Clinical Legal Education

This textbook was created to provide a new tool for clinical teachers. It links together the central lawyering skills and values that are part of any clinical experience. Clinical Legal Education was written with a concentration on the Theory of the Client — a broadening of "case theory" to encompass all of the legal and non-legal approaches that can be used to advance one or more of a client's goals. Rather than defining prescriptive approaches to lawyering tasks, each chapter explores a number of "choice moments," those points at which a lawyer's choices will affect the scope and nature of the representation. Clinical Legal Education will help students learn to identify those moments and to effectively reach and implement decisions with their clients.

In recognition of the realities of the clinical teaching experience, the text is less than 200 pages and is easily adaptable to a variety of clinic settings and class formats. It covers necessary skills in Interviewing, Counseling, Fact Investigation, and Negotiating that apply to every clinical experience and uses examples and contexts geared to the clinical experience. The text was subjected to real-world testing in several law school clinics, and the experiences gained there are further reflected in the Teacher's Manual (available only to professors).