Penn Carey Law Launches Innovative justice Lab Focused on Systemic Legal Reform
PHILADELPHIA, PA – Penn Carey Law at the University of Pennsylvania has launched the Justice Lab, a new legal clinic designed to equip students with the skills to not only practice law but to actively shape and reform the legal system itself. Unlike traditional law clinics focused on individual client representation, the Justice Lab emphasizes tackling systemic issues through legislative advocacy, bureaucratic design, and technological solutions, with a focus on representing organizations rather than individuals.
The clinic, spearheaded by Professor Jennifer Shanahan, aims to move beyond simply operating within the legal framework to becoming “architects of the system.” “Lawyers do a lot of things in society, and one of the things in the best version of being a lawyer is that we shape the legal system,” Shanahan saeid. ”We’re not just agents of the legal system, we’re architects of the system.” This approach reflects a growing trend in legal education towards experiential learning and a focus on social justice.
The Justice Lab’s curriculum blends traditional legal training – analyzing statutes and cases – with unconventional skills such as bureaucracy design, media interaction, and creative problem-solving using technology. Students participate in in-class seminars, small group meetings with the professor, and local excursions to gain a diverse skillset for working with clients.
Currently, students are gaining practical experience through projects like assisting a nonprofit association focused on reforming booting and towing practices. Third-year law student Amara Young described the experience as “a really cool experience as we’re helping craft the legislative advocacy strategy for the client. We’re really getting to draft legislation [and] craft media advocacy plans,” adding, ”It’s been a great experience to help reform an unjust system.”
Shanahan envisions the Justice Lab as a catalyst for broader change, both within Philadelphia and nationally, by developing and replicating triumphant legal reforms. “So often, especially in our civil justice system, there are these individual great experiments in all these different places,” Shanahan added. “I would love for the justice Lab to build a role where we’re creating really terrific single reforms and also helping replicate them in a way that creates efficiencies in different places.”
Anthony Marqusee, communications and legal projects coordinator for Grittis Legal Clinics, anticipates collaboration between Justice lab students and those in penn Carey Law’s other nine clinics, creating a synergistic learning surroundings and expanding the reach of legal reforms throughout Philadelphia.
