EIGHTH INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLINICAL LEGAL
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EIGHTH INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION / CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION CONFERENCE CONFERENCE PAPER ABSTRACTS Here is a list of presenters and papers. There are 50 parallel papers to choose from. The full abstracts are set out below. Presenter(s) Title of paper Adam Jackson Joanne Clough Northumbria University, UK Are idealism and realism mutually exclusive concepts in clinical legal education? Adrian Evans Monash University, Australia Self-Assessment of Clinical Programs Amari Omaka Ebonyi State University, Nigeria New Clinical Projects – a case study of EBSU Law Clinic Prison Project Aminu Gamawa Ebonyi State University, Nigeria The Making of the Clinical Teacher: A Reflection of my Experience as Clinical Student and a Clinical Teacher Asnida Mohd Suhaimi Suzanna Abdul Hadi Nur Farzana Mohd Zulkifli University of Malaya, Malaysia Students' Attitude Towards Street Law Based CLE Brian Donnelly Columbia Law School, USA Clinic Curriculum and Fieldwork Projects at the Intersection of Information Technology and the Practice of Law Bruce Lasky Bridges Across Borders South East Asia Community Legal Education Initiative, Thailand Madya Norbani Mohamed Nazeri University of Malaya, Malaysia The Development and Expansion of University Based Community/Clinical Legal Education Programs Throughout Malaysia: Means, Methods, Strategies C A Agebebaku S K Mokidi Legal Clinics and Professional Skills Development Ambrose Alli University, Nigeria Caroline Foster Sarah Morse Victoria Murray Northumbria University, UK Mirror, mirror on the wall which is the fairest reflection method of all? A comparative study of journaling and blogging Clark Cunningham Georgia State University, USA Nigel Duncan City Law School, London, UK Paul Maharg Northumbria University, UK Global Collaboration Towards More Effective Teaching of Legal Ethics and Professionalism David McQuoid-Mason University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa The ‘Chicago Seven Trial’ Reloaded: Using the Chicago Seven, Nelson Mandela & Saddam Hussein Trials to Teach About the Role of Lawyers, Judges and Accused Persons in the Criminal Justice System Elisabeta Olarinde John Akintayo Kevwe Omoragbon Isaac Adejumo Folake Olaleye Peter Lifu Women’s Law Clinic, University of Ibadan, Nigeria Developing Lawyering Skills in Law Clinic Graduates Through the Application of Customary Law: The Experience of University of Ibadan, Nigeria Eric T M Cheung University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Setting Up a Legal Clinic in Hong Kong: Progress and Challenges Folake Olaleye University of Ibadan, Nigeria Cultural and Social Barriers to Access to Justice – A Case Study of Women Seeking Legal Aid at the Women’s Law Clinic, University of Ibadan, Nigeria Frances Gibson La Trobe University, Australia “Coming together is beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success” (Henry Ford). Advantages and disadvantages for organisations in accepting CLE placement students Frank Dignan University of Hull, UK Bridging the Divide (continued) I J Bezuidenhout University of the Free State, South Africa The limits in value teaching in a diverse society and the changing face of lawyers as opposed to lawyering on the African continent (1): Assessing values: the Generational influence of the PostApartheid era [Paper 2 will be delivered by Michelle Karels] Idorenyin Akabom Eyo University of Uyo, Nigeria The role of the Nigerian Universities Law Clinics in Prison Decongestion in Nigeria Jonathan Bainbridge Clare Sandford-Couch Northumbria University, UK Educating towards ethical lawyers? Katherine Pearson Pennsylvania State University, USA An Internationally Relevant Question in Professional Responsibility: “Who is My Client?”. Kevin Kerrigan Northumbria University, UK Undrell Moore University of Newcastle, UK Kim Diana Connolly University of South Carolina, USA Blood sweat and teeth – a comparative analysis of the student experience in dental and legal clinics at two UK-based universities Lawrence Donnelly National University of Ireland, Republic of Ireland Who “Clinics” and Where? Considering and Questioning the Operational Practices of a Fledgling Clinical Legal Education Programme in Ireland Les McCrimmon Charles Darwin University, Australia Development of Advanced Legal Skills in the Virtual Learning Environment Lisa Nolan Westminster University, UK An exploration of issues around quality assurance and enhancement of extra-curricular clinical legal activities Lydia Bleasdale-Hill University of Leeds, UK Organised Chaos: An Academic’s Perspective on Establishing and Maintaining a Law Clinic Lynette Osiemo Mmatsie Mooki Strathmore University, Kenya Clinical education and the lawyers of the future: one university’s quest for a unique contribution to the legal profession in Kenya Michelle Karels University Of The Free State, South Africa The limits in value teaching in a diverse society and the changing face of lawyers as opposed to lawyering on the African continent (2): Is teaching values in a multi-ethnic, developing nation facilitated or hindered by the personal circumstance and bias of the academia? The Hybrid Simulation Model: Creating “BiteSized” Learning Experiences That Integrate Actual Legal Matters [Paper 1 will be delivered by I J Bezuidenhout] Malcolm Bennett Monash University, Australia The Family Law Assistance Program – A new experience for students undertaking clinical legal education Maria Eichart Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Poland Clinical legal education in the non-governmental organisation – example of Law Clinic “Innocence”. Marta Skrodzka University of Bialystok, Poland Which way to follow? New directions of Polish CLE Maxim Tomoszek Radim Licenik Katerina Ivanova Palacky University, Czech Republic Return to Origins – Joint Clinical Education of Students of Law and Medicine Michael Bennett Portsmouth University, UK Launching a Law Clinic: Lessons from Portsmouth Michael Churgin University of Texas, USA The Importance of the Student Practice Rule (Right of Audience) Monique Lampke University of Dayton Ann Vessels University of Denver, USA Using Experiential Learning Courses to Prepare Students for Lawyering and Life: Identifying, Developing and Assessing Critical Competencies Mutsa Mangezi Rhodes University, South Africa Enhancing Student Learning through Assessment in Clinical Legal Education Paul McKeown and Tamsin Nelson Northumbria University, UK Clinical Teaching through Popular Culture Paula Galowitz New York University, USA The Challenges and Opportunities of an Interdisciplinary Clinic Peggy Kerdo La Trobe University, Australia Standing upright in the winds that blow: The rule of law, unpopular causes and clinical legal education Pilar Bonet University of Valencia, Spain Richard Grimes, Legal Education Consultant, UK Legal Clinics and pro bono activities: differences and similarities Public legal education in law schools Richard Owen University of Glamorgan, Wales, UK Making a Difference: Using Clinical Legal Education for Policy Change Richard Roe Georgetown University, USA Learner-Centred Instruction in Clinical Legal Education: Lessons from a Model Street Law Class Richard Wilson American Society of International Law, USA Early Efforts at a Pedagogy of Practice in the US: 1870 to 1920 Sara Chandler College of Law, London, UK Rebecca Parker College of Law, Birmingham, UK From Practitioner to Educator: Can Litigators Let Go? Shaheda Mahomed University of Witwatersrand, South Africa The theory of learning and how it helps promote clinical legal education Tony Foley Margie Rowe ANU College of Law, Australia Teaching professionalism in legal clinics – what new practitioners say is important Wendy Morrish Bridges across Borders Southeast Asia Community Legal Education Initiative, Thailand