{"id":260,"date":"2021-11-01T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sectonproprod.wpengine.com\/?p=260"},"modified":"2021-11-22T17:51:15","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T17:51:15","slug":"message-from-the-chair-november-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sectiononprobono.org\/index.php\/2021\/11\/01\/message-from-the-chair-november-2021\/admin\/","title":{"rendered":"MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR \u2013 NOVEMBER 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dear AALS, Pro Bono and Public Service Opportunities Section Friends,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A wise human said, \u201cCompassion is wisdom plus love.\u201d\u00a0 I do not know who actually said that quote but given the state of the world and the work we do, it really spoke to me as I thought of you all and the amazing things you are building and moving forward on your law school campuses, local communities, legal profession, and the world.\u00a0 As I wind down my year as Chair, I want to say thank you to all of you who have jumped in, taken on a task or event, and helped support the Section.\u00a0 And please keep it up! Thank you!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With too many issues on the access to justice agenda and needing pro bono attention, I invite you all to take a moment \u2013 and just be \u2013 be still, be quiet, be reflective, and as another famous human once said \u2013 be a human \u2018be-ing\u2019 instead of a human \u2018do-ing.\u2019\u00a0 As Audre Lorde said, \u201cCaring for myself is not self-indulgence.\u00a0 It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.\u201d\u00a0 While political warfare is a strong statement, this is the kind of warfare we should all be engaging in \u2013 taking care of ourselves, so we can take care of others as we all work to repair and heal the world, with love and with wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days I am learning from many teachers, and I wanted to share two recent articles that have spoken to me in very profound ways \u2013 and I make no claim to objectivity, as these are two dear friends doing important work in our field:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Anne Gordon, Clinical Professor of Law and Director of Externships, Duke Law School, has written a piece \u2013 Better Than our Biases:\u00a0 Using Psychological Research to Inform Our Approach to Inclusive, Effective Feedback<\/em>, in the Spring 2021, Clinical Law Review.\u00a0 Anne\u2019s article will introduce you to biases you probably did not even know you had, or at least did not know the name for them, and even more importantly, she provides insights and tools into how to confront these biases and support students in their learning.\u00a0 While her focus is on feedback in the clinical\/externship world, there are many lessons for pro bono and public service faculty and staff as we strive to ensure that all feel welcomed into our programs.<\/li>
  2. Janet Thompson Jackson, Professor of Law, Washburn University School of Law, has written Wellness and Law: Reforming Legal Education to Support Student Wellness<\/em>, https:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3839050<\/a>\u00a0 (forthcoming 65 Howard L.J. 1 (Fall 2021)).\u00a0 Janet looks at professional identity through an interesting and innovative lens, putting forth the concept that wellness, including mindfulness and other practices, are a critical component in raising the next generation of legal professionals. She introduces concepts and provides tools to help think about these concepts and frame them in our work with students.\u00a0<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    In these scary and difficult moments, I hope you are holding your loved ones close and taking time to be grateful for all you have and the path ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As the Section prepares for the transition to the 2022 year with new officers and new projects, if you are interested in coming on board and helping to lead these efforts, please contact Kiva Zytnick, zytnick@cua.edu<\/a> to learn more. I close by expressing my gratitude and acknowledge my good fortune in getting to work with many of you \u2013 thank you, you keep me going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u2013 Sue Schechter<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Dear AALS, Pro Bono and Public Service Opportunities Section Friends, A wise human said, \u201cCompassion is wisdom plus love.\u201d\u00a0 I do not know who actually said that quote but given the state of the world and the work we do, it really spoke to me as I thought of you all and the amazing things […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sectiononprobono.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sectiononprobono.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sectiononprobono.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sectiononprobono.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sectiononprobono.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sectiononprobono.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sectiononprobono.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sectiononprobono.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sectiononprobono.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}