As the only law school in the state of Rhode Island, the Roger Williams University Ralph R. Papitto School of Law is uniquely positioned to offer students intimate access to the heart of a thriving legal community. According to Dean David A. Logan, these “value-added” educational features are a vital complement to strictly academic study.
“All ABA-accredited law schools provide their students a sound fundamental legal education,” Logan said. “But at Roger Williams, we add value to the J.D. degree by providing students a broad range of distinctive curricular and co-curricular opportunities, remarkable in range and number for a school barely a decade old. Because of this, our students learn to meld theory and practice before they actually enter the practice of law.”
Whether observing a real-life trial on campus (and lunching with the judge during a break), arguing an appellate brief before Rhode Island Supreme Court justices, or advising real-life clients in one of the school’s specialized clinical programs, law students benefit from a powerful synergy when they expand their knowledge and skills beyond the traditional classroom setting. Here are a few examples of how the School of Law helps make that happen.
Medical/Legal Collaborative
Doctors and lawyers working together? In an age where the two professions are too often perceived as bitter foes, Roger Williams has been instrumental in developing a more civil – and socially beneficial – model for peaceful coexistence.
Since the summer of 2002, the School of Law has been a key partner in the development of the Rhode Island Family Advocacy Program (RIFAP), a medical-legal collaborative that offers legal services to low-income families in health care settings. RIFAP’s other partners include Brown Medical School, Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Rhode Island Legal Services, and Rhode Island Kids Count. Attorneys from Rhode Island Legal Services work with law students to provide legal assistance to low-income families at Hasbro Children’s Hospital and conduct legal education sessions for doctors, nurses, and other staff who may have the opportunity to refer families for legal help.
“We’re working together to educate the next generation of doctors and lawyers about the importance of collaboration, to promote justice and better health outcomes for disadvantaged families,” said Liz Tobin Tyler, Director of Public Service and Community Partnerships at the Feinstein Institute for Legal Service at the School of Law. As an integral part of this initiative, Tobin Tyler teaches a seminar entitled “Pursuing Social Justice Through Interdisciplinary Practice: The Medical-Legal Collaborative,” which explores ways in which lawyers can engage in “holistic problem-solving” to better serve disadvantaged clients, while addressing professional and ethical concerns that can arise when lawyers work in an interdisciplinary setting.
Each semester law students collaborate with Brown Medical students, attending joint classroom sessions to learn ways to serve clients and patients by working together. These classes, taught by Tobin Tyler from the law school and Dr. Alicia Monroe and Dr. Jay Baruch from Brown Medical School, focus on unsafe housing and lead poisoning, the educational rights of children with special needs, and mandatory reporting of domestic violence.
“Participation in this innovative partnership places the School of Law at the forefront of a national movement to use interdisciplinary practice and teaching, as well as community/law-school partnerships, to improve access to justice for underprivileged populations,” Tobin Tyler said.
Sea Grant Law Fellows
“It’s always one of those things we’ll get to later,” third-year law student Tara Jänosh said ruefully of the typical government approach to environmental policy. “We still have water to drink. We still have beaches to go to. We still have waterfront to build on. In the grand scheme of government,” she adds, “as long as resources are not dangerously depleted, ‘we’ll get to it later.’”
Jänosh, however, believes the time to get to it is now. Determined to generate action on environmental issues, she became one of the first students in a new joint-degree (Juris Doctor and Master of Marine Affairs) program offered by the Roger Williams University School of Law and the University of Rhode Island marine affairs program.
Jänosh is already cutting her teeth on environmental-policy development as one of the first Rhode Island Sea Grant Law Fellows. Adding a practical dimension to course work, the Rhode Island Sea Grant Legal Program connects students directly with clients to provide research on critical marine and coastal problems.
“These are among a number of opportunities for those interested in ocean and coastal law and environmental issues to tailor their legal studies to a chosen specialty and to apply their knowledge in the field,” said Kristen Fletcher, Director of the Rhode Island Sea Grant Legal Program and the RWU Marine Affairs Institute.
A lawyer herself with a distinguished background in marine and environmental law, Fletcher believes students like Jänosh can take advantage of these programs to cultivate innovation and leadership in the formulation of marine and coastal policy. She explains that applied research projects combined with interdisciplinary studies expose students to a range of marine law applications while immersing them in real-world environmental issues.
Jänosh, for example, is presently working with state agencies and local governments to research, analyze, and report on sources of pollution to municipal water supplies. Meanwhile, second-year law student Lance Young is researching fish harvesting co-ops for Rhode Island Sea Grant’s Sustainable Fisheries Extension Program, as potential precursors to policy.
Fletcher points out, “One of the missions of the program is to generate innovative policies and laws to address resources issues. Roger Williams students have the opportunity to help craft these policies.”
On-Campus Trial
As Rhode Island’s only law school, Roger Williams enjoys enviable opportunities to interact with the local bar and judiciary. In one recent example, students got to sit in on an actual trial – without ever leaving the School of Law building.
The event took place last November when the Honorable Ernest C. Torres, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island came to the Bristol to preside over a one-day, civil non-jury trial involving an allegedly fraudulent property conveyance, United States v. Verduchi.
