THE PLURAL OF ANECDOTE IS NOT DATA:1 ... - UDC Law Review

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\\jciprod01\productn\D\DCR\16-1\DCR104.txt unknown Seq: 8 29-JAN-13 10:2624 UNIVERSITY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA LAW REVIEWThe CAP program prefers that employees contact them during a brief windowbeginning when the hearing date is scheduled and ending five days before thehearing date. They make exceptions on a case-by-case basis but have concludedthat this is the best way to allocate their services. 47The Employment Justice Center (EJC) is a leading provider of free employment-relatedlegal assistance to low-income employees in the District of Columbia.EJC attorneys and volunteers generally provide legal information andunbundled legal services (legal advice, guidance on preparing for a hearing, orassistance in drafting pleadings, for example). For help with UI appeals, however,they typically refer claimants to the CAP program. At this time, EJC does notprovide representation before the OAH. 48Several area law school clinical programs, including those at The GeorgeWashington University, The Catholic University of America, Georgetown University,and American University, represent employees in UI appeals. 49 Individualswho come to the OAH are provided a list of legal service providers. When lawschools are accepting UI cases, the clerks post a sign with the name and telephonenumber of a contact person. Combined, these programs represent fewerthan 100 employees per year. Law school-based legal clinics can only provideperiodic assistance, largely driven by the academic calendar. Even when lawschools are in session, typically several weeks early in each semester pass beforestudents are ready to represent clients. Neighborhood Legal Services 50 and theLegal Aid Society 51 have each represented claimants in appeals of OAH decisionsbefore the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, and have representedindividuals whose cases have been remanded to the OAH, but otherwise have notrepresented many claimants before the OAH. Bread for the City, another leadingprovider of civil legal services, does not represent parties in UI appeals. 52 Aquick tally of these numbers suggests that all of these legal service providers com-47 Id.48 E-mail from David Loda, Legal & Policy Associate, Employment Justice Center (EJC), toFaith Mullen (Feb. 25, 2011, 16:49 EST) (on file with authors).49 Letter from Mary Oates Walker, Chief Admin. Law Judge, to the Honorable Phil Mendelson,Chairman, Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary 15 (Mar. 14, 2011), available at http://www.dccouncil.us/mendelson/COJ_FY11Performance_FY12Budget.htm (follow “AdministrativeHearings, Office of: 3.14.11_Response” hyperlink).50 E-mail from Heather Hodges, Pro Bono Counsel, Neighborhood Legal Service Program, toFaith Mullen (Mar. 21, 2011, 17:00 EST) (on file with authors).51 E-mail from Jodi Feldman, Director of Pro Bono and Intake Programs, Legal Aid Society ofthe District of Columbia, to Faith Mullen (Mar. 21, 2011, 09:40 EST) (on file with authors). Since thisproject was completed, the Legal Aid Society has hired a staff attorney to represent claimants in UIcases.52 E-mail from Vytas V. Vergeer, Legal Clinic Director, Bread for the City, to Faith Mullen(Mar. 29, 2011, 14:40 EST) (on file with authors).
\\jciprod01\productn\D\DCR\16-1\DCR104.txt unknown Seq: 9 29-JAN-13 10:26THE PLURAL OF ANECDOTE IS NOT DATA 25bined represent fewer than 600 employees per year, when more than 3000 caseswere filed in each of the last three fiscal years. 53One important question is whether legal service providers who currently representparties in unemployment appeals have the capacity to provide legal assistanceto everyone who needs it. The answer to the so called “capacity question” isimportant because it has a direct bearing on the willingness of other legal serviceproviders and pro bono attorneys to represent parties in UI cases. If existing legalservice providers can meet the demand for legal services, it would not make senseto direct additional resources toward UI appeals. The limited number of lawyerswho actually appear before the OAH in UI appeals, coupled with the sheer volumeof cases, strongly suggests that existing providers are not able to help everyonewho needs representation.II.TRAINING LAW STUDENTS IN BASIC SURVEY METHODOLOGYThis project was developed with an emphasis on “service learning,” wherecoursework is designed to address community needs. 54 This kind of communitybasedproject “enhances learning outcomes as well as civic engagement, volunteering,political participation and intergroup relations.” 55 There is growing interestamong legal educators in identifying projects that will engage law studentswho are enrolled in clinical programs in addressing legal issues beyond individualclient representation. 56 The challenge is to identify projects that are good vehiclesfor learning. 57 Professor Katherine Kruse identified two elements that distinguishprojects that offer students meaningful problem-solving experiences beyondcasework: “students learn a skill best by having primary responsibility for employingthat skill to accomplish a task that they can see from start to finish.” 58Similar elements have been identified in the literature on service-learning: autonomy,competence, and relatedness. 59 Projects should offer students the opportunityto be involved in the decision-making process (autonomy), to attain a sense53 2010 ANNUAL REPORT, supra note 23. R54 See Jane L. Newman & Lawrence N. Bailis, Service-Learning as Creative Productivity, 1INFO. FOR ACTION: A J. FOR RES. ON SERVICE-LEARNING FOR CHILD. AND YOUTH, no. 2, at 1, availableat http://www.service-learningpartnership.org/site/PageServer?pagename=PUB_journal_fall2008.55 Chantal Levesque-Bristol, Timothy D. Knapp, & Bradley J. Fisher, The Effectiveness of Service-Learning:It’s Not Always What You Think, 33 J. OF EXPERIENTIAL EDUC. 208, 209 (2010).56 See Robin S. Golden & Sameera Fazili, Raising the Roof: Addressing the Mortgage ForeclosureCrisis Through a Collaboration Between City Government and a Law School Clinic, 2 ALB.GOV’T. L. REV. 29 (2009); see also Jayashri Srikantiah & Jennifer Lee Koh, Teaching Individual RepresentationAlongside Institutional Advocacy: Pedagogical Implications of a Combined AdvocacyClinic, 16 CLINICAL L. REV. 451 (2010).57 Katherine R. Kruse, Biting off What They Can Chew: Strategies for Involving Students inProblem-Solving Beyond Individual Client Representation, 8 CLINICAL L. REV. 405, 410 (2002).58 Id. at 423.59 Levesque-Bristol et al., supra note 55, at 210. R
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