Student Organizations and Journals, and Student Participation in Administration

Student Organizations and Journals
The Alternative Dispute Resolution Society was founded to promote awareness and understanding of ADR at the Law School. It serves as a forum for discussion about ADR topics, including the various forms of dispute resolution, the unique skills essential to effective participation in ADR, and the public policy issues raised by the institutionalization of dispute-resolution processes. Among the ADR Society projects is an effort to integrate the study of ADR into the Law School curriculum.

The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy is a new national organization of law students, law professors, practicing lawyers, and others. Its goal is to revitalize and transform the legal debate, from law school classrooms to federal courtrooms, by restoring the fundamental principles of respect for human dignity, protection of individual rights and liberties, genuine equality, and access to justice, to their rightful and traditionally central place in American law. The Yale chapter, formed last year, brings guest speakers to campus, sponsors reading groups, and organizes student/faculty discussions on these topics.

Asia Law Forum is a student group that aims to promote dialogue and debate on issues of law and policy in China and East Asia by sponsoring lectures, discussion groups, and other events and programs.

The Yale chapter of the Black Law Students’ Association (BLSA) was organized to promote and protect the interests of students of African descent enrolled at Yale Law School. BLSA organizes projects and events in the areas of admissions and financial aid, placement, community services, and alumni affairs. BLSA also invites persons of interest to black students to speak at the Law School.

The Capital Assistance Project raises awareness about the death penalty within the Law School and throughout the community, and provides assistance to practitioners handling capital cases. CAP brings speakers to the Law School to discuss issues relating to the death penalty and links students with capital defenders seeking term-time and summer help.

The Collective on Women of Color in the Law aims to promote awareness of legal issues confronting women of color and of the status of women of color in the legal profession.

The Domestic Violence Temporary Restraining Order Project offers an opportunity for students to assist individuals with the often arduous process of seeking legal protection from abuse. Participants are trained to staff an office at family court under the supervision of court staff and New Haven legal assistance attorneys. The project also offers a semester-long clinical component in conjunction with the local legal aid office, New Haven Legal Assistance Association. This two-credit component is available to a limited number of students interested in gaining experience representing a domestic violence victim at a fourteen-day hearing and working on other domestic violence-related issues such as divorce and custody.

The Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization (LSO), which provides legal aid to individuals who cannot afford private attorneys, has a student board of directors. The student board collaborates with the clinical faculty and staff to set priorities for and manage the work of lso. Board members also serve as teaching assistants (or “student directors”) in LSO clinics and seminars. For a fuller description of the organization’s work, see Clinical Programs.

The Greenhaven Prison Project brings law students and inmates together for a seminar on legal and political issues concerning prisons. The seminar meets biweekly inside a maximum security prison and offers a rare opportunity for extensive, frank, and often intense discussion.

Habeas Chorus is Yale Law School’s own a cappella singing group. Membership is open by audition to members of the Law School community willing to rehearse once a week.

The Initiative for Public Interest Law at Yale, Inc. is a nonprofit foundation designed to provide grants to innovative public interest law projects. The funding for these grants is provided by annual membership fees and contributions from students as well as faculty and alumni. Yale Law School students founded the Initiative in 1981, and students continue to manage it. Students also serve on the board of directors, which includes public interest lawyers and lawyers in private practice, nonlawyer members of the New Haven community, and Yale Law School faculty and alumni, all of whom are elected by the Initiative membership.

The Juvenile Rights Advocacy Project, with support from the New Haven Police Department, has created a ninety-minute curriculum focused on the rights and responsibilities that juveniles have when dealing with police officers. It covers Fourth Amendment search and seizure protections, Fifth Amendment self-incrimination protections, and the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, and explains the police grievance process. The centerpiece of the curriculum is a twenty-five-minute video developed and produced with the participation of local teenagers, police officers, and public defenders. The video presents scenarios that young people often face in their neighborhoods and proposes ways of responding to them. The ninety-minute presentation is taught in local high school classrooms by two-person teams consisting of one teen peer educator and one law student. JRAP has reached more than 250 students in four of New Haven’s high schools. The project looks forward to strengthening its presence as law students continue to teach classes and improve the curriculum.

The Latino Law Students’ Association was founded to promote the academic, career, and political interests of Latino students at the Law School. The association meets regularly and sponsors projects in the areas of admissions, recruitment, political and community awareness, and cultural solidarity. All Latino law students are encouraged to participate.

