Public Interest Lawyering
This course is about public interest lawyers’ professional relationship to the larger community in which they work and live. This class explores the complexities of what it means to be a public interest lawyer and the difficulties in seeking to serve a community through lawyering. We will discuss traditional and nontraditional lawyering tools for serving communities and their needs. Class meetings will be dedicated largely to scholarship on the lawyer’s tools and the role of the lawyer in a community. We will explore tools including impact litigation, legal aid, pro bono representation, lobbying, and organizing, interrogating the concept of community and what it means to serve one. The course will also draw upon the experience of public interest lawyers in the Bay Area and nationwide, who will visit the course either in person or virtually to discuss their work. Students are expected to write short reflections throughout the two-week course and to engage in thoughtful discussion with both their classmates and the course guests.
LAW 7130 | 2 Units | Grading: Law Mandatory P/R/F
Instructor
Judge Rachel Bloomekatz
Rachel Bloomekatz was confirmed as a judge to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in July 2023. Prior to joining the court, Judge Bloomekatz had an accomplished career in public interest lawyering, focusing on appeals and complex litigation issues. She was a solo practitioner at Bloomekatz Law, which she founded in 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. Previously, she was a principal at Gupta Wessler, an associate at Jones Day, and an assistant attorney general for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Judge Bloomekatz also served as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Chief Justice Margaret Marshall on the Massachusetts Supreme Court, and Judge Guido Calabresi on the Second Circuit. She received her J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 2008 and her A.B. from Harvard University in 2004.
Judge Bloomekatz is an active member of the community in Columbus, Ohio, where she lives with her husband and two children. She has served as an adjunct professor teaching Federal Courts and Community Lawyering at The Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law and on the board of Jewish Family Services of Central Ohio, which helps to provide services and training for low-income individuals in central Ohio.