BU Law Legislation Clinics Launch Dome: Law, Legislation & Policy
Blog offers a valuable resource for news, analysis, and opinion on legislation and public policy.
Boston University School of Law and its legislative clinics announce the launch of a new blog, Dome: Law, Legislation & Policy.
Staffed by students from BU Law’s three legislative clinical programs—the American Legislative Practice Program, Africa i-Parliaments Clinic, and Semester-in-Practice Government Lawyering in Washington, DC Program—Dome offers news, analysis, and opinion on legislation and public policy, and welcomes contributions from scholars, practitioners, or law students on any related topic.
Contributors have taken on issues from Obamacare to technology in the legislative drafting process. A recent post by BU Law student J. Corbin Carter (’15), “Unsafe at Any Age: Protecting the Adult LGBT Community from Sexual Orientation Change Efforts,” calls for state bans on gay conversion practices on adults as well as children, a particularly timely topic in light of President Obama’s condemnation of such practices.
Visit Dome and follow the blog via Twitter @domeblog1 for the latest in legislation and public policy. Those interested in submission may find details on Dome’s website. For all other inquiries, please contact Professor Sean Kealy at skealy@bu.edu.
About BU Law’s Legislative Programs
The American Legislative Practice Clinic is designed to give students the opportunity to develop and apply a variety of legal skills to the legislative process. Weekly classes cover the theoretical and practical aspects of law making bodies: how statutory law is created; constitutional limits to law-making; the ethical responsibilities for those involved in the process; and how lawmakers anticipate and shape the way the public and courts will interpret their work product. Students apply what they have learned in class by working with clients in the Massachusetts Legislature.
The Africa i-Parliaments Clinic seeks to assist African Parliaments to draft effective legislation. In 2008, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN/DESA) initiated a new program called the African Parliamentary Knowledge Network (APKN) to build the capacity of African parliaments to draft and enact more effective legislation. This clinic supports the APKN initiative by working with clients such as members of African Parliaments, government agencies, and regional government organizationsto produce high-quality research reports and draft bill language.
The Semester-in-Practice Government Lawyering in Washington, DC Program places students in full-time, full-semester externships at an executive or legislative office in Washington. Past students have worked for such offices as the US Senate Judiciary Committee, Department of Education, Drug Enforcement Agency, and Executive Office of the President – Domestic Policy Council.