Law Talk, the Community Legal Education Radio Show, is a call-in radio program that discusses legal issues of importance to the New Haven community. The show broadcasts weekly on a Yale-affiliated FM radio station. The hosts, producers, and studio engineers are all Yale Law School students, and each show explores a particular field with a guest expert. Shows have covered diverse and off-beat topics including small claims, personal injury, debt collection, and even coping with parking tickets.

The Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Law Project is an organization that provides students with the opportunity to carry out human rights research and advocacy projects, usually on behalf of nongovernmental organizations. Students are encouraged to suggest and develop project ideas.

The Native American Law Students’ Association (NALSA) is a chapter of the National Native American Law Students’ Association. It exists for the purpose of assembling Yale Law students who are interested in advancing and/or advocating for legal issues, cultural issues, and subject matter affecting Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and American Indian Nations. Membership is open to all Yale Law School students, regardless of racial, ethnic, or religious background, who are interested in participating and organizing events and activities that further the goals of NALSA.

New Haven Cares, founded in 1993 by Law School students and members of the wider New Haven community, operates a program of redeemable vouchers that can be used by those in need to purchase basic necessities. Vouchers may be redeemed at participating merchants to purchase food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, but not alcohol, tobacco, or cash. Individuals can buy vouchers from participating merchants or from student representatives and can give them out on the street instead of cash. In addition, to ensure that vouchers are distributed widely to those who need them, New Haven Cares has partnered with more than a dozen local social service agencies who work day-to-day with New Haven’s hungry and homeless. These frontline organizations, such as the Homeless Resource Center, Domestic Violence Services, and area hospitals and soup kitchens, distribute vouchers to their clients, often as part of casework or other services. These vouchers allow both individuals and service agencies to provide a wide variety of basic necessities without concern that limited resources will be used to support substance abuse problems.

OutLaws is an organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) members of the Law School community and advocates of LGBT equality. The group holds meetings, sponsors speakers and films, and travels to conferences and events at the intersection of sexuality and the law. OutLaws brings the Yale Law School community’s attention to issues of special concern to LGBT students, and is a bridge to the gay communities of Yale students, Law School alumni, and the legal profession at large. Members engage in political activism on isues affecting LGBT persons in Connecticut and beyond. Through gatherings inside the Law School and out, OutLaws provides a social forum as well. OutLaws’ Web site is www.yale.edu/outlaws/.

The Pacific Islander, Asian, and Native American Law Students’ Association (PANA) is a coalition that seeks to promote community among its members and to create a more diverse educational environment. PANA presents social and cultural events oriented toward its members and works to recruit students of color and help them to feel more comfortable at the Law School. In addition, it serves to educate the entire student body by organizing discussions of issues affecting people of color and the role of law in addressing these concerns. Membership in PANA is open to all members of the Yale community.

The South Asian Law Students’ Association (SALSA) is an organization dedicated to celebrating, promoting, and sharing the culture and diversity of the countries of South Asia with the Law School and the larger community. Everyone interested is welcome.

The Street Law program places law students in New Haven high schools to teach short courses on law-related topics. The program aims to introduce high school students to the law in a way that is relevant to their lives and to encourage contact between law students and the New Haven community. In the fall term, students participate in training sessions on classroom management and teaching techniques. During the spring term, they teach in groups of two or three, using lesson plans and assignments they have designed.

Student Public Interest Network (SPIN) works to encourage, support, and facilitate the pursuit of public interest work by law students. SPIN serves students by providing a clear, central source of information about the many public interest events and opportunities in the School and in the community at large, and organizing community-building social activities. Other SPIN initiatives include the Pro Bono Challenge, which encourages and rewards term-time pro bono work by law students, and the Pro Bono Network, a clearinghouse of pro bono research opportunities with public interest organizations throughout the country. In addition, SPIN organizes a public interest speaker series and sponsors an annual semi-formal fundraiser.

Students as Parents Too (SAPT) hopes to bring people in the Yale Law School community together who are attempting to balance having a family and attending law school. SAPT organizes regular playgroups and seeks to foster friendships during these demanding years.

The Thomas Swan Barristers’ Union organizes civil and criminal trials before juries drawn from the New Haven community. Students acting in pairs prepare pleadings and a trial brief and conduct a pretrial motions hearing and the trial. The evidence is based upon a file of statements taken from potential witnesses. Judges or practicing attorneys preside at the trials. A final prize trial is held at the end of the year. Student directors are participants from the prior year’s trials. A preparticipation program is offered as an introduction to trial advocacy skills.

The Morris Tyler Moot Court of Appeals is a competition managed by a board of student directors, composed of students who have previously participated in a moot court competition. Each spring the outgoing board elects two of its members to head the board as chairpersons during the following year. Each participant in the competition writes an extensive appellate brief and presents an appellate oral argument on a case scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court. Another case is selected for briefing and argument in the prize finals, which are held at the close of each term. Moot Court judges include federal and state judges, practicing attorneys, and law professors.

Umoja is an organization designed to promote critical thinking and create youth-initiated community action projects. It was launched in January 1999 in New Haven by three Law School students who worked with a group of high school students to mobilize major public support for federal gun control legislation. It has since expanded to Santiago, Chile; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Mexico City, Mexico. Previous community action projects have ranged from creating community newsletters on police brutality to making a film about parental responsibility and other issues of concern to youth.

Women and Youth in Support of Each Other (WYSE) is a national, curriculum-based mentorship program co-founded at UCLA in 1992 by Sarumathi Jayaraman ’00. Originally founded to prevent teen pregnancy and provide young women with more options at an earlier age, it has expanded to sites in Chicago, New Haven, New York, and Boston. Mentors from YLS have worked with undergraduates to mentor girls in New Haven middle schools since 1995; the program has since expanded to include work with high school students on issues ranging from college preparedness to violence in the community. In addition, the young women work with their mentors on a community-organizing project.

The Yale Entertainment and Sports Law Association (YESLA) is an organization for law students interested in pursuing careers in sports or entertainment law.

The Yale Environmental Law Association (YELA) sponsors activities to promote heightened awareness of environmental issues. Activities include speakers, panels, and brown-bag lunches on current issues in environmental law and policy; activism on pressing environmental issues; an annual panel on careers in environmental law and policy; and legal research and advocacy (both self-initiated and for outside groups and activists).

The Yale Federalist Society is a group of conservative and libertarian law students dedicated to fostering discussion and debate of issues of law and public policy. It is a part of the national Federalist Society and is affiliated with similar groups in law schools across the country. Members share a belief in judicial restraint and the use of free market forces to allocate resources in a society. Activities under its sponsorship at Yale have included debates on current legal issues and speeches by federal judges, law professors, and public officials.

The Yale Graduate Law Students’ Association (YGLSA) is an organization open to graduate fellows (LL.M., J.S.D., and M.S.L. candidates) and visiting scholars. Throughout the year, the students organize social and academic events of interest. In addition, the YGLSA members participate in lectures, discussions, and social events organized by the Tutor in law of the Graduate Programs. These sessions focus on a variety of subjects, including teaching methodology, scholarship, and legal topics in both international and American law. Workshops on dissertations in progress are offered throughout the year. YGLSA also promotes the interests of its members in Law School affairs affecting the Graduate Programs.

The Yale Health Law Society is a student-run organization that endeavors to facilitate the discussion and debate of any and all issues of bioethics, health policy, and health law. Representative topics include genetics and the law, healthcare finance/managed care, assisted suicide, cloning, human research, the medical malpractice system, confidentiality, and informed consent. It is an inter-school organization, composed of law, medical, and public health students. Activities include evening lectures/panels with visiting speakers, brown-bag lunch discussions with local faculty, reading groups, and inter-school mixers.

The Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal (YHRDLJ; http://diana.law.yale.edu/yhrdlj/) is primarily an online publication, launched in the 1997-98 academic year, that strives to provide a broad range of perspectives on issues at the intersection of human rights and development. YHRDLJ does not represent any single ideological conception of human rights or development, but rather aims to provide a forum for thoughtful discussion on these issues. The journal is edited by students and advised by members of the Law School faculty; the Law School’s Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights provides Internet access. The planned format of YHRDLJ includes articles solicited from top legal scholars, student notes, and hypertext links to notable Internet sites devoted to human rights and development topics.

The Yale Jewish Law Students’ Association invites speakers and holds discussions on topics of Jewish and legal interest and sponsors legal and social action in the public interest.

The Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics is a biannual publication of the schools of Law, Medicine, Epidemiology and Public Health, and Nursing. The journal strives to provide a forum for interdisciplinary discussion on topics in health policy, health law, and biomedical ethics. It targets a broad and diverse readership of both academicians and professionals in medicine, law, and public health as well as policymakers and legislators in health care. Submissions to the journal are peer reviewed by a distinguished advisory board consisting of nationally recognized experts in a variety of health-related disciplines. More than seventy student members from Yale’s graduate and professional schools edit the journal and oversee its production. The journal’s Web site is www.yale.edu/yjhple/.

The Yale Journal of International Law is a student publication that contains articles and comments written by scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and students on a wide range of topics in public and private international law. Published twice a year, the journal is a primary forum for the discussion and analysis of contemporary international legal problems.

The Yale Journal of Law and Feminism is a student-run journal that publishes works concerning a broad range of legal issues as they pertain to women or to feminist theory. Because these issues are best explored through a variety of formats, the editors encourage submission of artwork, poetry, fiction, autobiography, and interviews, as well as articles, essays, and reviews. To reflect feminist values, the journal is nonhierarchical—all members can participate fully in editing, screening, and administrative decision making.

The Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities is a biannual publication edited by students and advised by a board of distinguished scholars. The editors of the journal include students from the Law School and several graduate departments in the University. Founded on the conviction that interdisciplinary scholarship is crucial to an understanding of both the law and our culture, the journal explores the intersections among law, the humanities, and the humanistic social sciences. In articles, essays, and book reviews, prominent legal and nonlegal scholars illuminate the law by drawing upon a range of disciplines, including history; philosophy; literary studies; humanistic social sciences; social, cultural, and political theory; gender, race, and sexuality theory; and cultural studies.

The Yale Journal of Law & Technology (www.yjolt.org) is the first law review in the world to be built using slashcode, offering its readers a cutting-edge, dynamic environment in which to acquire and produce knowledge about the interface between law and technology. The journal publishes a wide variety of material, including scholarly articles, incisive think pieces, and lectures and written pieces by guests of the Law & Technology Society as well as other scholars and professionals. No technical or scientific background is necessary.

The Yale Journal on Regulation is a national forum for legal, political, and economic analysis of current issues in regulatory policy. The journal is edited, managed, and marketed by students. Membership is open to all interested students.

The Yale Law and Enterprise Forum (YLEF) imagines and encourages a legal system that promotes the dignity of the human person and the common good through free enterprise and personal initiative. YLEF invites leading entrepreneurs and thinkers to speak at Yale Law School, is planning a Reading Group and Symposium on Urban Development for 2002-2003, and is working with several community organizations to help entrepreneurs make New Haven a city of hope and opportunity. YLEF benefits from the active involvement of the Yale Law School faculty and community advisory boards, who help steer its activities at Yale Law School and in the New Haven community. The organization’s Web site is www.YLEF.org.

The Yale Law & Policy Review (YLPR) is a student-run journal on American domestic policy. YLPR provides a forum for a range of authors—legal scholars, law students, government officials, elected representatives, activists, econo-mists, scientists, and practicing attorneys—to explore contemporary policy matters and the legal questions they raise. Recent YLPR issues have focused on health care reform, education, electoral reform, and civil rights. The journal also sponsors conferences, panels, speakers, and discussion groups. Membership is open to all students interested in the editing and publishing process; indeed, YLPR values—along with hard work and good humor—diversity of viewpoint and background.

The Yale Law and Technology Society provides a forum for the discussion of the dynamic interplay between law and technology. Throughout the year, the society invites a diverse and distinguished group of individuals to participate in lectures, panels, lunches, and dinners at the Law School. In order to extend its discussions beyond the Yale campus, the society publishes and broadcasts its work through numerous media, including its Web site (www.ylts.org), the Yale Journal of Law & Technology (www.yjolt.org), and lawmeme (www.lawmeme.org), a revolutionary Weblog project maintained jointly with the Information Society Project (www.law.yale.edu/isp). The society addresses both domestic and international topics, and no technical or scientific background is necessary.

The Yale Law Christian Fellowship is an independent, nondenominational Christian group. It provides members with an opportunity to meet Christians from a variety of backgrounds and to probe the relations among Christianity, law school life, and the practice of law. Weekly Bible studies and guest speakers focus on how the Christian faith affects the lives of students at Yale Law School and their future lives as attorneys. The Fellowship sponsors community service projects such as an annual clothing drive and tutoring at a local youth center. The group also provides opportunities for fellowship among members through various informal social activities.

