the behavior of public officials. The course also focuses on skills training, developing the ability to learn from critical self-reflection, and draws on the students' experiences in their placements to advance not only their understanding of basic principles of substantive and procedural law relevant to their placement, but of the role of lawyers and legal institutions in society as well. The Government Lawyer is a required course for the government law concentration. Government Law concentrators who have met their externship requirement independently may enroll without also enrolling in the clinic's fieldwork component.