Poverty Law and Economic Justice
JD x Graduate Certificate in Poverty Law and Economic Justice
As a lawyer, you need to understand the needs and goals of your clients and the context for the legal work you are doing.
To provide you with the big picture in a specific area of expertise, Northeastern University School of Law offers a range of certificates that are interdisciplinary, bringing together the unique strengths of our law school and global university, and our leadership in experience-based education.
With a JD x Graduate Certificate in Poverty Law and Economic Justice, you’ll multiply the options open to you as a lawyer and develop real expertise.
The evolving contours of socio-economic life — changes in business and work organization, the revolution in information technology, changing patterns of family and living relationships — are all accompanied by new dangers of inequality and marginalization. Inequality in income, wealth and access to basic social goods is increasing in our time at a staggering rate, with serious negative consequences for racial and gender hierarchy as well as vertical economic distribution.
The interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Poverty Law and Economic Justice encompasses a wide range of courses, including courses in economic development, the use of private litigation in the public interest, consumer law, drug law and policy, health policy, education law, elder law and more. Through courses, co-ops, clinics and writing a substantial paper, your studies will be grounded in the context of law and layered with laser-focused knowledge, professionally informed observations and unique insights, both from your law professors and from faculty and colleagues across our global university.
If you want to deepen your knowledge and develop expertise so that you can fight the good fight, the Graduate Certificate in Poverty Law and Economic Justice will provide you with the knowledge, skills and tools to hit the ground running when you graduate from Northeastern.
Sample Courses
Community Economic Development
Disability Law
Elder Law
Family Law
Food Systems and Public Policy
Housing Law
Human Rights, Intellectual Property and Access to Medicines
International Human Rights and the Global Economy
Law and Economic Development
Law and Inequality
Nonprofit Organizations and Social Change
Private Litigation in the Public Interest
Quantitative Methods
Social Psychology of Stratification
Social Welfare Law
Strategizing Public Policy
Related Clinics
Civil Rights and Restorative Justice
Domestic Violence
Poverty Law and Practice
Public Health Legal Clinic
Sample Co-ops
ACLU (nationwide)
Advancement Project, Washington, DC
Bay Area Legal Aid, Oakland, California
Brennan Center for Justice, New York, New York
Center for Constitutional Rights, New York, New York
Center for Popular Democracy, Brooklyn, New York
Centro Legal de la Raza, Oakland, CaliforniaCommunity Legal Aid, Boston Massachusetts
Chicago Lawyers’ Committee, Chicago, Illinois
Children’s Rights, New York, New York
Community Justice Project, Miami, Florida
Community Legal Services, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
East Bay Community Law Center, Berkeley, California
Greater Boston Legal Services, Boston, Massachusetts
Latino Justice, New York, New York
Lawyers for Civil Rights, Boston, Massachusetts
Legal Aid Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Legal Aid of Nebraska, Omaha, Nebraska
Legal Aid of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC
Legal Aid Society, New York, New York
Legal Services NCY, New York, New York
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Washington, DC
New Jersey Legal Services, Edison, New Jersey
Pine Tree Legal Assistance, Portland, Maine
Rhode Island Center for Justice, Providence, Rhode Island
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Mercedes, Texas
>> Requirements
Additional Poverty Law and Economic Justice Opportunities
- The Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration (CPIAC) takes the lead in infusing the law school’s public interest mission into all facets of the student experience. While supporting the law school’s long-standing commitment to social justice, the center also pilots programs and initiatives that address broader justice issues.
- The Human Rights Caucus (HRC) serves as the hub for human rights issues not currently addressed by other student organizations, reinforces the ongoing work of existing student groups through the utilization of a legal human rights framework and connects law students to individuals/groups conducting current human rights work.
- The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) student chapter at the law school has been active since 1974. Northeastern student Guild members work closely with NLG attorneys: volunteering as facilitators for street law clinics, legal observers at demonstrations and civil disobedience actions and other ongoing campaigns.
- The Pro Bono Society’s (PBS) mission is to educate, promote and engage the future lawyers of the community as a means to provide pro bono legal services to the low-income and underrepresented members of the community. The PBS seeks to accomplish this by, among other things, connecting students to pro bono opportunities in areas of their legal interest. Students can use the PBS to find volunteer opportunities throughout their time at NUSL.