Conference on Clinical Legal Education

May 18–22, 2002
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

CLINICAL METHODOLOGIES FOR CHALLENGING STEREOTYPES

Compiled by:
Robert Rubinson, University of Baltimore
Robert Salem, University of Toledo

The following is a menu of pedagogical techniques designed to challenge students regarding stereotypes. Most were suggestions offered at the Concurrent Session on “Learning from Client Differences: Avoiding Stereotypes” at the Clinical Conference in Pittsburgh. As the discussion at the session demonstrated, this topic is vast, challenging, and full of contradictions and tensions. Among these complexities are the potential (inevitable?) use of stereotypes in advocacy and how this should play out against the goal of having students reject stereotypes of individual clients, when the use of stereotypes in advocacy is legitimate or not legitimate, how stereotypes may create similar experiences among members of the stereotyped group, and the additional problem of faculty stereotyping students and students stereotyping faculty.

The following tentative list presents potential ways to explore stereotyping in clinical pedagogy. Many of these techniques carry potential risks as well as advantages. It might be interesting to explore experiences with/opinions of these techniques on the clinic listerv or at future clinical conferences.

• Choose a client for a given student who has the potential to challenge that student's stereotypes.
• Alternatively, choose a client for a given student who would appear to have similar a background/experiences. Such resonance might then be shared with other students as a means to further educate those students about such a background or experiences.
• Raise questions during case rounds about a student's interpretation of client behaviors or goals for group consideration. Such a larger group makes it more likely that students with divergent backgrounds and experiences can explore other students’ assumptions about those backgrounds and experiences.
• List and discuss all possible explanations for a client’s behavior. This exercise encourages students to understand clients more fully and recognize how stereotypes can distort interpretations of client behavior.
• Conduct an interview exercise in which students interview each other about assumptions that people have made about them that are wrong.
• Conduct an exercise in which students and faculty list two true things about themselves and one false thing about themselves and have a discussion about which are true and which are false.
• Conduct an exercise in which students volunteer one or more aspects about themselves upon which people draw misleading assumptions.
• Conduct an exercise in which students anonymously list differences that they believe exist between themselves and the Clinic’s clients and discuss the lists in class.
• Relate personal anecdotes about instances in which you have drawn upon stereotypes/assumptions regarding clients that have proven wrong.
• Assign readings, present videos, or invite guest speakers that implicitly challenge stereotypes about groups that the Clinic represents. Materials or speakers that portray the actual experiences of members of stereotyped groups might be especially effective.
• Create intake assessment forms for students that challenge/explicitly require students to confirm/disconfirm stereotypes.
• Assign readings that generally discuss the cultural and psychological dimensions of attorney-client interactions. The term “stereotypes” might generate defensiveness on the part of students, so it might be best to avoid it. Alternative ways of naming comparable psychological processes are “scripts” and “schemas.”
• To the extent it becomes necessary to challenge students’ assumptions about clients, consider framing the issue as one involving effective representation as opposed to challenging a students’ social or political beliefs.
• Attend client interviews in order to more effectively ascertain (among other things) whether students are making assumptions about their clients that should be challenged.
• Model/structure respect for others. This can be done in context of discussing the clinic’s clients, in the context of faculty interactions with clinic students, and in the context of promoting cohesion and collegiality among clinic students.
• Have students from different backgrounds collaborate on cases and discuss their perspectives on the case in class.
• Use simulations and role playing to highlight the dangers or stereotyping. Have students play the role of a stereotyped client to foster empathy for the client.
• Conduct a class on cultural themes that may influence client’s behavior.
• List similarities and differences between a student and her client on a blackboard as a means to explore prejudices or better understand a client’s behavior.