POV 575
LAWYERS IN POVERTY (4 CR)
OVERVIEW AND CLASS SYLLABUS
A. DESCRIPTION
This course is designed for graduating 3L students who wish to have hands-on practical training in poverty level survival techniques.
Please note: This course is NOT concerned with lawyers practicing in the area of legal assistance to low income persons (as such legal employment is nothing more than a myth perpetrated by law schools which you should have figured out by now!) Rather, this course will prepare YOU to enter poverty as a newly minted attorney.
Studies have shown that young attorneys have a difficult time adjusting to their new reality living at or near the poverty level. This course will begin with an historical overview of the lower social classes (which you are now entering despite having a Esq. at the end of your name) and proceed to an in-depth survey of the literature of the economic classification of poverty. It will also provide practical real-life lessons to students who will be navigating down to this social strata.
This course is designed for imminently graduating law students wishing to receive both theoretical and practical training in their post-graduate career. The course falls within our law school mission to provide "practice ready" training to our students. NOTE: Students earlier in their law school training will not be permitted to enroll in this course offering.
Please note: This course is NOT concerned with lawyers practicing in the area of legal assistance to low income persons (as such legal employment is nothing more than a myth perpetrated by law schools which you should have figured out by now!) Rather, this course will prepare YOU to enter poverty as a newly minted attorney.
Studies have shown that young attorneys have a difficult time adjusting to their new reality living at or near the poverty level. This course will begin with an historical overview of the lower social classes (which you are now entering despite having a Esq. at the end of your name) and proceed to an in-depth survey of the literature of the economic classification of poverty. It will also provide practical real-life lessons to students who will be navigating down to this social strata.
This course is designed for imminently graduating law students wishing to receive both theoretical and practical training in their post-graduate career. The course falls within our law school mission to provide "practice ready" training to our students. NOTE: Students earlier in their law school training will not be permitted to enroll in this course offering.
B. PRIOR EXPERIENCE UNNECESSARY
This class will assume no prior experience living at or near the poverty level. We appreciate that our law students have led comfortable middle and upper class lifestyles to this point. Please note that student lifestyles do NOT constitute poverty existence. Your existence up to this point has been either paid for by your parents or subsidized by your student loans. Living in luxury student complexes with saunas, rock walls and smoothie bars and an on-campus meal card will not be affordable in your post-graduate life. The purpose of this course is to expose and prepare our students to what they can expect in their post-graduate life and how it differs from their pre-JD lifestyle.
C. COURSE OBJECTIVES
1. To introduce law students in "poverty" lifestyle economic theory so that they can wax philosophical about their post-graduate predicament.
2. To provide practical training in living and raising a family in poverty with no credit and/or a poor credit rating and debt collectors a constant presence in their lives.
3. To provide lessons and strategies in asking parents and other family members for "loans" that you "promise to pay back when your situation improves" through role-playing exercises.
D. COURSE TOPICS
1. How to make your food budget stretch through low cost carb alternatives such as pasta and rice. How to determine eligibility for food stamps and other government assistance.
2. How to deal with the nuts and bolts of eviction and foreclosure of yourself and family. How to constantly scan for postings on your front door. How to attempt to "buy time" with your lender. How to deal with judges (formerly Big Law partners) who look down upon attorneys who are in financial distress assuming they are "dirty lawyers." If time allows, we will also explore having your car repossessed in a public fashion such as when you pick your children up from school or at a family gathering.
3. How to deal with process servers and utility shut offs. Do you announce you are an attorney and threaten to sue? Is the defense of "there must be a mistake that bill was paid" effective? Where can you turn for assistance with turning the utilities back on?
4. What are the maximum withholdings that can be made to your Social Security check in your old age against your unpaid student loans?
5. Should you expand your contacts through social media in the hopes of picking up legal work? Should you withdraw from social media because it is too depressing to see friends move forward with their lives and plan vacations and post photos of their kids in travel soccer while you are mired in poverty and cannot afford to even watch soccer on cable television because it was shut-off for non-payment.
6. When is it "bad enough" that you should approach your family for loans? What is the best way to go about this? How to best deal with the awkwardness that results? Pretend it didn't happen or try to use it for placing your relative on a guilt trip in the hopes of scoring assistance the next time?
7. Learn how to move through your life as though you are invisible much like a 1L not making eye contact with their professors. Positive advantages of this are not being socially embarrassed by repeated economic failure.
4. What are the maximum withholdings that can be made to your Social Security check in your old age against your unpaid student loans?
5. Should you expand your contacts through social media in the hopes of picking up legal work? Should you withdraw from social media because it is too depressing to see friends move forward with their lives and plan vacations and post photos of their kids in travel soccer while you are mired in poverty and cannot afford to even watch soccer on cable television because it was shut-off for non-payment.
6. When is it "bad enough" that you should approach your family for loans? What is the best way to go about this? How to best deal with the awkwardness that results? Pretend it didn't happen or try to use it for placing your relative on a guilt trip in the hopes of scoring assistance the next time?
7. Learn how to move through your life as though you are invisible much like a 1L not making eye contact with their professors. Positive advantages of this are not being socially embarrassed by repeated economic failure.
E. COURSE TEACHING METHODS
There are no texts or other materials to purchase for this course.
You will be required to prepare a projection of your professional income. This projection must be grounded in reality and cannot refer to any law school produced statistics which are obviously made up as noted by judges dismissing the class actions against law schools. You may interview students from prior years who are now practicing law to assist you in determining actual numbers or refer to so-called scam blogs which are accurate primary sources of information.
Once you have determined a realistic poverty level wage, you will need to determine the monthly payments on your student loans inclusive of undergraduate debt. If there are no funds left over, you may stop the budget project at this point. Those students will need to prepare a work out plan for their creditors and investigate public sources of assistance.
For those students with funds still available, you will be required to prepare a projected budget that you can live on.
All students will be required to spend a week eating by spending only the amount allowed by their State's weekly food stamp budget (much like politicians do when they are trying to bring attention to themselves and their pet social projects in real life.)
Plan also to engage in role playing episodes where you try to negotiate settlements with creditors, explain your lack of success to your family and friends, and attempt to borrow money from relatives.
You will be required to prepare a projection of your professional income. This projection must be grounded in reality and cannot refer to any law school produced statistics which are obviously made up as noted by judges dismissing the class actions against law schools. You may interview students from prior years who are now practicing law to assist you in determining actual numbers or refer to so-called scam blogs which are accurate primary sources of information.
Once you have determined a realistic poverty level wage, you will need to determine the monthly payments on your student loans inclusive of undergraduate debt. If there are no funds left over, you may stop the budget project at this point. Those students will need to prepare a work out plan for their creditors and investigate public sources of assistance.
For those students with funds still available, you will be required to prepare a projected budget that you can live on.
All students will be required to spend a week eating by spending only the amount allowed by their State's weekly food stamp budget (much like politicians do when they are trying to bring attention to themselves and their pet social projects in real life.)
Plan also to engage in role playing episodes where you try to negotiate settlements with creditors, explain your lack of success to your family and friends, and attempt to borrow money from relatives.
F. GRADING PLAN
This course is PASS/FAIL. Grades do not matter in the world you are about to enter. You should have figured that out by now.
G. CLASSROOM RULES OF CONDUCT
Please do not discuss course content with any 1L or 2L students. This will be grounds for automatic expulsion from the course.
H. FUTURE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Although you have been told by the dean not to read the scam bloggers, now that you are graduating you should immediately subscribe to "Outside the Law School Scam" and other scam bloggers for additional post-graduation survival techniques.
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