POLS 260 Community Law Internship

The goal of the Community Law Internship is to provide students with an experiential understanding of the practice of public interest law and community lawyering. The Community Law Internship must be taken simultaneously with Politics 241which establishes the theoretical foundation for the co-requisite courses through the exploration of scholarship in the areas of: progressive legal practice community collaboration critical reflection social justice activism and community organizing. The Community Law Internship allows students to learn through direct experience about the practice of public interest law in Los Angeles as well as examine how social structures and related identity categories such as gender race ability sexual orientation and class interact on multiple levels to create social inequality. All students enrolled in the Community Law Internship work with a community-based legal organization engaged in public interest law practice a minimum of 12 hours each week. The unique approach of integrating Politics 240 and Politics 241 takes advantage of Occidental faculty expertise and the wide-range of community-based educational opportunities available in Los Angeles. Permission of instructor required.