GALILEE Program participants face problems of urban poor

Half of Notre Dame Law School’s first-year class—92 students—spent part of their winter break exploring public interest lawyering around the country through the GALILEE program. “That’s an amazing level of interest—our highest ever,” says Robert Jones, Clinical Professor of Law, who coordinates the program. “Participation grows every year.”

An acronym for Group Alternative Live-In Legal Education, GALILEE introduces Notre Dame law students to the legal problems of the urban poor in ways impossible to learn in the classroom. GALILEE is the only program of its kind among American law schools.

Kelly Jentzen ’12 and five other NDLS students spent three days in Washington, D.C. “The organizations we chose to visit dealt directly with policy and advocacy,” she says. “They reflect our group’s interests in international human rights, immigration, homelessness and poverty, and government work.” The group visited the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, the Genocide Intervention Network, and the Department of Homeland Security, among others.

Read journal entries about Jentzen’s GALILEE experience here.

By spending several days meeting with prosecutors, public defenders, legal aid attorneys, governmental law agencies, private firm pro bono attorneys, and social service professionals, law students are provided the opportunity to explore public interest law while developing an appreciation for the tensions and complexities that result from interaction between real people and the law – something not necessarily available in casebooks. The students gain additional perspective by engaging in service projects and other activities such as visiting battered women’s shelters, touring prisons, and observing criminal trials.

Read More about GALILEE.