The Community Legal Education Movement in Southeast Asia “Law Students Making a Difference” William Wesley Patton Whittier Law School, USA Getting Back to the Sandbox: Designing A Legal Policy Clinic Ying Dai University of Political Science and Law, China Criminal Clinics in China Are idealism and realism mutually exclusive concepts in clinical legal education? Adam Jackson, Northumbria University and Joanne Clough, Northumbria University "In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” Eric Hoffer The hypothesis upon which this paper is based is that a high quality clinical programme should provide students with a realistic experience which develops practical skills and prepares them for practice. It should also achieve the underlying educational aims of the clinical programme including the development of academic skills and the passing of an assessment. It therefore appears that clinical education has to achieve two very distinct aims On the one hand a good clinical programme will seek to achieve both academic and educational goals by putting law into practice for the students. It will provide students with the opportunity to learn and develop new legal skills such as drafting and interviewing. Clinic will encourage students to become reflective practitioners and will provide valuable experience for students to take into their legal careers. On the other hand, clinic is set within a working office and provides a key means of access to justice within the local community. The regulating body (such as the Solicitors Regulation Authority) demands that clients are serviced to exactly the same high standard as any other law firm and the supervisors are responsible for the advice and representation provided. This clearly requires a level of realism in that advice and representation has real life consequences. With this in mind, can a clinical programme successfully achieve both its educational and practical aims or are the two principles mutually exclusive? The speakers come from very different backgrounds and will take a different viewpoint as to which, if any, of these competing interests should prevail. On the one hand, the educator will say that the instructive value of clinic, with its practical approach to learning the law, far outweighs the necessity for the practical context to be wholly realistic. This view argues that clinic is a safe environment in which students can experience the law for the first time thus it is important that clients can be handpicked depending on how much educational benefit can be gained from the case. Students should be encouraged to reflect on their practice and will be able to adapt to realities if they are reflective lawyers. The solicitor supervisor will suggest the opposite. In reality, a legal environment is more than just representing the clients; it is a business environment. This requires practitioners not only to know the law, but how to deal with a case to maximise fee earning potential while still providing a high quality service. Every client is a fee and there can be no selection process. Having learned the law, clinic should be an opportunity to highlight the realities of law in practice before students take the final leap into a tough career. This paper will seek to address the question ‘are idealism and realism mutually exclusive concepts in clinical legal education’ with reference to relevant literature in the field of legal pedagogy. Both speakers will advance arguments about whether clinical programmes provide students with the academic and practical tools necessary to adapt to a legal career or whether in fact they prepare them for a legal world that does not exist. Self-Assessment of Clinical Programs Adrian Evans, Monash University, Australia Modern clinical programs are rich in their diversity and ambition, so much so that it is often difficult to decide if a putative clinical program meets the definition of ‘clinic’ or is merely an ‘el-cheapo’ fellow traveller, seeking to achieve academic acceptance without investing in the pedagogy or infrastructure. Law schools that seek accreditation within some national systems are already well aware of clinical standards, but most are not and many Deans simply decide to let the definition issue slide into academia because finding a definition is practically speaking, unnecessary for most international contexts. The issue of international clinical accreditation is nevertheless ahead of us in the coming decade as bodies such as the International Association of Law Schools and GAJE begin to address comparative standards for law schools and justice education. The global effort to improve living standards in the context of over-population and declining resources will make its presence felt in all social sciences. Increasingly, whether a law school churns out more sausage-like commercial lawyers or seeks to shift emphasis to nurture justice artificers, will become socially more important. This paper looks at some of the criteria that international recognition of clinical method might require; for example, whether the program is periodically reviewed by an external team?; is it law studenteducation centred or client-service centred?; does it focus on skills development or promote a normative/ critical emphasis?; is it merely a ‘for credit’, pro bono placement program for students; and how does it relate to/integrate with the culture of the law school in which it resides, especially in relation to the selection of new academic staff? And finally; how might a law school decide to assess the credibility of its own clinical presence? “New Clinical Projects- a case study of EBSU Law Clinic Prison Project” Amari Omaka, Ebonyi State University, Nigeria Following the need to be part of the Federal Government of Nigeria and Development Partners, multifaceted approach to prison services and consequent decongestion, the EBSU Law Clinic decided to make prison projects one of her cardinal projects for 2009/2010. This project is not only geared at assisting the inmates of the two federal prisons in the Ebonyi State, Eastern Nigeria, to access legal service, but also to avail the clinical law students an opportunity to work and learn with real live clients, viz the awaiting trials and those wrongly detained. While, the scope of the project is limited to the two federal prisons (Afikpo and Abakaliki Federal Prisons), the objectives are to train the clinical law students on the dos and don’ts in prisons, especially in relation to inmates; to identify the precise legal needs of the prisons inmates; to identify the available legal aid facilities presently available to the inmates of the two prisons; to investigate or access the impact of available legal aid, if any, to identify legal needs most imperative to them; to carry out advocacy on the legal aid need of the inmates and as much as practicable, secure release of deserving inmates. Hence, the project is mainly research-based and also embodies pro bono legal aid. The prison programme was kicked off by pre-field training workshop on the code of conduct in prisons. Advocacy visits were paid to Nigeria Bar Association, the Attorney General of the state, the Chief Judge, State Controller of Prisons and other stake holders. The project is conducted by law students involved in clinical work. Data is being collected through interviews, questionnaires and observation during field visits by clinicians, who are divided into groups of 5 each. While, the project is ongoing, it is expected that at the end of the project/study justice would be more accessible to prison inmates; there would be proper identification, categorisation and documentation of the legal needs of prison inmates; the student clinicians would know the role of law clinics in prison projects; the communities served would benefit and the clinical law students would learn the law by doing, which will ultimately translate to functional and effective law practices by graduates