February 09, 2007
The Street Law Externship Program at St. John’s University
School of Law was featured in the New York Post and
Times Ledger on January 18, 2007. The program,
founded and run by Patricia
Montana, Associate Professor of Legal Writing, was offered for
the first time in the Fall 2006 semester. It provides law
students the exciting opportunity to teach a practical law course
to high school students at Jamaica High School in Queens, New
York. Law students enrolled in the program attend a weekly
seminar course, where they learn the substantive law to be taught
as well as innovative and effective teaching methodologies.
The law students receive credit for the seminar and their placement
in the high school.
As the New York Post and Times Ledger
reported, the program was “designed to hone students’ law
skills.” It challenges students to distill complicated legal
concepts to their essence. Marianne Recher, a third-year law
student who participated in the program explained how “it was
challenging to get up there and keep a class of 25 kids
interested,” but described it as one of the best things she’s done
during school. By the semester’s end, “I’d learned how to
simplify legal concepts, which is important for meeting with
clients in the future. I learned more about the law.
It’s so much more real when we can give these kids information
that’s relevant to their lives.”
Professor Montana discussed how “[e]very teaching session is
very relevant” to the experiences of a high school student.
The law students “used examples like drug testing for student
athletes and metal detectors in schools” to explore complicated
constitutional search and seizure issues. By using relevant
examples, the high school students became engaged in the process of
legal
analysis.
Christine Hogan, a second-year law student who also participated
in the program, described in one of her journal assignments for the
seminar how legal procedures and concepts came alive when she was
teaching. She wrote:
“The Street Law externship has molded me into a better law
student. Not only has it improved my understanding of the
legal issues that I am currently studying, but it has also
introduced me to legal topics that I probably will never learn in
my law classes. . . . Instead of learning substantive law through
one method – reading and then understanding through the Socratic
method – I am also learning it in a more practical, creative way. .
. . In teaching at Jamaica High School, I am not only applying my
legal education, but doing so for the public’s benefit. It
has been a terrific experience!”
The law students have also benefited from working closely with
students from a diverse set of backgrounds. Another law
student in the program, Joyce Elie, wrote in a journal
assignment: “I have taken on the habit of assuming the role
of a student while developing my approach to the subject, which
surprisingly enough, has also helped me develop counterarguments of
my own regarding the topic. . . . Teaching at Jamaica High School
has broadened my own perception of the law, as well as its
functions, and in turn has broadened my approach to the law as a
whole. . . . “
As Professor Montana told the Times Ledger, the law
students “truly enjoyed the experience of working with students
from diverse backgrounds. It positively shaped their ability
to be good lawyers. As opposed to learning about lawyering in
books, they were given a window seat to the public’s perception of
lawyers in the legal system. Several of them had an interest
in education, and this experience solidified their desire to pursue
it further.”
For more information about the Street Law Externship Program,
please contact Professor Montana at grandep@stjohns.edu.