The Georgetown Health Justice Alliance (HJA) Law Clinic seeks a two-year clinical teaching fellow to begin in summer 2023 to teach and supervise law clinic students providing civil legal services through an innovative medical-legal partnership. Georgetown Law and HJA are committed to diversity in hiring.
Clinic Description
HJA is medical-legal partnership between Georgetown University’s Law and Medical Centers. Launched in August 2017, HJA’s Law Clinic integrates law students directly into Georgetown community-based health clinics serving children and families living in poverty in Washington, D.C. Law students provide civil legal services to address barriers to patient health and well-being in collaboration with medical students, physicians, and other healthcare providers.
HJA’s local focus not only allows the Clinic to give back to the community it calls home, but also gives students an opportunity to explore and understand the challenges and strengths of the D.C. community beyond the Georgetown Law campus. Students learn not only law’s impacts on the health and well-being of residents, but also the history and policies that have facilitated health injustice and the ways that law can be used instead to promote health equity.
Patients referred by our medical partners face complex, civil legal needs, many of which negatively impact their health and well-being. Among the needs currently being served are those related to housing, public benefits, education, and family law. By partnering directly with medical providers who provide low-barrier access to healthcare to high needs families in Washington, D.C., the HJA Law Clinic offers a unique method for reducing the barriers to justice confronted by people living in poverty, which contribute to racial economic and health disparities. Medical students rotate into the law clinic and collaborate with law students providing holistic advocacy to client families.
Description of the Fellowship
HJA is hiring a clinical teaching fellow / supervising attorney for two years beginning in summer 2023 and ending in summer 2025. The fellowship is ideal for a legal services attorney interested in transition into legal academia and developing teaching and supervisory abilities in a setting that emphasizes a dual commitment—clinical education of law students and poverty lawyering—in the context of an interdisciplinary medical-legal partnership. The fellow will (i) supervise law and medical students in casework and clinic projects and serve as a mentor and role model to law students in the clinic, including students from historically underrepresented backgrounds, (ii) share responsibility for designing and teaching law clinic seminar classes and facilitating case rounds, and (iii) share in the administrative and case handling responsibilities of the Law Clinic and its medical-legal partnership. The teaching team is highly collaborative and uses a team-based approach to pedagogy planning, student supervision, and casework.
Fellows also participate in a clinical pedagogy seminar and other activities designed to support an interest in clinical teaching and legal education, and are offered support in writing a law review article. Successful completion of the fellowship results in the award of an L.L.M. in Advocacy. Teaching fellows receive an annual stipend of approximately $57,000 in the first year and $60,000 in the second year, health and dental benefits, and all tuition and fees covered in the LL.M. program. In addition to training in clinical pedagogy, fellows have access to programming and support around scholarship and entry into the legal teaching market and professional development opportunities. As Georgetown University
students, fellows may qualify for deferment of their student loans and/or may be eligible for loan repayment assistance from their law schools. Onsite childcare is offered at the law school as available.
Fellows also benefit from their affiliation with the clinical program at Georgetown Law, the broader HJA cross-campus initiative, the law school and university’s health law and policy programs, and the Georgetown Law and Georgetown University communities. Georgetown is a vibrant institution with a deep commitment to public service and social justice. Georgetown Law is widely recognized as having the country’s top ranked clinical program, with 19 law school clinics, which have clinical teaching Fellows who convene regularly for educational, professional, and social events. Because the program is widely respected by both the public interest bar and the academy, Fellows have enjoyed considerable success obtaining full-time teaching or advocacy positions after completion of the Fellowship.
Qualifications
The Health Justice Alliance Law Clinic seeks a prospective fellow with:
- Experience providing civil legal services to low-income clients (housing, public benefits, special education and/or family law are areas of particular need);
- Minimum of 3 years of post-J.D. legal experience;
- Membership in the District of Columbia Bar (if not a member of the D.C. Bar, must apply for admission by waiver upon accepting the fellowship offer);
- Demonstrated commitment to economic and racial justice;
- An interest in clinical teaching; and
- Prior medical, health-related, and/or mental health-related experience a plus.
Application Instructions:
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis but early application is encouraged. Please submit a cover letter addressing your interest in this fellowship and in clinical teaching, résumé/CV, complete law school transcript, a list of at least three references, and a writing sample (max. 10 pages) to HealthJusticeAlliance@georgetown.edu with the subject heading “Application for Clinical Teaching Fellowship” no later than Friday, February 24, 2023. If you have any questions, please contact Daniella Blake-Aranbayeva, Office Manager for the Health Justice Alliance Law Clinic, at db1571@georgetown.edu.
Note: Georgetown Law has a strong commitment to diversity and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer.