Dear 1Ls,

By now, you have spent a few weeks diving deep into the traditional law school experience—reading endless pages of opinions and trying to pull something together to feel like you are speaking coherently in class, while living through the tough realities of 2021. You have probably invested a lot of time into trying to learn ~the law~. You may have also spent a lot of time frustrated with the lack of discussion around the very reasons that brought you to law school in the first place.

As first-year law students, many of us were deeply frustrated by the lack of analysis of how race, racism, settler colonialism, white supremacy, cis-heteropatriarchy, class, exploitative labor practices, “objectivity,” and other vectors of power were necessary to understand both how the law functions and its results. Some of us felt as if we lacked the necessary knowledge of legal theory—the tools and language—to critique what we could see happening. Others of us were plain tired of cases, professors, and peers ignoring the racial histories and implications of the law. Some of us experienced isolation, and others of us felt like we couldn’t process our lived experiences in the classroom and readings.

This is where Critical Conversations comes in 🙂 Throughout the year, we plan to facilitate various conversations centered around specific 1L doctrinal courses. The first conversation will explore Torts and Contracts on Wednesday, October 27th. The second will consider Civil Procedure through the same lens. Dates for upcoming conversations will be announced soon.