of Ebonyi State University Law Clinic. The Making of a Clinical Teacher: A Reflection on my Experience as a Clinical Student and a Clinical Teacher Aminu Gamawa, Ebonyi State University, Nigeria In 2004, the Network of University Legal Aid Institutions, NULAI, coordinated the introduction of Clinical Legal Education into the curriculum of four law faculties in Nigeria. My school, University of Maiduguri, is one of the beneficiaries; I applied and was selected as one of the 20 pioneer students of the clinic. The two years that I spent in the clinic turned out to be one of the most memorable experiences of my life. It transformed me, personally and professionally, and in many ways it opens doors of opportunities. I became so engrossed in public interest lawyering and end up as a clinical teacher/supervisor at Ebonyi State University law clinic. The teaching experience is even more exciting. While I was in the University as a student, I had the opportunity of serving as a group leader in the clinic for two years. I was also part of the team that won the national client counseling competition and runners up in the international competition at Cardiff law school, UK. I later on became a couch in same competition and supervised street lawyering projects, legal aid and prison reform project of my clinic at Ebonyi. Having served as an intern while in the university, I have also worked with clinical students on internships. I cherish this double experience. In this paper, I would like to share with you the story of my sojourn as a clinical student in a developing country, the prospect and challenges, and then as a clinical lecturer under the same system. These two experiences have tremendously impacted on the way I look at clinical legal education and have shaped my approach to teaching and interaction with the students. Some of the questions that I would be answering in this paper are; what does it take to be a clinical law student in a developing country? What are the factors that attract students to the clinical program? What are the usual goal and expectations of the students? What are the challenges and opportunities of being a clinical student? I consider this reflection very important, in view of the fact that Most of the current works on clinical legal education are either from the teachers’ perspective or from the students’ perspective. I would like to share my experience from both perspectives and I would argue that there are a lot of advantages in transiting from clinical studentship to lectureship, and the best way to train a clinical teacher is through mentoring during their student days. I would further argue that one of the greatest assets for the future of Clinical Legal Education, especially in developing countries, are the clinical students. Finally, I would look into the prospects and challenges of this transition, and factors that affect the student’s choice of continuing with a career in clinical legal education teaching and scholarship. The goal of my paper is to provide us with an opportunity to look at things from the perspective of students and their teachers within the context of a developing country. It would also enable us to appreciate what it takes to produce future clinical teachers, supervisors and professors. My findings are based on my personal experience, information gathered from colleagues and students. Students’ Attitude Towards Street Law Based CLE Asnida Mohd Suhaimi, Suzanna Abdul Hadi, Nur Farzana Mohd Zulkifli, University of Malaya The programme in Faculty of Law, University of Malaya consists of two programmes; an optional accredited course known as the Community Legal Education (CLE) which carries three credits and a faculty activity programme known as the Community Outreach Programme (COP), which is the focus of this paper. COP operates as a teaching clinic instead of the traditional legal clinic and focuses on street law. Regular activities include teaching law in juvenile detention centres such as Kajang Integrity School in Kajang Prison, and was recently extended to schools located near the university. COP started with four students in 2007 and has now grown to approximately 50 members. Among the objectives of the programme is to develop better lawyers with high level of social consciousness. The students are actively involved in planning the teachings, carrying out administrative and managerial duties, preparing the lesson plans as well as conducting the lessons with the learners at the participating institutes. In doing so, they gained skills which are not available through normal classroom teaching and which can only be acquired from practical and hands on learning, thereby increasing the marketability of the students to the future employers. These students are unquestionably an integral part of COP. This paper aims to study the students’ motivation in participating in COP and the effect of the street law programme in COP in improving the students’ self development and soft skills. Clinic Curriculum and Fieldwork Projects at the Intersection of Information Technology and the Practice of Law Brian Donnelly, Columbia Law School, USA The fist part of this paper will provide some background on the Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic at Columbia Law School. The development of a new technology centered curriculum will be discussed and analyzed. The second part of the paper will describe one of the ongoing fieldwork projects. This fieldwork project involves the creation of web based learning management system for Town and Village Justices across New York State. Part 1. The Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic Curriculum The Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic has been offered at Columbia Law School each spring and fall semester for the past 10 years. The Clinic is taught by two other faculty besides the presenter. They are Clinical Professors Conrad Johnson and Mary Zulack. The clinic is taken for 7 credits. This Clinic has sought to teach contemporary skills and perspectives that will better prepare students to graduate from law school ready to be the most effective and creative lawyers possible. All lawyering tasks have an information component. A better understanding of computer and information technologies allows students both to perform traditional lawyering tasks in a more effective way and ultimately leads to a transformation of the very nature of law practice. One fundamental goal of the Clinic curriculum is to provide a theoretical structure for understanding the three basic lawyering functions of gathering, managing and presenting information, and, in turn, how digital technologies can impact theses functions. Part 2. Fieldwork Project A common theme for all of the Clinic’s fieldwork projects is to improve access to justice. Clinic students have worked with several Legal Aid and Legal Services organizations to assist lawyers integrate technology in their law practices and to make legal information more available to underserved communities. The Clinic has also partnered with Judges on all levels of the New York Judiciary. Several Clinic projects have been done with direct collaboration with the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, the Chief Administrative Judge of the New York City Civil Courts, and the Office of Administrative Trials and hearings in New York City. The fieldwork project that is highlighted in this paper is a collaboration with the New York Judicial Institute to develop web based educational materials that are used to teach basic substantive and procedural law to newly elected local judges (outside of New York City). Most of these judges do not have law degrees and are located in geographically diverse Towns and Villages across the entire State. More than 100 judges have used the Clinic’s learning management system over the past 18 months. Conclusion Beyond the description of the LDA Clinic curriculum and the fieldwork project, this