Freddie Gray Course Teaches Social Justice to Law Students

After Freddie Gray died in April of a spinal injury days after being arrested in Baltimore, the city erupted. There were peaceful protests as well as dayslong riots, but administration and faculty at the University of Maryland's Carey School of Law had a different reaction: ​They designed a class.

"We were actually right at the end of the semester and right in the middle of exams. And so our students sort of left here without a ​time to discuss or consider the issues that were raised by what was happening in our backyard," says Donald Tobin, dean of the law school.

The school, located in Baltimore, put together a class where law students and students from the University of Maryland—Baltimore's School of Social Work could discuss the underlying problems that lead to this type of conflict and how law can be used to improve social justice, he says.

The eight-week course, "Freddie Gray's Baltimore: Past, Present, and Moving Forward," debuted this fall. Students and professors will discuss topics such as community policing, housing and health care, and students will have opportunities to do local volunteer work.

Carey is one of many law schools that let students explore social justice issues – which often include discrimination around race, gender or sexual orientation – and teach them how to one day fight these issues as practicing J.D.s. Law school, experts say, can set the path for people who aspire to work in public interest or social justice fields.

"Most students come to law school because they want to help people," Jeffrey Selbin, co-faculty director of the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice at University of California—Berkeley's School of Law, said in an email.​

The center helps students, scholars, activists and others work on solutions to pressing social problems; hosts events and supports students interested in social justice. Some of its recent activities include sending students to a #Law4BlackLives​ conference and hosting a symposium on emerging anti-poverty ​efforts ​and ​strategies ​to ​reinvigorate ​the ​role ​of ​law ​schools ​and ​lawyers ​in ​a ​new ​anti-poverty​ ​agenda, he wrote.

In Tennessee, the law school at Vanderbilt University offers a range of activities through its social justice program,​ says Spring Miller, the school's assistant dean for public interest.

Each year the school has a social justice fellow who gives career advice to students in addition to discussing his or her work with the law school community. Students can also take classes that focus on social justice issues, such as employment discrimination or juvenile justice, or get hands-on learning opportunities through the school's clinics. ​

"Public interest organizations and social justice organizations that hire attorneys are looking for students who have demonstrated commitment to social justice or public interest work and who have credentials and experience in social justice or public interest work," Miller says. "It's important to choose a law school that provides ample opportunity to develop those experiences and those credentials and to demonstrate your commitment to this kind of work."

It's critical to weigh how much practical experience a school offers for social justice careers before deciding where to go as a prospective student, law school experts say.

Emily Bock, a student at Temple University's Beasley School of Law, used this strategy when deciding where to get her J.D.

"I wanted to go to Temple because I knew Temple has an excellent reputation for nurturing public interest lawyers or future public interest lawyers," she says.

Through clinical opportunities at the school, Bock, who graduates next May, has worked with other students on a report about access to interpreters in certain Pennsylvania courts and has worked on court cases that focuses on fair pay for workers.

When she was a prospective law student, she "asked a lot of questions about what kinds of opportunities there were to integrate your actual, legal learning with practice learning," she says. "I was really looking for law schools that would give me an opportunity to learn by doing." ​

In addition to hands-on learning opportunities, applicants should also see if schools they're considering provide financial support for summer public interest internships, experts say. "Public interest organizations often can't afford to pay law students," Miller says.

Tobin from Carey encourages applicants to ask, "What percentage of your students are able to get stipends?"

But there may also be paid opportunities for them in this field, he says. He encourages prospective students to inquire about a school's overall offerings of summer social justice work, paid and unpaid, and what clinical and externship opportunities it offers. Some schools also offer postgraduate fellowships that help new J.D.s work in the social justice field, says Miller from Berkeley.​ 

Carey, like other schools, also offers J.D. candidates a range of clinics, but unlike some institutions it pushes students to join them. "Every student at Maryland is required to take a clinic and required to take a clinic that helps provides access to justice for people in need," Tobin says.

He sees law as a catalyst for change at all levels.

"There's really no better tool for bringing justice to people than law," Tobin says.

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