Last year’s speakers included (L-R): Professor Andrew Kucera (Law ’13), UC Berkeley School of Law Professor William Kell, and UC Davis School of Law Professor Mary Louise Frampton
On October 12, 2018, San Joaquin College of Law (SJCL) will host the Second Annual Rural Legal Access Summit. Participants may earn three hours of MCLE (1 Hour Elimination or Bias and 2 Hours General Credit).
The Summit brings together professors, students, lawyers, judges, community leaders, and social justice experts, to explore methods and practices for improving legal access to underserved populations in rural areas of the San Joaquin Valley.
The Summit will consist of presentations by social justice leaders, moderated panels of community leaders and lawyers, and a keynote presentation. Central California Legal Services (CCLS), a sponsor of the Summit, will also recognize select students during a special ceremony for the Wiley W. Manuel Awards for Pro Bono Service.
SJCL is excited to host this year’s keynote speaker, Professor Lisa R. Pruitt. Prof. Pruitt is the Martin Luther King, Jr., Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis, School of Law. She has taught, written, and spoken extensively about rural legal access and related issues. Her courses include Law and Rural Livelihoods, Working Class Whites and the Law, Feminist Legal Theory, and Torts. Her scholarly writing includes many papers on rural difference and rural invisibility in relation to the law, and the rural lawyer shortage. Prof. Pruitt’s most recent work, entitled “Legal Deserts: a Multi-State Perspective on Rural Access to Justice,” is slated for publication in the Harvard Law and Policy Review.
The Summit was conceived from SJCL’s new “Practice 99” curriculum, a collaborative effort between law professors at U.C. Berkeley, U.C. Davis, and SJCL. The Practice 99 curriculum combines law practice management, technology, and access to justice, and teaches law students how to start community-based low-bono law practices that are profitable and socially fulfilling.
The Summit will be presented by Law Students for Community Advancement, a student group that seeks to invigorate a culture of civic engagement at SJCL, and empower the student body by facilitating positive and impactful relationships with the community.
The Summit will run from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. A continental breakfast, catered lunch, and refreshments will be served. There is no cost to attend.
You can register for the Summit at www.sjcl.edu/rlas. For questions about the Summit, please email Professor Andrew S. Kucera at akucera@sjcl.edu, or Law Students for Community Advancement at lsca-board@student.sjcl.edu.