The Yale Law Journal publishes articles and student-written work of general scholarly and professional interest. A board of student editors manages and produces the journal eight times a year. Students are selected for membership on the journal and for positions on the editorial board through procedures established by the current board. Students are informed of the selection procedures in the spring of their first year.

The Yale Law Republicans promote conservative values, explore and discuss Republican Party philosophies, provide members with exposure to local, state, and national party officials, and conduct outreach to the political community of New Haven and Connecticut. The organization also provides a forum for guest speakers of interest to the Law School and organizes various activities. Membership is open to any student of the Law School.

The annual Yale Law Revue is a collection of satirical songs, skits, and vignettes written, staged, and performed by law students. Almost anything is fair game.

Yale Law School Workers’ Rights Project advocates for workers’ rights in the United States and globally. In cooperation with practicing attorneys, law students work with a diverse group of labor and community organizations, as well as initiating their own projects. The goal is to serve both the immediate legal and other needs of worker organizations and to assist in the development of innovative organizing strategies.

Yale Law Students for Social Justice embraces the premise that the legal system in the United States has failed to fulfill its promise of social justice for those oppressed by virtue of their race, class, gender, sexual orientation, or other characteristics. The group is dedicated to working inside and outside of the legal system for equality, furthering the Law School’s commitment to public interest law and supporting students who want to use their legal skill to advocate for progressive social change. Activities include direct action and lobbying on issues at Yale, in New Haven, and beyond.

Yale Law Women is open to women at the Law School. It provides a forum for discussion of issues and concerns that women share with regard to teaching, classroom atmosphere, curriculum, and the outside legal community. It monitors policies of the Law School that have a particular impact on women. It seeks to develop a supportive community of women students and faculty. It offers practical information relevant to school and practice, and education on women’s legal issues through speakers and workshops. The group also enqages in special projects, often in cooperation with other women’s groups, addressing important feminist issues.

The Yale Project for Civil Rights (YPCR) draws attention to the legal practitioners who craft litigation strategies to overcome discrimination through the courts. YPCR programs are designed to spark dialogue and exchange about the scope of civil rights problems today and how best to utilize the law to challenge these inequalities.

The Yale Student Animal Legal Defense Fund educates the Yale community about important issues in animal law and works on legal and activist projects leading to local, national, and international protection of animal interests. Its members host speakers on current issues in animal rights and animal welfare law; carry out research projects for lawyers and organizations involved in animal welfare and animal rights litigation; work with students at other law schools to establish a law journal dedicated to issues pertaining to animal law; advocate on behalf of vegetarian students at the Law School; attend animal law conferences around the nation; volunteer at local animal shelters; and lobby for a course in animal law to be taught at the Law School.

Students may advertise student organization events in the online Master Calendar of Events (www.law.yale.edu/calendar).

Student Participation in Administration
Students participate in the administration of the School as follows:

1. There are ten elected representatives of the student body—three from each class and one representing the graduate fellows—entitled to be present at faculty meetings and to participate fully in the deliberation of the faculty, but without vote.*

2. Student representatives are elected for a term of one academic year, commencing with the beginning of the fall term. Representatives for the second- and third-year classes are elected during the spring of the academic year preceding their term of office. Representatives for the first-year and graduate classes are elected at the beginning of the fall term of the academic year for which they will serve. Elections for all classes are held under the auspices of the student representatives in office at the time of the election.

3. The elected student representatives, and other students selected by appropriate procedures, participate in the work of standing committees of the faculty and, where appropriate, in the work of ad hoc committees. The form and nature of such participation depend upon the character of the work of each committee. All elected student representatives serve on committees.

* This entitlement is subject to the limitation that on occasion the faculty may feel it necessary to convene in executive session. In such an event the dean will, to the extent he or she deems appropriate, advise the student representatives of the holding of the executive session in advance and invite the student representatives to present to the faculty their views on the subject under consideration; under any circumstances student representatives will be advised of the holding of such meeting promptly thereafter. It is, however, the purpose and expectation of the student body and of the faculty that the business of the faculty will normally be conducted in meetings in which student representatives participate.

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