paper will argue that a well developed understanding of digital technologies is essential to the practice of law in the 21st century. Clinical programs, in particular, can play an important role in teaching digital skills. Also, by incorporating technology based fieldwork as a part of the Clinical experience, students can gain a great deal from these experiences and be better prepared to practice in almost any legal environment. Finally, developing a collaborative relationship between clinics and members of the Judiciary, any level, can be beneficial for the clinical program and improve access to justice. The Development and Expansion of University Based Community/Clinical Legal Education Programs Throughout Malaysia: Means, Methods, Strategies Bruce A. Lasky-Director Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia Community Legal Education Initiative, Madya Norbani Mohamed Nazeri, University of Malaya Beginning in 2003, the not-for profit international human rights organization Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia(BABSEA) began focusing on assisting in the development and expansion of university of community/clinical legal education programs in the SE Asia region. Since that time, and as a result of this focus, university based CLE programs have been developed, or expanded, in Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos with a continuous growing network of universities, both nationally and regionally. One of the flagship achievements of these activities has been the very successful establishment of a credited CLE program in Malaysia at the University Malaya. The following paper will give a brief summary what is Community/Clinical Legal Education and the goals and objectives of these programs in an educational, pedagogical setting, in addition to the overall benefit to society. The paper will then provide a brief description of some of the CLE activities universities throughout the SE Asia region are involved in, as well as the strategy employed in advocating and assisting in the implementation of these university based CLE programs. This will include demonstrating the role organizations the Global Alliance For Justice Education (GAJE) have played in this process by promoting regionalization and international collaboration. The paper will then illustrate the role and importance of the cross border connective link of CLE program networking via various universities, like that of the University Malaya, Chiang Mai University, Vietnam National University, the National University of Laos, and others, and how this has been a significant factor in the current and continuous strengthening of already established CLE programs as well as the development of nascent ones. Specific examples of shared experiences, lessons learned, exchanges of professors and students, materials and resources, and other means and methods of programs working together will be included. The paper will then describe and illustrate the developing CLE program at the University Malaya, including the goals, objectives and outputs of the program and will discuss the current development of other CLE programs in Malaysia. Finally the paper will identify strategic next steps in the development of this CLE movement within Malaysia, as well as its connection to institutions regionally throughout Southeast Asia and how the CLE movement intends to broadens its reach both within Malaysia and internationally. Legal Clinics and Professional Skills Development C.A. Agebebaku, Ambrose Alli University, and S.K.Mokidi, Ambrose Alli University, Nigeria. The essence of law will be defeated if it does not serve the needs of the society. As the society grows and becomes more sophisticated, there is also the need to adapt to changes it produced. Over the years, the LL.B curriculum in Nigeria Universities is tailored towards, producing law graduates with good knowledge of principles of law without attaching much importance to professional skills. The Nigerian Law School is seen as the institution established to fill the gap by offering one year vocational training to law graduates with a view to imparting in the law graduates practical skills of the legal profession. The Nigerian law school training, and the undergraduate programme law faculties have, in recent times, proved inadequate for the preparation of the young lawyer for the challenges of the legal profession occasioned by the growing demand of modernization. In recent times, it is easy to find a young lawyer who is well grounded in the principles of law, but lacks the professional skills because his training did not include vocational training and community service. In Nigeria, the Network of University legal Aid Institution’s (NULAI Nigeria) is in the vanguard of this campaign for the change of the face of legal education so that the products of our law school would be well equipped with the requisite skills to meet the challenges of the legal profession. The reforms include advocating clinical method of teaching, establishment of law clinics in faculties of law and designing curriculum for law faculties. These legal clinics, apart from developing and sharpening the intellectual and professional skills of the clinicians also inculcate in them a sense of public service. This paper examines legal clinics and professional development in Nigeria. It examines legal education in Nigeria particularly curriculum development; the dwindling professional skills and the efforts to reverse the trend. The paper considers the current trend in legal development and the role law clinics can play in preparing the young Nigerian lawyer for these challenges. Mirror, mirror on the wall, which is the fairest reflection method of all? A comparative study of journaling and blogging Caroline Foster, Sarah Morse and Victoria Murray, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne In 2009/2010 several clinicians from the Student Law Office at Northumbria University piloted the use of reflective journals and blogs. This paper analyses the success of the project as a whole and reflective methodology drawing on quantitative data and student feedback. The paper further assesses the use and effectiveness of reflective journaling in the wider role of producing reflective practitioners of the future. The importance of reflection in a student’s education is well recognised on the basis that it teaches them to critically analyse their own performance with a view to learning from their experiences and developing their abilities for the future. This is no less important for law students who we seek to train to become effective lawyers and reflective practitioners. At Northumbria University the students have the opportunity to work in the Student Law Office undertaking live client work in areas such as civil litigation, housing and employment law. This clinical module not only allows them to develop their practical skills but also includes a formal process of assessing reflective learning. In particular the students at Northumbria University produce three reflective essays based upon the work they have undertaken over the course of the year. Topics for reflection include a) analysing the development of their legal skills in practice b) critically analysing justice in action or c) considering an ethical issue which they may have encountered. In this paper we acknowledge that students find it difficult generally to reflect upon their own skills and experience and also to translate this into written pieces of work for the purposes of assessment. Therefore we examine the method by which we teach and motivate the students to engage in this reflective process throughout the course of year and in particular we examine our 2009/2010 pilot of using reflective journals and blogging to do so. The pilot enables those students taking part to reflect throughout the year in a more tangible fashion and draw upon this contemporaneous record to form their final assessed