Engaging Students in Systemic Change: The Role of Louisiana Law School Clinics in the State's Criminal Justice Reform Movement

AuthorRobert Lancaster - Maris Mattes
PositionLouisiana State University Law Center
Pages63-95
Louisiana Law Review Louisiana Law Review
Volume 80
Number 1
Fall 2019
Article 8
3-3-2020
Engaging Students in Systemic Change: The Role of Engaging Students in Systemic Change: The Role of
LouisianaLaw School Clinics in the State’s Criminal Justice LouisianaLaw School Clinics in the State’s Criminal Justice
ReformMovement ReformMovement
Robert Lancaster
Louisiana State University Law Center
, rlancast@lsu.edu
Maris Mattes
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev
Part of the Law Commons
Repository Citation Repository Citation
Robert Lancaster and Maris Mattes,
Engaging Students in Systemic Change: The Role of LouisianaLaw
School Clinics in the State’s Criminal Justice ReformMovement
, 80 La. L. Rev. (2020)
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol80/iss1/8
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at LSU Law Digital
Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Louisiana Law Review by an authorized editor of LSU Law Digital
Commons. For more information, please contact kreed25@lsu.edu.
337366-LSU_80-1_Text.indd 69 11/27/19 9:28 AM
Engaging Students in Systemic Change: The Role of
Louisiana Law School Clinics in the State’s Criminal
Justice Reform Movement
Robert Lancaster*
Katherine Maris Mattes**
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction.................................................................................... 64
I. Criminal Justice in Louisiana: A System in Need
of Reform Means Opportunity for Clinic Students ........................ 66
II. Louisiana’s Law School Criminal Clinics Are Uniquely
Situated to Engage in Criminal Justice Reform ............................. 71
III. Never Give Up, Never Surrender:
How an Individual Clinic Case Became Act 469........................... 76
IV. Working on Systemic Reform Provides
Uncommon Insight and Empowerment to
Louisiana’s Law Clinic Students.................................................... 82
A. Lessons Learned from Advocating for Michael M.
and Act 469 Reform: Perseverance, Creative
Lawyering, and the Intersection of
Litigation and Legislation........................................................ 82
B. Lessons Learned from Advocating for Parole Reform:
The Necessity for Holistic Advocacy and
the Power of Storytelling ......................................................... 84
C. Lessons Learned from Advocating for Juvenile Lifers:
The Value of Collaborative Reform and
the Power of Hope and Perseverance ...................................... 84
Copyright 2019, by ROBERT LANCASTER and KATHERINE MARIS MATTES.
* Director of Clinical Legal Education; J. Nolan and Janice D. Singletary
Professor of Professional Practice and Judge Earl E. Veron Professor of Law at
the Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University. Special thanks to
Natalie Ebolum, research assistant.
** Senior Professor of the Practice; Director, Criminal Justice Clinic;
Co-Director Women’s Prison Project at Tulane University School of Law. Special
thanks to Alexandra House, research assistant.
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64 LOUISIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 80
1. Miller v. Alabama: Possible Relief
for Juvenile Lifers ............................................................. 85
2. Clinics Join in the Fight for the
Retroactivity of Miller....................................................... 86
3. Tulane Clinic Appointed to the Louisiana
Supreme Court Case Considering the
Retroactivity of Miller....................................................... 88
4. Clinic Students Learn a Lesson from
Stakeholder Engagement................................................... 89
5. Montgomery v. Louisiana: United States
Supreme Court Holds Miller Is Retroactive...................... 90
6. Clinics Help Implement Miller/Montgomery
in Louisiana....................................................................... 91
Conclusion...................................................................................... 93
INTRODUCTION

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