In Yale Law School’s clinics, learning to navigate around setbacks is part of the journey.
Students in Yale Law School’s Strategic Advocacy Clinic were busy preparing for trial last fall in their lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s parole procedures for people sentenced to life in prison as juveniles when they got an email that stopped them in their tracks.
They had lost the case.
In November, a federal judge granted the state’s motion for summary judgment against them. Because the judge had previously denied a motion to dismiss, the decision came as a shock. The students, their faculty supervisors, and their partners at Foley & Lardner, Quarles & Brady, and the ACLU of Wisconsin had been in the process of interviewing potential new named plaintiffs to replace the dozens of individuals they had already helped win release from prison.
“We were all getting ready for trial. Everyone was flying to Wisconsin,” said Clinical Lecturer in Law Avery P. Gilbert, who directs the clinic. “To get that decision after so much work — it was utterly gutting for us.”
But for attorneys and advocates who work on public interest and social justice issues, setbacks and losses are par for the course. Law schools and law firms celebrate when their efforts lead to successful verdicts, far-reaching settlements, or new and improved legislation. But, on the journey to systemic change, losing is often part of the process.
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