written piece. In summary we will consider: Our traditional model for assessing reflection including student feedback. Our current pilot of reflective journaling and blogging (including whether these are suitable for assessment in their own right) and Explore ways in which we can experiment further to improve our reflective practice. The authors are solicitors who supervise students working on employment cases in Northumbria University’s Student Law Office. Caroline and Sarah also supervise civil cases in the SLO and have experience of working in private practice. Global Collaboration Toward More Effective Teaching of Legal Ethics and Professionalism Clark Cunningham, Georgia State University, Nigel Duncan, City Law School, London, Paul Maharg, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne The United Kingdom Centre for Legal Education (UKCLE) and the National Institute for Teaching Ethics and Professionalism (NIFTEP), housed at the Georgia State University College of Law, have jointly funded the creation of the International Forum on the Teaching of Legal Ethics and Professionalism, a bold new experiment in the use of the internet to promote innovative law teaching. The web site, currently under construction, is located at: www.teachinglegalethics.org . In its current development stage, the Forum is guided by an international advisory board with representation from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. This new initiative will: • consolidate and make easily available a wide range of materials, in both text and multi-media formats, on the teaching of legal ethics and professionalism, and organize these materials into a comprehensive, fully searchable bibliography; • allow registered users to create their own web pages, upload both scholarship and teaching materials to the bibliography, download a wide variety of materials created by others (including webcasts and other audio-visual material), and post comments on their use of such material; and • provide a forum for original commentary and exchange of ideas for both teachers and practitioners on teaching ethics and promoting professionalism. The website is intended to become the primary online gathering place and clearinghouse for an international community of teachers, scholars, and practitioners, and, hopefully, act as an organizing tool for efforts to change the culture of legal education and to increase the emphasis on ethics and professionalism education across jurisdictions and throughout law schools' curricula. Current plans are to launch an initial English-language version that includes contributions from as many commonlaw jurisdictions as possible by September 2010. Expansion into other languages and civil-law jurisdictions is a long-term goal. For more information: http://law.gsu.edu/niftep/InternationalWebsitePilot.htm Because of its proximity to the website’s September 2010 launch date, the July 2010 International Clinical Education Conference provides an ideal opportunity to raise awareness about the website among clinical teachers from around the world and to get feedback on the website’s functionality and content. We expect that much of the content will be contributed by clinical teachers and will be directly relevant to clinical teaching methods (e.g. sample simulation exercises, short readings to give students, webcasts, etc.) The session will begin with a brief overview by Cunningham, and then trace the development of this project from three initially separate initiatives: – In 2004 Nigel Duncan (who serves as Editor of the Law Teacher: The International Journal of Legal Education) received a National Teaching Fellowship from the UK Higher Education Academy to develop a curriculum model for addressing how ethics are best addressed in both undergraduate and professional law courses. Reporting on the results of international research funded by his Fellowship, at the Third International Legal Ethics Conference (held in Australia in 2008) he proposed the creation of an international, interactive web-based resource to support learning in legal ethics. – In 2007 Paul Maharg authored Transforming Legal Education: Learning and Teaching the Law in the Early Twenty-first Century, a book with a strong emphasis on both experiential learning and the potential of instructional technology. To continue discussion of issues raised in his book, Maharg created an wiki-format web site on ways to transform legal education (http://www.transforming.org.uk/thewicki.htm ). – In 2008 Cunningham organized and chaired an International Conference on the Future of Legal Education: http://law.gsu.edu/FutureOfLegalEducationConference/ . A central theme of this conference was to encourage American legal educators to look to models of legal education in other countries, particularly in response to the critique provided by the 2007 Report of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The conference created a richly detailed pre and postconference web site which provides for each plenary presenter links to the speaker’s bio, abstract, paper, PowerPoint presentation and webcast. – In 2009 the work of Duncan, Maharg and Cunningham came together when Maharg collaborated with Duncan and Cunningham to use his "transforming" wiki site to create a sample interactive web site on teaching legal ethics for presentation at the 2009 Learning in Law Annual Conference (LILAC09) sponsored by UKCLE. That presentation in turn led to UKCLE funding of the web site to be presented at this conference. Following this account of the collaborative, international origins of this project, the team will present the forum web site in a “almost ready-for-prime-time” version and lead discussion of ways the site could be used and improved. The ‘Chicago Seven Trial’ Reloaded: Using the Chicago Seven, Nelson Mandela And Saddam Hussein Trials to Teach About the Role of Lawyers, Judges and Accused Persons in the Criminal Justice System David McQuoid-Mason, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa The infamous trial of the Chicago Seven (1969-1970) was a spectacle of the law in action that drew interest from around the world. The trial drew many critiques including from the then influential Critical Legal Studies School of Jurisprudence who debunked the trial as disingenuous and the privileging of the few. The defence approach was described as a 'power oriented' or ‘transgressive lawyering’ approach to legal practice. The legitimacy of the legal system itself was called into question during the trial. Similarities are to be found in strategies adopted by the defence in the trial of Nelson Mandela in 1962 and most recently Saddam Hussein in 2005. The concept of 'power oriented' or ‘transgressive lawyering’ as used by the defence in these three cases will be explored in an interactive session. This session will combine interactive and didactic approaches to learning and teaching and will explore both teaching methods and their relationship with to subjects taught and the outcomes sought. Developing Lawyering Skills of Law Clinic Graduates Through the Application of Customary Law: The Experience of University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria Elisabeta Olarinde, John Akintayo, Kevwe Omoragbon, Isaac Adejumo, Folake Olaleye, Peter Lifu (Joint presentation by all Clinicians in the Women’s Law Clinic) Nigeria has a tripartite legal system consisting of English type law, customary law and Islamic law. The lifestyles of most citizens are predominantly governed by customary law especially as regards the type of marriage celebrated, its effects, dissolution and intestate succession. Although there is a predominance of submission to customary law, but the subject is not taught as a standalone course in most law faculties in Nigeria even though it forms a major portion of lawyers practice upon graduation. It is submitted that in order for our law graduates to succeed in practice, they must be exposed from