Workshop on Clinical Legal Education
Expanding Visions of Scholarship*: Making It Happen

May 9–12, 2001

Law Clinic Directors' Workshop

J.P. Ogilvy
The Catholic University of America

The Section on Clinical Legal Education of the Association of American Law Schools has embarked upon a project to document the historical development of clinical legal education in American law schools. The project is collecting oral histories from participants in the milestone events in clinical legal education, including Ford Foundation funding, the role of CLEPR, federal funding under title IX, changes in the ABA accreditation standards regarding skills training and the status of clinical teachers, the creation of the Section on Clinical Legal Education within the AALS, the origins of the Clinical Legal Education Association, the founding of the Clinical Law Review, and instances of political interference with clinical programs. The project also is collecting documents, photographs, and other artifacts related to the development of clinical legal education.

A primary aim of the project is to preserve the memories of those who have been seminal in the development of clinical legal education before it is too late to retrieve them. Unfortunately, we already have lost the opportunity to capture the memories of such significant figures as John S. Bradway, Kenneth Pye, Gary Bellow, and Bill Greenhalgh.

The Executive Committee of the AALS Section on Clinical Legal Education has asked me, as Section historian, to launch the project. It is an undertaking about which I am very excited. Since being provided with seed money from the Section and generous grants from the law schools at American University and The Catholic University of America, my video producer, Charlie Hall, and I have conducted 23 videotaped interviews with pioneers in clinical legal education.

We recognize, however, that the two of us cannot possibly record all of the people who deserve to be interviewed for this project. Therefore, we have developed a packet of materials that will permit anyone who is willing to conduct some interviews locally to do so. In this way we can greatly expand the number of persons who can be interviewed, while assuring that the video and audio quality are satisfactory for archival purposes. This packet already has been used to conduct four interviews.

At this 2001 AALS Workshop on Clinical Legal Education in Montreal, Canada, we are showing a short video collage of portions of the interviews, edited together with other video footage and photographs of people, places, and things central to the history and development of clinical legal education. It is my hope that this will serve to inspire you to volunteer to interview or be interviewed and to dig out significant memorabilia from your offices, comb through your files for manuscripts, and take photographs down from your walls. Whatever you can donate or loan (for duplication) for archival purposes would be most appreciated. At the very least, please send me lists of things that deserve to be preserved.