A career of fighting in court to secure a thorough and efficient education for low-income and minority children has made David Sciarra a passionate advocate.
But Sciarra, the executive director of the Education Law Center, has learned that scorched-earth tactics don’t work as well as building a community of advocates to create change.
Sciarra is the guest in the latest edition of NJSBA Sidebar, the association’s podcast. He recently received the Charles J. Hollenbeck Award from the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism in the Law. The award recognizes a lawyer who has served in the legal profession with diligence, competence and dedication.
The award ceremony was held in Edison on Oct. 11.
In this episode, Sciarra talks about the work of the center; the role litigation plays in addressing systemic societal problems and why he’s “long since abandoned the notion that lawsuits solve the problem.”
Sciarra has been a civil rights lawyer since 1978. He has been counsel to public school children in the Abbott v. Burke cases, which aim to ensure all students in the state’s city schools have sufficient funding. The Education Law Center, which is based in Newark, has also been involved in cases around the country, including one recently involving the school children of Flint, Mich., who were exposed to lead in public drinking water.
You can subscribe to Sidebar through iTunes by going to http://bit.ly/NJStateBarSidebar, or stream the episodes through Soundcloud at soundcloud.com/njsbasidebar. You can also listen through your web browser by hitting play on the embedded audio at the top of this page.