undergraduate level to practical experience by applying theoretical knowledge to solving real life situations governed by customary law. A student exposed to the practical workings of customary law through the instrumentality of a law clinic is a better trained and socially relevant lawyer than his counterpart who has no such experience. The gap in knowledge as a result of lack of practical training in customary law has been filled by practical training of law students in the Women’s Law Clinic of the University of Ibadan. The aim of this paper is therefore to share our experiences on how students have had practical experience in customary law of various communities across Nigeria especially in the south-western part of the country, and how this experience has improved our law graduates in their chosen profession. Lessons would be drawn from the experiences of our Law Clinic graduates who are now in practice and from their employers, to show the difference between a law graduate vast and experienced in customary law practice, and one who does not. Setting Up a Legal Clinic in Hong Kong: Progress and Challenges Eric TM Cheung, Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong Clinical legal education has in recent decades become a well established part of legal education provided by universities globally. However, Hong Kong is lagging behind. The Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong, has long foreseen the desirability of introducing clinical elements into our various education programmes so as to expose students to the practical side of the law. In 2005-06, the Faculty considered that it was time to take the development of clinical legal education a step further. We engaged Professor Stacey Caplow, the Director of Legal Education in the Brooklyn Law School, as a consultant to report on the feasibility of introducing clinical legal education in Hong Kong. After extensive consultation with all the stakeholders in Hong Kong on the subject, she submitted her report to the Faculty in June 2006. In July 2007, a Consultation Paper on the Development of Clinical Legal Education Programme was issued by the Faculty to consult the professional bodies and other stakeholders. The proposal was to set up a Law Centre within the Faculty to operate a legal clinic under which students would be handling real cases under the supervision of qualified lawyers. The Law Centre would operate as both a service provider and a referral agency. With the exception of the Law Society of Hong Kong, all other consultees expressed their general support or raised no objection to our proposal. The Law Society took the view that such a Law Centre should be established as a solicitors’ firm, while the Faculty believes that, for reasons explained in the Consultation Paper, it would not be appropriate or feasible for the University to set up a solicitors’ firm for this purpose. Some members of the Legal Education Committee of the Law Society also expressed reservation as to the education value and need for setting up a legal clinic. As it may take time to resolve satisfactorily the issue relating to the formal structure of the legal clinic, the Faculty has decided to defer the setting up of a formal legal clinic pending further discussions with the Law Society and other stakeholders. However, in order to chart the way forward, instead of setting up a legal clinic, the Faculty has decided to launch a clinical legal education course (‘CLE Course”) as one of the LLB electives. A pilot run started in January 2009 whereby 18 law students were recruited to participate in the CLE Course on a voluntary and non-credit bearing basis. Their work was confined to providing assistance, under the supervision of qualified staff, to lay parties in the Small Claims Tribunal (where legal representation is not allowed) under a pilot scheme approved by the judiciary. However, as there was only one law school in Hong Kong providing such service, the judiciary was concerned about equality and fairness if the other party could not obtain similar service. It was therefore decided that the Faculty could only take up cases where the other party was a Government Department represented by the Department of Justice or was represented by in-house legal counsel, and consented to the provision of service by the Faculty. At the end, only one case was taken up throughout the whole semester and so it transpired that such a caseload could not sustain a viable CLE Course. With the experience gained in the pilot run and with further discussions with the stakeholders, the Faculty formally launched the CLE Course in the LLB as a 6-credit elective course in January 2010. Apart from continuing with the pilot service at the Small Claims Tribunal, the work that participating students may do is expanded to cover the following: assisting in the running of the Free Legal Advice Scheme on HKU Campus under the Duty Lawyer Service; assisting appellants in hearings before the Municipal Services Appeal Board and the Administrative Appeal Board; assisting in cases handled by a law firm on a pro bono basis; and assisting in cases handled by the Bar Free Legal Service Scheme. The purpose of this paper is to explain in more detail the latest experience gained in the CLE Course, and the progress and challenges in the development of the Legal Clinic in Hong Kong. Cultural and Social Barriers to Access to Justice – A Case Study of Women Seeking Legal Aid at the Women’s Law Clinic, Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Folake Olaleye, University of Ibadan, Nigeria Justice is the ethical principle that the law and legal institutions such as law courts, legal aid clinics, mediation and conciliation centres aim to serve. Access to justice however is the first and most crucial step in the process of obtaining justice. It is a social justice and human right issue. This paper focuses on access to justice for woman, it posits that access to justice for women, both indigent and elites is still greatly hampered and influenced by cultural and social barriers, such as poverty, fear of reprimanding from families and other members of society, fear of stigmatization, religion, discrimination and lack of decision making power. The paper amongst other issues highlights the impact of gender on access to justice, bringing to fore the effect of the social relations between women and men and how this inhibits or truncates women’s access to and seeking of legal aid or redress. The paper proposes an analytical framework or guide for assessing women visiting the law clinics. This guide or framework will enable students and clinicians identify particular barriers on factors that may likely inhibit a client from pursuing or taking the necessary steps in obtaining or seeking legal redress. An analytical framework or guide such as this ensures a holistic approach to lawyering . It will impact the teaching of students in the area of clinical legal education, imparting analytical, counseling and planning skills. The framework or guide will give a direction to clinicians and students on how to provide an individualized legal aid plan for clients, identify possible barriers and within professional ethical boundaries, employ method, means and strategies to eliminate or reduce those barriers inhibiting or likely affect a client’s access to justice. “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success”. (Henry Ford) Advantages and disadvantages for organisations in accepting CLE placement students Frances Gibson, La Trobe University, Australia Clinical legal education is well recognised as a method of teaching law and for achieving students’ ethical and professional development. This paper will explore the advantages and disadvantages for legal aid and other organisations that are used as clinical placement sites for students. Methodology will be through both interviews of staff of host organisations taking students and a review of the literature. The author will attempt to ascertain the organisational issues that flow from accepting clinical legal education students. Problems and potential solutions for placement organisations will be identified and discussed along with the recognition of and definition of any benefits for placement organisations. Bridging the Divide (continued) Frank Dignan, University of Hull Law School Legal Advice Centre 1. Bridging the Academic / Vocational Divide, the creation of a new Law Clinic in an academic research based law school. 