When I was researching law schools to apply to, I found the web page for McGeorge School of Law’s legal clinics and in particular was drawn to the Prisoner Civil Rights Mediation Clinic. As I put together my law school application and waited impatiently to hear back from schools, this Clinic stayed in my mind. It spoke to the kind of lawyer I wanted to be; able to build a relationship with their client and provide equitable justice. Fast forward to my 2L year, I am finally sitting in the clinic taught by Professor Ederlina Co. We start by reading “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander among other authors to dissect and understand California’s prison industry and the political, racial, and emotional dynamics we were about to walk into. This class really emphasized students reflecting on their readings, their cases, and their part to play in these civil rights matters. Professor Co often asked our class, “Does this facilitate justice?” That would be a theme often turned to to better internalize what we were doing at the time.
After much practice, students pair off and begin…
