“No me des el pescado, enséñame a pescar” “Do not hand me fish, teach me how to fish” Community Lawyering in Puerto Rico: Promoting empowerment and self-help

Abstract

Law 232 of August 27, 2004 has a special meaning to the people residing in some of Puerto Rico's poorest communities. It was the result of the hard work, during a period of a year and a half, of leaders from some of these communities and my students, the students of the community development section of the Legal Aid Clinic of the University of Puerto Rico’s School of Law. The story of Law 232 can provide insight into what the role of a lawyer can be in the battle against poverty. To understand the story of this Puerto Rican law, one has to go back to August of 2002. During that month the University of Puerto Rico's School of Law Legal Aid Clinic inaugurated its community development section.