Every day, in communities across the country, residents, consumers, workers, and the environment are subjected to unlawful conduct by public and private actors. Litigation challenging these pernicious practices has most visibly been led by private lawyers, non-profits, and state attorneys general. But local governments have also been an important part of the picture—a mighty but often untapped engine of progressive lawyering capable of redressing harms on multiple levels. The first essay in this two-part collection describes San Francisco’s current affirmative practice and the tools the City uses to hold both private companies and the federal government accountable to the people. This second essay details San Francisco’s longstanding partnership with Yale Law School—one of many capacity-enhancing strategies that has enabled the City to keep up with the demands of resource-intensive affirmative work. Together, the essays offer a potential path for other law schools and local governments seeking to establish clinics, externships, and other partnerships that can help law schools and public law offices to meet this moment and fulfill their potential as progressive plaintiffs.

Every day, in communities across the country, residents, consumers, workers, and the environment are subjected to unlawful conduct by public and private actors. Litigation challenging these pernicious practices has most visibly been led by private lawyers, non-profits, and state attorneys general. But local governments have also been an important part of the picture—a mighty but often untapped engine of progressive lawyering capable of redressing harms on multiple levels. This first essay in this two-part collection describes San Francisco’s current affirmative practice and the tools the City uses to hold both private companies and the federal government accountable to the people. The second essay details San Francisco’s longstanding partnership with Yale Law School—one of many capacity-enhancing strategies that has enabled the City to keep up with the demands of resource-intensive affirmative work. Together, the essays offer a potential path for other law schools and local governments seeking to establish clinics, externships, and other partnerships that can help law schools and public law offices to meet this moment and fulfill their potential as progressive plaintiffs.