Public Interest Law & Policy

Class 6

Ronald W. StaudtFebruary 7, 2013

Public Interest Law & Policy

Alexander Polikoff Director, Public Housing Program

Business and Professional People for the Public Interest 

Waiting for Gautreaux “The dream of the civil rights

revolution seemed distant indeed, the bright hopes for litigation as a social change lever naïve.”

What would I say to the law students today…

Client Autonomy and Cause Lawyering

Can you talk about your current thoughts about the fact that Dorothy Gautreaux and the other class representatives and Chicago’s  black community groups did not get involved in the decisions you describe in the case, like the Model Cities issue or the decision to appeal or not to appeal major rulings? 

Did the lawyer team receive dissenting or opposing views on your decisions from tenant groups or other black organizations? If so, how voiced? What about other interest groups, disabled tenants, for example?

Personal and professional questions

When you pursue such a deeply felt cause as a lawyer, how do you relate to opposing counsel and lawyers who do not share your convictions? What about the people described in the book, especially those depicted critically?

Litigation as a tool for social change- can it work? Can judges administer major transformations without administrative resources?

Tell us more about your experience arguing in front of the United States Supreme Court for the first time, and what else you did to prepare other than small "moot courts" and taking advice from a friend who had argued before the 9 justices before. How did you cope with nervousness, how much did you use your notes during the oral argument, etc.

Gautreaux going forward

What do you think of the Hope VI program and the current direction of public housing in Chicago, and nationally? 

What are your current thoughts on the CHA Transformation process?

As you predicted we no longer have a Bush in the White House. Is your “indulgent fantasy” now politically feasible?

Beyond housing…

As a public interest lawyer, perhaps imagining yourself again as head of BPI,  how would you try to address the problem of gun violence in the city.

In light of the Sandy Hook School shooting and other mass shootings that have occurred recently in the United States, do you think that an increase in mental health care benefits might alleviate some of the crime/violence in the United States or even further rehabilitate Chicago's ghettos?

I ask this because it has been stated over and over again that poverty-ridden areas see an increase in crime and violence mostly because  people are trying to find a way to survive and put food on the table, but what about the people who live in these poverty-ridden areas, or ghettos, who are mentally sick and don't understand their actions or are unable to control them?

Might an increase in mental health care drastically help revitalize the ghettos and help people get back on their feet? 

CLASS 7 — Tuesday February 12

Guest Speaker: Professor Felice Batlan

Gendered Lives of Legal Aid: Law, Social Work and the Poor

Read: Inventing Legal Aid: Lawyers, Social Workers and the

Poor, 1863-1945, by Felice Batlan,Chapter IV: Lawyerly Visions of Legal Aid, 1911-1923

NO Class on Thursday Feb 14. Papers are due Feb. 17.