From left: Mary Holper, Estefania Palacios Pizarro, Rodrigo Az贸car Simonet, Westy Egmont, and Adela G贸mez Trincado
In January, the Boston College School of Social Work (51茶馆SSW) and Boston College Law School (51茶馆 Law) hosted colleagues from Pontificia Universidad Cat贸lica de Chile鈥檚 Law School (PUC Law), including law professors Rodrigo Az贸car Simonet and Adela G贸mez Trincado, and social worker Estefania Palacios Pizarro. The trio鈥攁ll of whom work at the PUC Immigration Clinic鈥攚ere recipients of a U.S. Embassy grant to study best practices from U.S.-based institutions. The focus of their trip: a deep dive into 51茶馆SSW and 51茶馆 Law鈥檚 pioneering model of interdisciplinary education.
With the goal of improving their own interdisciplinary clinic model, PUC鈥檚 Simonet, Trincado, and Pizarro spent three weeks with 51茶馆 faculty, staff, and administrators who shared scholarship, advice, and results from their clinical partnerships. Their custom itinerary featured more than 40 events, including classroom and clinic observations, meetings and roundtables with faculty and administrators at 51茶馆 and other area institutions, visits with local city leaders, and social events hosted by 51茶馆SSW and 51茶馆 Law deans and administrators.
And, although it was their first time at 51茶馆, the PUC team鈥檚 visit was something of a homecoming. That鈥檚 because PUC鈥檚 interdisciplinary immigration clinic, founded in 2016, evolved from a partnership between Boston College and PUC that began in 2012. 鈥淥ther universities in Chile and in nearby countries don鈥檛 have this interdisciplinary approach,鈥� says Trincado. 鈥淚t is amazing to be with people dealing with our same issues. We can finally speak a common language.鈥�
History of a winning model
51茶馆 Law鈥檚 own interdisciplinary clinic model dates to the 1980s, when they first hired a social worker to work in their clinics. In 2013, they聽expanded this model by聽inviting a new partnership with聽51茶馆SSW. MSW students would conduct their field placements, working alongside 51茶馆 Law students, in two 51茶馆 Law clinics: the Immigration Clinic and the Juvenile Rights Advocacy Project. Led by a team of faculty and administrators from both schools鈥�51茶馆 Law鈥檚 Lynn Barenberg, former law clinics social worker; Clinical Professor and Dean鈥檚 Distinguished Scholar Paul Tremblay, director of the Community Enterprise Clinic and former associate dean for experiential learning; Associate Clinical Professor Mary Holper, director of the Immigration Clinic; Clinical Professor Francine Sherman, director of the Juvenile Rights Advocacy Project; Associate Clinical Professor Sharon Beckman, co-director of the Criminal Justice Clinic and the Boston College Innocence Program; 51茶馆SSW Associate Professor Westy Egmont, director of the Immigrant Integration Lab; Professor Thomas Walsh, associate dean and director of the MSW Program; and Assistant Dean of Field Education Susan Coleman鈥攖he new model aligned with the University鈥檚 Jesuit values as well as its commitment to experiential learning modalities.
鈥淭he legal clinics were a natural opportunity for partnership within 51茶馆,鈥� says Egmont. 鈥淲e recognized that it would be ideal to have social workers in the clinics assisting the lawyers and legal students, learning with them and offering alternative ways of seeing the client, whose legal issue is part of a more complex human drama.鈥�
The interdisciplinary model gelled almost immediately, with all involved鈥攕tudents, faculty, administrators, and clinic clients鈥攕eeing tangible benefits. 鈥淲e鈥檝e found that the learning really goes both ways,鈥� says Holper. 鈥淭he law student can see the challenges faced by a social work student who is trying to find housing for a detainee, and the social work student also appreciates the legal challenges of obtaining a green card.鈥�
51茶馆 Law Professor Mary Holper meets with the Chile delegation.
Seeding a transnational partnership
It wasn鈥檛 long before Egmont and Holper, along with 51茶馆 Law Dean Vincent Rougeau and 51茶馆 Vice Provost for Global Engagement Alberto Godenzi, former dean of 51茶馆SSW and 51茶馆SSW professor of global practice, wondered if the prototype could succeed in different legal, cultural, and governmental circumstances.
鈥淚 wanted to enhance 51茶馆 Law鈥檚 ability to convene scholars and practitioners from different fields who would build meaningful interdisciplinary partnerships,鈥� recalls Dean Rougeau. 鈥淭his is how enduring solutions will be found to long-standing legal, social, and public policy problems. I also wanted to enhance the global engagement of our students and faculty. The legal clinic collaboration with PUC provided a great opportunity to invest in a project that would move all of those goals forward.鈥�
PUC, with its commitment to social justice and new focus on clinical education, and with whom the University had entered into a partnership in 2012, was a natural fit. In 2016, PUC faculty members made an inaugural visit to Boston College, followed by a reciprocal visit to PUC by Holper and Egmont.
