Spanish for Lawyers: Bridging Language and Cultural Gaps Short Course

1 credits · Law School

This short course will prepare students with intermediate Spanish proficiency to communicate and interact with Spanish speaking clients in a legal context. The focus of this course will be on serving low-income Spanish-speaking clients. Students will be introduced to legal terminology and will become equipped with substantive terms and cultural competency to practice areas of public interest law, such as immigration, family, and criminal law. This short course will emphasize communicating with clients about complex legal issues and processes in familiar terms they understand. Furthermore, students will analyze and discuss issues faced by clients with limited English proficiency and the impact of such limitations on the access to justice. The course will be organized primarily around particular client interactions that lawyers encounter. The course will be taught in Spanish, therefore Spanish language proficiency is necessary to meet the course requirements. The short course and will consist of small group and class-wide discussions; role-playing games; podcast listening; some writing and listening activities; and conducting an intake with a Spanish speaking client in collaboration with a local community organization. The course will also include translation exercises designed to stimulate translations Spanish-speaking lawyers are commonly expected to perform in a U.S. context (e.g., translation of affidavits). Enrollment Limited. Pass/Fail. [1]