About Us

In the Policy Advocacy Clinic, interdisciplinary teams of law and public policy students pursue non-litigation strategies to address systemic racial, economic, and social injustice. The clinic’s approach is ground-up (rooted in the lives of real people), problem-based (addressing pressing social issues), and client-driven (accountable to community organizations). Students support local and state change campaigns while exploring the capacities and limits of law and public policy to solve problems.

Current projects include state and national efforts to abolish regressive and racially discriminatory fees and fines in the juvenile and criminal legal systems. A multi-year project to address juvenile fees in other states may require clinic-funded travel outside of California.

In the clinic, students learn substantive law and policy skills. They interview clients and experts, conduct legal and social science research and analysis, and consult stakeholders (community members, policy and advocacy organizations, public officials, academics).

On behalf of clients and partners, students complete written assignments, including: draft legislation, rules, and policies; internal work product for clients; and external work product for public dissemination, such as fact sheets, public comments, policy briefs, research reports, practice manuals, and know your rights materials.

Students also hone their oral advocacy skills by preparing, mooting, and delivering testimony and public comment to a variety of audiences, including city councils, county boards of supervisors, regulatory bodies, and state legislatures.

The clinic instructional staff includes Jeff Selbin, Stephanie Campos-Bui, Devan SheaCameron D. Clark, Delaney GreenGus Patel-Tupper, Rachel Wallace, and Maiya Zwerling.

 

PAC student Sarah Edwards (MPP ’20) testifies on adult fees to Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors (September 17, 2019).

 

PAC students Dagen Downard (JD ’20) and Savannah Reid (JD ’20) testify on juvenile fees to Nevada Senate Judiciary Committee (May 10, 2019).

 

Jeff Selbin and Shelby Nacino at the podium at City Hall

PAC student Shelby Nacino (JD ’18) speaks at San Francisco City Hall on clinic’s new report, Homeless Exclusion Districts: How California Business Improvement Districts Use Policy Advocacy and Policing Practices to Exclude Homeless People From Public Space (September 18, 2018).

 

PAC students present research findings on juvenile fees to San Mateo County Board of Supervisors (June 19, 2018).

 

PAC students present research findings on juvenile fees to Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors (October 25, 2016).

 

View Flickr photo album of the Right to Rest press conference, where PAC students presented research findings about California’s anti-homeless laws at the State Capitol (February 2015).

For more details about the clinic, see:

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