房东和租客法律周将真实世界的经验融入物权法

波士顿大学法学院为一年级学生开设了一个新项目，继续致力于体验式教育。

First-year students taking Property Law don’t always find themselves as deeply involved in the learning process as they could be. But according to Professor 安娜·迪·罗比兰特, who teaches one of BU Law’s three Property Law sections, the week she spends on landlord and tenant law is consistently the one that captures the most student interest.

考虑到这一点，当负责体验式教育的副院长佩吉·麦塞尔（Peggy Maisel）找到教授l课程的波士顿大学法学院教员，询问他们是否愿意帮助他们在课堂上实施体验式课程时，迪·罗比朗教授欣然接受了这个机会。

“Many of the faculty responded that they were interested, or that they were already trying some experiential components on their own,” Dean Maisel says. “Professor di Robilant was already spending a good amount of class time on landlord and tenant law, so it made sense to turn that into a time when students could not only read case law but could take advantage of BU Law’s access to Boston’s 专业房屋法庭 and see what the whole process looks like when a tenant is threatened with eviction.”

积累经验

Di Robilant worked closely with Dean Maisel, Associate Director for Clinical & Trial Programs Adrienne Smith, and Clinical Associate Professor 康妮布朗, who teaches in BU Law’s 住房，就业，家庭和残疾（HEFD）诊所, to craft a program that would allow students to learn the law as they would in the classroom, but also to expose them to the human context and the social consequences of how the law is applied.

“We really wanted to show them the life of the law,” di Robilant says. “In landlord and tenant law, there are larger questions of access to justice and the asymmetry of power that, in a classroom setting, students may not grasp. But going to housing court and seeing first-hand that most of the tenants in these cases are minorities and women, and that most are unrepresented in court, was a very effective way of conveying that asymmetry.”

Beyond the real-world implications of the practice of law, it was important that the students learn that effective lawyering doesn’t always end in the courtroom. “Mediation is an important tool in housing disputes, and far more problems are solved there than in court,” Professor Browne says.

To this end, di Robilant, Browne, Smith, and Maisel organized a week-long program around landlord and tenant law for the 70 first-year students in di Robilant’s Property class. 这一周的开始是一个比较传统的课堂讲座，后来扩展到一个小组报告和一个模拟审判。 Participating in the panel were two Boston Housing Court professionals, a mediator for the court, and an attorney representing 波士顿房屋管理局. Joining them was Milton Wong (’13), a staff attorney for the 志愿律师项目, which sets up a table at the Boston Housing Court to provide 公益性服务 representation and legal information for people in need. 此外，Portia Smith（16届），HEFD诊所的2L，谈到了她在波士顿住房法院成功代表几个租户的经验，作为民事诉讼临床项目的一部分。

本周晚些时候，学生们分成两组参观了波士顿住房法院。 第一批人是在周三出庭的，当天法院审理了涉及波士顿住房管理局（波士顿房屋管理局）的案件。 第二批人是周四参加的，他们有机会旁听调解以及一系列私人住房案件，从需要收回公寓供家庭成员使用的房东，到报告生活条件恶劣的租户。 Both groups had the opportunity to observe cases heard by Associate Justice MaryLou Muirhead, and speak with First Justice Jeffrey Winik (’75).

反思的空间

“I found the mediation session that I observed extremely revealing,” says Kevin Beck (’17), who attended court on Thursday. “Thanks to the effective services rendered by a mediator and a volunteer attorney, both parties were able to exchange their positions and information in a very cooperative atmosphere and on equal footing. The law, ultimately, is about managing the intricacies associated with human affairs, and bringing the people to the fore of this practice can, I think, transform the whole process to be much more rewarding and effective for all those involved.”

项目的最后一部分是汇报环节，让学生们讨论他们的经历，并反思他们这一周的所见所闻。 “The students saw different types of cases on each day at court, so the opportunity to share their experiences was an important piece of the program,” Browne says. “They were exposed to different sets of problems, and were able to reflect together on possible solutions.”

Nawf Albassam（17届）周四也参加了房屋法庭，她发现这次经历非常有趣，所以她在接下来的一周又回到了Winik法官那里，深入新濠影汇线上赌场研究了一个具体案件的细节。 “It was inspiring, because you start to understand the power and great responsibility lawyers have to affect other people’s lives,” she says. “If someone has a bad lawyer or no representation at all, it really hurts their case. Judge Winik explained the power imbalance in the courtroom, and it is really sad in some ways because we saw people evicted from their homes, and you want to help them but you can’t. This is what law is all about—touching people’s lives.”

“When people are poor, it makes everything harder,” Professor Browne notes, “and it plays out in the most basic need, which is housing.” 律师培养了一套技能，这些技能可以用在很多方面，既可以为利润服务，也可以为公众服务。 “On a larger scale, we hoped this program would begin a conversation about 公益性服务 work, professional duty, and being a good citizen.”

实践教育承诺

Experiential programs like this one, and the Lawyering Lab introduced this spring, are the result of a faculty task force established by Dean Maureen O ' rourke to consider systematic instruction in the competencies required by practicing attorneys. 在房东和房客法律周取得成功之后，校方已经计划在明年继续开展该项目，并有可能将其作为一个模板，扩展到其他一年级课程。 “We are very committed to getting first-year students out of the classroom for experiences like this,” Dean Maisel says. “Being in the courtroom and in mediations, and understanding what it’s like for clients and that there are different ways to resolve disputes, are extremely important experiences to have in your first year. Moving forward, we plan to continue to build and refine programs like these.”