Georgetown’s Paralegal Program for the Formerly Incarcerated Offers a Chance at Success

Georgetown's Paralegal Program for the Formerly Incarcerated Offers a Chance at Success

September 04, 2024

By Jeremy Conrad

Participants of the MORCA-Georgetown Paralegal Program took part in a moot court competition.

"She was placed in the zone of danger," Mark Ford confidently proclaimed, "and it was the defendant who placed her in the zone of danger."

Someone wandering into Georgetown University Law Center's Supreme Court Institute on the morning of August 27 might have thought this was another of the law school's moot court competitions. What's different about this particular moot court, however, was that Ford and the other students arguing motions before a panel of judges had all been formerly incarcerated.

The moot court was the final capstone project for participants in the Mayor's Office on Returning Citizen Affairs (MORCA)-Georgetown Paralegal Program, created specifically for previously incarcerated individuals. Offered under the law school's Prisons and Justice Initiative, the intensive reentry program is a partnership among Georgetown University, MORCA, and the D.C. Department of Employment Services.

Participants in the 24-week program earn an hourly stipend while taking on a full courseload that includes training in legal research, writing, corporate law, torts, contracts, legal technology, ethics, digital literacy, job readiness, and more. At the end of the program, graduates earn a certificate of completion from Georgetown Law and receive job search assistance as paralegals or legal support staff.

People who have been incarcerated often face difficulty finding employment following their release, which presents a significant barrier to their successful reintegration into the community. The MORCA-Georgetown Paralegal Program seeks to address this barrier by providing job training, leveraging participants' experience with the criminal justice system.

"We as a society forget about people who are coming home, and then we are all surprised when they go back to crime. This program addresses that," said Suzanne Tsintolas, faculty director of the Prisons and Justice Initiative. "We can address recidivism. We can provide an education, and with that education comes opportunity. The program is designed to give individuals the skills … and the experience they need to compete in the marketplace."

The MORCA-Georgetown Paralegal Program focuses on training participants in civil law, and there is a practical justification for this decision, said Tsintolas. One reason is the higher volume of civil cases compared to criminal cases; another is that it expands participants' understanding of the law from their interaction with the criminal justice system.

The program, now in its fifth cohort, has demonstrated success. "None of the program's graduates have returned to prison," Tsintolas said. "More importantly, I can see the difference in the level of confidence they have in themselves." Individuals entering the program often distrust the legal system, and each other, she added. Coursework is designed to address this distrust, encouraging cooperation and teamwork among the fellows, with Tsintolas deliberately challenging students to step out of their comfort zone.

For the moot court competition, for instance, Tsintolas paired shy students so that none could hide behind a more outspoken teammate, and she put vocal students in teams where their challenge is how to share time at the podium.

"In the law, you have to work on a team," Tsintolas said. "You have to interact with clients; you have to work with each other. If you aren't trustworthy, and you don't trust each other, you're not going to survive in the law."

Tsintolas said that faculty can only take part of the credit for the program's success. "The students in this program are hungry to work. They're hungry to work hard, and they're hungry to prove," she said. "You don't get that these days with many people who are working just to work. What they bring with them is that hunger."

Darrin Sobin, chief programs officer for the D.C. Bar, was among those who served as judges in this year's moot court competition. He has several reasons for supporting the program. "The MORCA-Georgetown Paralegal Program supports the legal industry, and it supports our members by providing paralegal support to them … [it] may even provide a pathway to membership in the D.C. Bar," Sobin said. "It behooves us, now, to get in front of this, and to help prepare these folks for a legal career as a practicing member, or a legal career as a supporting member."

In addition to helping meet the legal industry's need for skilled support staff and fostering interest in the law, Sobin said that reentry programs address his concerns about the legal profession's role in past inequities.

"We engaged for a period of this country['s history] in mass incarceration, and the legal industry was part and parcel of that mass incarceration," he said. "The prevailing thinking now is that mass incarceration was a mistake, and we are dealing with [its] consequences. Since we were involved at the beginning of the problem, we should be involved now when it comes to reintegrating our folks."

"They're not going to just go off into the sunset. They can be contributing members of society," Sobin added. "The recidivism rate for people who are reintegrated into society is miniscule compared to those who are not, and it costs a lot less to train somebody in a program like this than it does to put them back into the system and lock them up again. It's an investment in our future."

During motion argument, the students debated over the liability of a property owner for the slip-and-fall injury, the obligations the parties held to one another, the reasonableness of their actions, and the foreseeability of the harm that resulted.

Jimika Williams presented a strong argument for the defense. "The main weaknesses of this case are the absence of a breach of duty and causation," she said, citing the Restatement of Torts in support of her argument that "the law does not impose on the defendant the duty to prevent a careless person from injuring themselves."

The judges issued a split decision, denying the motion to dismiss the case for negligence because there was a question of law for the court regarding the existence of a duty, and also questions of fact regarding whether the defendant breached that duty and whether they were responsible for the proximate cause of the injury. A second claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress, however, was dismissed. The plaintiff failed to establish serious emotional distress.

Finally, a counterclaim for the tortious interference of a business relationship involved a question of fact regarding whether the interference was intentional. The motion to dismiss that claim was denied.

As the fellows exited the courtroom, the opposing teams congratulated one another on their performance.

The MORCA-Georgetown Paralegal Program partners with law firms, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies to assist its graduates in securing full-time employment and set them up for success in the workplace. To learn more about how you can support the program, contact Maya Hambrick at [email protected].

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