The two institutions then sought and received a grant from the Luksic Foundation, which funds programs that strengthen and transform secondary education in Chile, and embarked on a new transnational and interdisciplinary exchange. Today, PUC Law School embeds social workers in several clinics, including its immigration clinic, and they conduct intake assessments for more than 1,500 clients a year.
鈥淥ur interdisciplinary partnership with 51茶馆 Law advances student learning and is an important tool for social justice in our communities,鈥� says 51茶馆SSW Dean Gautam N. Yadama. 鈥淭hese clinic experiences enable our students to better understand the inherent issues and challenges within each other鈥檚 disciplines. As a result, they learn firsthand how a holistic approach can translate into real and sustained gains for community members who are often the most vulnerable in our society.鈥�
Benchmarking best interdisciplinary practices
During their visit, PUC鈥檚 Simonet, Trincado, and Pizarro had keen interest in talking with legal and human services professionals who support immigrant populations. 51茶馆 faculty and staff, several of whom opened both offices and homes for the trio, facilitated their visits with experts on immigration policy and services in private, non-profit, and public sectors throughout Greater Boston.
The PUC team meet with staff working in area interdisciplinary law clinics.
The PUC team met with University leaders, including deans Yadama and Rougeau, staff from both schools鈥� global/international programs, and 51茶馆SSW鈥檚 field education staff. 51茶馆 Law Professor and Associate Dean of Experiential Learning and Global Engagement Judith McMorrow and 51茶馆 Law Assistant Clinical Professor Claire Donohue, JD/MSW 鈥�05, who oversees 51茶馆SSW students in the 51茶馆 Law clinics, convened meetings as well as class visits at the Law School. And Godenzi, with whom the Chileans were familiar due to his long involvement in the partnership, introduced Simonet, Trincado, and Pizarro to Fernanda Soza, a PUC Law and 51茶馆 Law LLM graduate, who works in 51茶馆鈥檚 Office of Global Engagement.
Donohue also coordinated two on-campus community conversations for the PUC trio. For the first, she convened staff working in area interdisciplinary law clinics to discuss balancing educational goals for law and social work students. The second gathering featured practitioners and partners from Greater Boston Legal Services, the Committee for Public Counsel Services, and the De Novo Center for Justice and Healing (formerly Community Legal Services and Counseling Center).聽
Beyond campus events, 51茶馆SSW Assistant Director of Field Education Ximena Soto organized and led site visits to local immigrant assistance organizations and Harvard Law School to learn how they integrate social work students into their legal clinics. Soto also coordinated a visit to De Novo, where Simonet, Trincado, and Pizarro heard from a team of social workers and lawyers about their approach to maintaining client confidentiality amid mandated reporting on behalf of the Commonwealth.
To better understand how Boston works with its immigrant residents, Egmont brought Simonet, Trincado, and Pizarro to Boston City Hall. The group met with Marta Rivera, chief of staff at the Mayor鈥檚 Office of Health and Human Services, and two staff members in Boston鈥檚 Department of Immigrant Advancement: An Le, JD/MSW 鈥�13, the policy and communications advisor, who is also a 51茶馆SSW part-time professor, and Carol Le贸n, the outreach and community engagement coordinator. They discussed how Boston partners with universities and others to best serve its immigrant population. From city hall, Egmont and the PUC trio headed to the Irish International Immigrant Center in Boston鈥檚 financial district to discuss best practices relating to the client intake model, and finished the day with Eva Millona, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition and 51茶馆SSW part-time professor, where they explored ideas for translating experiences into policy recommendations.
The PUC team attends Clinical Professor Francine Sherman's class.
A new vision for PUC
The PUC team appreciated 51茶馆鈥檚 efforts to facilitate a bird鈥檚 eye view of myriad interdisciplinary partnerships and access to the thought leaders and practitioners behind them. 鈥淲e came to Boston to observe,鈥� Trincado said, 鈥渂ut we are now finishing the visit by rethinking everything that we have done over these four years. We now go back to Chile with certitude, with a strategic vision for the future.鈥�
That plan includes taking the interdisciplinary approach beyond the clinics and into the curriculum and mission of PUC Law School. 鈥淲e want this meeting point, of social and legal integration, to become the formation and mode of operation for the education of all attorneys and social workers,鈥� explained Simonet. The team is determined to find new ways of opening their students鈥� eyes鈥攚ho must choose their career discipline at the age of 18鈥攖o the tactics, skills, and outlook necessary for both fields. 鈥淭o best serve the client,鈥� said Simonet, 鈥渟ocial workers need to understand the language of lawyers, and lawyers need to understand the language of social workers. They need to arrive at a common place.鈥�
鈥淧eople are complicated鈥攖hey don鈥檛 just have a labor problem or a housing problem or an insolvency problem鈥攖hey鈥檙e all connected,鈥� Trincado says, adding that the trio will return to Chile with renewed energy and a clear mandate: 鈥淲e need to change the mind-set of our students to see the whole client, so that they can not only be lawyers with the heart of a social worker, but integrated professionals serving the integral person.鈥�
The PUC team meet with staff at the Mayor's office in Boston City Hall.