{"id":36607,"date":"2025-01-19T14:10:13","date_gmt":"2025-01-19T14:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/apprentice\/learning-the-law-in-a-changing-world-like-lincoln\/"},"modified":"2025-01-19T14:10:13","modified_gmt":"2025-01-19T14:10:13","slug":"learning-the-law-in-a-changing-world-like-lincoln","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=36607","title":{"rendered":"Learning the Law in a Changing World \u2013 Like Lincoln"},"content":{"rendered":"


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At SELC, we are dedicated to creating more just and resilient local economies. And increasingly, we are exploring what a more just and resilient practice of law might look like.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"SELC's<\/p>\n

SELC\u2019s Wheel of Resilience<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A critical insight from the wider resilience <\/i>movement is that we live in a world in transition. Institutions and ways of thinking that developed in the Industrial Age \u2013 including the institution and process of legal education \u2013 are no longer capable of adequately responding to our emerging set of social, economic, and ecological crises. I am hoping to undertake the legal apprenticeship to learn the knowledge and tools needed to serve the emerging legal needs of the resilience movement \u2013 and also to explore how a different approach to learning the law might change how law is practiced and understood.<\/span><\/p>\n

Until very recently, I had never considered becoming a lawyer. But through my work at SELC<\/span><\/a>, I have become increasingly aware of the power of the law as a lever for social change \u2013 both through the top-down legislative process and through the bottom-up process of supporting communities, building relationships, and democratizing access to legal knowledge and services.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, as someone committed to building community resilience and economic justice, I have asked myself: can I serve as a lawyer without in some ways reproducing the same rigid system that maintains injustice and inequality in the first place?<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had access to nearly every form of privilege one can have in this society. But if I can help create space for others to access the privilege of legal knowledge and expertise by modeling the apprenticeship journey, creating systems of support and resources along the way, perhaps that is a step towards a more just and resilient legal community.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Attorneys<\/p>\n

Attorneys and apprentices at the Resilient Communities Legal Cafe<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

If our legal system evolves through case law, imagine what that system might look like if those arguing new cases, advocating for clients, and pushing the law forward actually embodied the diversity and pluralism of our society? What if lawyers shared the same cultural traditions and experiences as the people they worked for? What if the process <\/i>of learning the law<\/i> directly benefited the communities where aspiring attorneys live and learn? What if lawyering was practiced in the context of mutual aid rather than market exchange or social services (which both impute a certain need in the client and thus a form of deficiency)?<\/span><\/p>\n

The path of the apprentice may offer more compelling social benefits than simply producing another lawyer. It may be an end in itself if it is contributing to a movement that democratizes and pluralizes the practice of law, and thus helps the legal system itself adapt to the rapidly changing needs and demographics of our society.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are some reasons why I am committed to the apprenticeship path:<\/span><\/p>\n