On February 3, the ARC Justice Clinic will launch with a day of events geared toward the continued fight for racial and social justice.
In the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School’s newest clinic, students gain real experience advocating for racial and social justice, assisting clients in matters related to the most pressing civil justice issues facing the country today. Named in reference to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous words that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” the Advocacy for Racial and Civil (ARC) Justice Clinic provides students with the opportunity to engage in policy advocacy and complex federal legislation as they hone their skills as the next generation of civil rights lawyers.
“Last year, we were looking to add our first clinic in over a decade, and … we basically asked people to give us their best and most creative ideas,” said Deputy Dean for Clinical Education Praveen Kosuri. “[The ARC Justice Clinic]’s focus on civil rights, federal litigation, movement lawyering — those were all things that we don’t currently have in our existing set of offerings, so it added a new dimension that students really were craving.”
One of the Gittis Legal Clinics at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, the ARC Justice Clinic is led by Founding Director and Practice Associate Professor Cara McClellan GEd’12.
“Twenty-first century legal education should prepare law students with the tools and training to engage with complex, social justice problems,” McClellan said. “The mission of the ARC Justice Clinic is to use strategic legal advocacy to support a grassroots movement for racial justice and develop future attorneys committed to engaging in antiracist lawyering.
On February 3, ARC Justice Clinic is launching with a daylong symposium entitled “The Unfinished Work of Abolition,” at which leading racial and social justice advocates from across the country will gather to discuss the crucial, ongoing work toward a more equitable society.
The symposium will include three panel discussions and conclude with a keynote delivered by George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology and the Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights Dorothy E. Roberts.