2. The Clinic comes into existence and opens for business. 3. Why Hull and why a law clinic? 4. The Hull experience, the student perspective, and feedback from clients 5. How much unmet need is there? 6. This paper will analyse progress to date, and the prospects for making the Clinic a sustainable part of the undergraduate student experience at the same time as providing a valuable service to the local community The role of the Nigerian Universities Law Clinics in Prison Decongestion in Nigeria Idorenyin Akabom Eyo, University of Uyo Law Clinic, Nigeria, A veritable part of the criminal justice system in Nigeria is the Nigerian prisons. However this component has been bedeviled with several factors which retard its efficiency and effectiveness. Such problems include limited number of qualified prison personnel, congestion, the lack of funds to adequately cater for the needs of the prisons, almost nonexistent rehabilitative and reformative programmes, amongst other problems. There is no gain saying that due to the multifaceted problems that occur in the Nigerian society, the propensity for persons to engage in criminal activities is on the increase and thus the need to further utilize the prison cells is more necessary than before. The law clinics of the Nigerian Universities have been at the forefront of ensuring that these prison cells are decongested and such strategies such as payment of fines, public enlightenment, rendering of free legal representation to indigent prison inmates, amongst others are utilized in achieving this objective of prison decongestion. These law Clinics are made up of both the Lecturers Clinicians and the Students Clinicians. This paper will critically analyse the role of these law clinics in decongesting prisons in Nigeria. There is the need to further increase the efforts of all other relevant bodies in decongesting the Nigerian Prisons. Assessing values: the Generational influence of the Post-Apartheid era I.J. Bezuidenhout, Lecturer, Department of Procedural Law and Evidence and Supervising Advocate at the University of the Free State Law Clinic, South Africa This paper will submit that the emphasis is placed on values in the clinical legal education context however the assessment thereof presents a unique challenge to the educator. The key indicators to assessment would be influenced mainly by the generational perception and emotional reaction of clinician. The generation dealt with in this paper will specifically refer those who studied law between 1990 and 2000. The generational influence of the post-apartheid era and the influence thereof on the values that we teach will be investigated. The paper will examine the paradigm shift from a parliamentary system of sovereignty to a constitutional state and the influence thereof on the concept of ‘the rule of law’. The paper will postulate that the values taught pre-apartheid by older law lecturers in South Africa influenced the values of their students between 1990 and 2000 and that those students who entered the academia are now teaching values, learnt pre-apartheid but influenced by regime change, to a new generation of students. The presenter will use both a qualitative and quantitative method at arriving at her conclusions. Educating towards ethical lawyers? Jonathan Bainbridge and Clare Sandford-Couch, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne Why is an ethical education for lawyers a relevant subject for a paper in 2010? That there is currently wide interest in the area of legal education and professional legal ethics is evidenced by the two reports commissioned by The Law Society, the report, ‘Preparatory ethics training for future solicitors’ (March 2009) and the Hunt Review of the Regulation of Legal Services (October 2009). Our paper will address the proposition that exempting degrees offer a unique opportunity to inculcate students with the importance of ethical considerations throughout their legal education, incorporating such considerations in an integrated academic and vocational context, and, as such, represent the best way to ensure ethical lawyers for the future. In our paper we will question what we mean by ‘legal ethics’. We also intend to question the role a law school has in shaping the ethical lawyer. We will address the question of why ethics should be included as part of legal training, and how this can best be achieved. We will attempt to evaluate the application of current thinking on the area of what has been termed the ‘whole of curriculum’ approach to teaching legal ethics. In this regard we refer to examples from other jurisdictions and other disciplines, such as the medical and accountancy professions, to determine whether they offer any guidance for those intending to incorporate ethics into legal education. The final part of our paper would comprise a detailed analysis of the practicalities of incorporating professional legal ethics into the exempting degree at Northumbria. We consider where and how ethics could be incorporated into the exempting degree. We intend question the level at which it would be appropriate to do so, and the context. An Internationally Relevant Question in Professional Responsibility: “Who is My Client?” Katherine Pearson, Pennsylvania State University, USA Identification, avoidance and resolution of conflicts of interest have proven to be challenging tasks for lawyers and business persons at all levels of society. Using the thirty year tale of a “public house” in County Tipperary, from a case decided by the Supreme Court of Ireland in 1999, this presentation will demonstrate that even seasoned practitioners may fail to recognize the significance of the basic question about the identity of their client or clients. An unreflective lawyer can become a tool for exploitation or mishandling of a plan. In the Irish case of Carroll’s Pub, the lawyer’s acts and omissions had long-term consequences. As one judge warned, “As I have said before, a solicitor or other professional person does not fulfil his obligation to his client or patient by simply doing what he is asked or instructed to do. He owes such person a duty to exercise his professional skill and judgment and he does not fulfil that duty by blithely following instructions without stopping to consider whether to do so is appropriate.” Similar cases from other jurisdictions will be used to emphasize the international relevance of this warning. Clinics that represent older adults – “elder law clinics” – confront questions of conflict of interest every day. The presenter will draw upon ten years of experience in creating and developing Penn State’s Elder Law and Consumer Protection Clinic, to suggest that clinical education can and should play a vital role in understanding key ethical rules and international norms for professional responsibility. Blood sweat and teeth A comparative analysis of the student experience in dental and legal clinics at two UK-based universities. Kevin Kerrigan, Associate Dean, School of Law, Northumbria University, UK Dr Undrell Moore, Course leader, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Dental School, University of Newcastle, UK This paper reports on a collaboration between the Law School at Northumbria University and the Dental School at the University of Newcastle. Faculty members from the respective institutions made reciprocal visits to each others’ clinics to observe students in-role and to discuss the