STREET LAW 2020 ADVOCACY CAMP

The University of Memphis School of Law Street Law student organization recently hosted a successful 2020 Advocacy Camp this Spring.

At its core, Street Law is a teaching program wherein law students are sent into community schools to teach high school and middle school students lessons on the law. Each year street law hosts an Advocacy Camp focused on different issues affecting youth in our community. This year their goal was to change the path of our youth, by directing them away from the school to prison pipeline and towards a path of advocacy.

This event brought together young people from throughout the Memphis community together at the law school for a day of learning and exposure to the legal profession. This year, Street Law brought over 110 students, ranging from grades 7-12, from a dozen local schools together for their Camp, making this the largest such Advocacy Camp that Street Law has ever hosted.

Students participated throughout the day in discussions and advocacy lessons, including discussions on the school to prison pipeline, a session on the importance of diversity, and a sample law school class. These Memphis-area students also got tours of the law school and learned directly from the law school's Moot Court Board. The day concluded with a keynote speaker who had been incarcerated as a youth.