The Community Wealth Building Transactional Law Clinic provides transactional legal services to community groups and organizations working on projects aimed at creating systemic economic change.
The Community Wealth Building Transactional Law Clinic assists community groups and organizations with transactional legal services regarding projects designed to produce systemic economic change within historically disinvested neighborhoods through transactional tools such as community-owned real estate, community investment vehicles, cooperatives, neighborhood redevelopment initiatives, community land trusts, and other solidarity economic structures. This clinical legal work might include community time-banks, micro-loan funds, community benefits agreements, and participatory policies and legislation. The foregoing community wealth-building tools are poised to create living-wage jobs, advance community wealth, and ensure neighborhood stability within low-income and working-class communities through community-owned and resident-led economic development initiatives. Some clients will be local in their focus while others have the potential to impact communities far beyond Newark and the NYC-Metro area. Law students in this Clinic will gain practical experience in a variety of substantive legal areas, including business law, securities law, nonprofit law, real estate law, redevelopment law, land use law, commercial contracts, and urban law and policy.
Students may work individually or in teams under the supervision of Professor Carter in all phases of representation from initial client interviews through client deliverables. Students will take place in the following activities:
Students may also be engaged in community building and outreach, such as attending or hosting community events, and planning community workshops and educational trainings regarding various community wealth-building topics. Students should expect to devote approximately 12-14 hours a week to their clinical work, for a total of 180 hours for the semester. Students should also expect occasions where more hours may be required, such as additional time that may be required for planning and/or attending community events and for filing documents with certain regulatory bodies. Students must have flexibility in their schedules to accommodate the demands of an active transactional law practice.
The clinical experience also includes a 1-credit seminar that meets once a week for two hours and covers substantive areas including business law, securities law, nonprofit law, real estate law, redevelopment law, land use law, commercial contracts, and urban law and policy, while offering an opportunity to develop transactional legal skills, such as contract drafting, negotiation, legal research, writing, counseling and advocacy, through related readings, various written and non-written exercises, and group discussions designed to develop students’ professional identity, cultural competency, strategic legal thinking, understanding of certain ethical issues, and ability to address race, inequality, and power in client representation.
Professor: Elizabeth L. Carter
Offered: Fall and Spring
Credits: 5
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In addition to the general clinic pre-requisites, consideration will also be given to the student's prior experience in subject areas of the clinic, interest in transactional law, commitment to community transactional law or community wealth-building law, and desire to work in historically disinvested, marginalized communities. Students are required to take Business Associations and Professional Responsibility prior to or concurrently with the clinic.