“This was a rare opportunity to observe a real federal trial – not a mock-trial – away from a federal courthouse, and it reflects the close relationship between the federal judiciary and the only law school in Rhode Island,” said Lydia Hanhardt, Coordinator for Academic Enrichment Programs. Hanhardt noted that Judge Torres invited students observing the trial to join him and his staff for lunch, where he answered questions about his handling of the procedural and substantive issues.
For defense attorney Brent Canning – a 1996 alumnus of the School of Law – the trial was something of a homecoming that he “looked forward to with anticipation and excitement.”
Canning noted that, as an alum, it is gratifying to see Roger Williams becoming an ever more integral part of Rhode Island’s legal community. “Like any other business, law is built on relationships and networks,” he said, “so it’s definitely a positive thing to watch the school’s profile rising as the number of its alumni and other connections continues to grow.”
Canning said he hopes to return to campus when Judge Torres’ decision is rendered to discuss the fine points of the case with interested students. “Programs like this one provide students insight into what the legal profession is like once they get beyond their bar exams,” he said.
Moot Court
Moot court competitions exist at virtually every law school, offering students a chance to obtain appellate advocacy skills – but how many actually have the justices of the state’s highest court sitting as the presiding judges, as they typically do in the School of Law’s annual Esther F. Clark Moot Court Competition?
“Not many,” replied Professor Tony Simpson, faculty advisor to the Moot Court Board at Roger Williams School of Law. “But we’re a small state and so we can get the Rhode Island Supreme Court down here pretty easily. In fact, they like to come down to Bristol.”
The justices don’t go easy on the students, however, Simpson noted. They put them through their paces, making them jump through the same sorts of hoops that experienced appellate attorneys would have to face – but with one notable exception.
“The students are often better prepared than real lawyers would be,” said Simpson. “Their arguments are absolutely superb, and the judges always come away most impressed. The students learn lots of valuable lessons, principle among them that you can’t prepare too much. Preparation is key.”
The Board sponsors a broad range of appellate advocacy programs, organizing and administering the internal competition from which students are selected to compete in interscholastic tournaments with other regional and national law schools. Students participate in the National Moot Court Competition, as well as numerous specialized competitions nationwide. These experiences yield an abundance of practical experience – not to mention the occasional job offers from attorneys who act as advisors to the teams – but Simpson says that such side benefits are not the Moot Court Board’s primary attraction.
“The greatest selling point is that it’s fun,” he said. “Some people like to stand up and argue a point of law, similar to a concert pianist or violinist who practices hours and hours for those 15 minutes on stage.” Simpson pauses, and then adds with a smile, “It’s also a nice break from sitting in the classroom.”
Legal Clinics
Roger Williams is committed to inculcating its students with the need to provide legal services to those in need. The Feinstein Institute for Legal Service, for example, was created to produce an enduring culture of public service among Roger Williams law students; the medical/legal collaborative noted above is just one example of the Institute’s work.
Three legal clinics provide additional “hands-on” public service experience. The Criminal Defense Clinic gives students an opportunity to directly represent indigent criminal defendants in cases involving misdemeanor and traffic offenses, including allegations of drug possession, petty theft, assault, domestic violence, disorderly conduct, drunk driving breathalyzer refusal. Students handle every stage of representation, including motion practice, discovery and investigation, negotiations, pre-trial litigation, and even trial work. Noted clinician Professor Peter Margulies directs a second clinic, focusing on protecting the rights of people with disabilities, which allows students to appear in both court and administrative settings.
“Much of the most important public interest work can be accomplished by the use of the law,” said Associate Professor Andy Horwitz, Director of Clinical Programs.
Roger Williams’ newest clinic, the Community Justice and Legal Assistance (CJLA) Clinic, is headed by Associate Professor Nancy Cook, former Clinical Director at Cornell University, who says her goal is to help students and clients see one another as people, not abstractions.
“Both sides generally come to the table with their own set of preconceptions and stereotypes,” Cook said. “My hope is that they walk away thinking of each other as human beings, perhaps with a lot more in common than either of them ever expected.”
Students in the CJLA Clinic actively represent predominantly young, lowincome, minority clients in cases involving foster care and adoption, parole and probation, child custody, visitation, and support, housing, consumer education, or abuse and neglect – from interviewing to counseling, investigation to document drafting, courtroom advocacy to negotiation, all under the close supervision and guidance of clinical faculty. By coordinating efforts with social workers, psychologists, public-interest lawyers, religious leaders, educators, neighborhood civic groups, non-profit organizations, and others, students get a holistic (rather than narrowly legal) understanding of their clients and the tools available to help them.
Roger Williams’ CJLA clinic is not only an extremely well-designed learning experience; it’s also a rare one. “There are only two clinical programs in the nation doing anything remotely like this,” Cook said. Indeed, it is arguable that few law schools in the country provide such a rigorous and systematic combination of classroom theory and real-life experience. At Roger Williams University School of Law, students receive what can truly be termed a “value-added” legal education.