teaching, learning and assessment methodologies adopted. The oral and maxillofacial surgery clinic at the dental school provides a free drop-in service for patients with acute dental problems which often require tooth extraction. Under the supervision of experienced practitioners, third year dental students perform a medical assessment, administer anaesthetic, extract teeth or provide other treatment and give follow up advice. The contrast with the law clinic is at first glance extensive and the authors will seek to identify the key distinctions between the aims of the two clinics and explain the impact of the differing needs of patients and clients. They will also address areas of similarity and common challenges so that delegates have the opportunity to consider universal components of professionalism and reflect on the achievement of these in their own clinical projects. The Hybrid Simulation Model: Creating “Bite-Sized” Learning Experiences That Integrate Actual Legal Matters Kim Diana Connolly, University of South Carolina, USA Most clinical educators believe that there is nothing like learning through actual clients in a clinic or by observing and participating in actual lawyering through an externship. Yet, as part of a comprehensive course of education to adequately prepare students for the practice of law, simulation courses can serve an important role. Many simulation courses are based on fact patterns created by professors. This paper will set forth another option: using a current actual legal matter as the basis for a simulation exercise. The author of the paper has, for over a decade, used real place-based controversies as the basis for a course-long series of simulations. Students work with actual fact-based legal materials and active practitioners in doing research and preparation, though they represent a made-up client in a series of mock exercises. Use of a current matter allows guest lecturers working on the real controversy to actively participate in the learning and reflection process. In brief, such an approach creates what the author refers to as “bite-sized” learning experiences for a greater number of students than in clinics or externships that combine real-life documents and practitioners with manageable projects. This paper will provide a model that will help other professors integrate real-life matters into simulation courses. Who “Clinics” and Where? Considering and Questioning the Operational Practices of a Fledgling Clinical Legal Education Programme in Ireland. Lawrence Donnelly, National University of Ireland, Republic of Ireland While there is a rich and ever-expanding body of scholarship in the field of clinical legal education, one thing that doesn’t seem to garner much attention is the philosophy behind and practicalities of selecting students to participate in a clinical programme. At some law schools, participation in a clinic is mandatory, but at most, it is voluntary and clinicians must grapple with a wide range of issues on an ongoing basis. This paper explores some of these issues from the perspective of the director of an externship/placement-based clinical programme. Who should participate? Where to place each student? Are the brightest always the best? Does the student always know what she really wants? What role should placement supervisors have in selecting students? What to do about “bad” placements? While none of these questions has a “hard and fast” answer, the paper will endeavour to reach considered responses in light of what’s worked and what hasn’t to date and in keeping with best practice internationally. Most importantly, however, the paper is purposed to elicit feedback and guidance from more experienced clinicians. Development of Advanced Legal Skills in the Virtual Learning Environment Les McCrimmon, Charles Darwin University, Australia It is relatively uncontroversial that the hegemonic approach to the development of an integrated law curriculum should include the teaching of advanced legal skills such as client counselling and communication, negotiation, alternative dispute resolution and trial and appellate advocacy. Why this should be done, and how it can be done in the context of face-to-face teaching has been canvassed in detail in the legal literature. What has not been explored fully are the opportunities provided, and the challenges created, by the teaching and learning of legal skills in a fully digital environment. In this paper, the author will investigate and evaluate teaching, learning and assessment tasks for use in fully online advanced legal skills units, or modules within existing law units delivered fully on-line. With a focus on trial and appellate advocacy, the paper will discuss resources available to lecturers and students which have been, or will be, developed to be used, both synchronously and asynchronously, with existing online teaching tools such as Learnline and Wimba. With reference to the literature on the use of information and communication technology in the teaching of skills, and the author’s extensive experience as an advocacy teacher and scholar, the assertion that the learning objectives of a skills unit can be achieved in the absence of a face-to-face teaching component will be examined. An exploration of issues around quality assurance and enhancement of extracurricular clinical legal activities Lisa Nolan, Westminster University Where legal teaching and learning is formally incorporated into the undergraduate legal curriculum it is strictly regulated by a variety of stakeholders such as the Higher Education Institution (HEI) itself, the UK’s Quality Assurance Agency (QAA); and specifically for law, there is also the requirement to follow the curriculum laid down by the professional bodies if the student wishes to become a practitioner. All these rules and regulations will apply whether the topic being studied is strict black letter law, or whether it is more hands-on learning within a formal curriculum with a clinical aspect – the activity will be required to conform to a specific set of standards. If it does not, then the very future of the programme under scrutiny is called into question, and as a result, as teachers of law we have all become very aware of ensuring that our programmes, courses and modules are deemed to be up to the required quality standards. We have learned how to demonstrate that what our students have achieved is of value, and we have learned which forms need to be completed and how to complete them in order to satisfy our managers that we are producing high quality students through our high quality learning and teaching processes. However, much of the clinical education received by law undergraduates is outside of this strict process of quality checking and enhancing. Although many Law Schools incorporate clinical aspects of teaching into the LLB curriculum, many do not. The QAA is not interested in activities outside of the QAA’s Academic Infrastructure, and to a large extent the institution is not interested either, as this type of learning is often presented as an optional extra. Law schools tend to like the idea of being able to offer a wide range of extra-curricular legal experience such as mooting, observations, law clinics, placements etc but in practice this is restricted by resources, and this type of learning is often not presented as learning at all, but is presented as experience, such as ‘something for the CV’. This session seeks to explore the arguments as to whether this type of learning is part of the undergraduate student experience, and whether or not it is indeed a learning and teaching experience, and as such whether there should be mechanisms in place to ensure the quality of the student experience, and assess what the student has learned; to assess the success of the activity, and to see how it may be improved in future. Questions to be explored include: Should extra-curricular clinical activities be peered at through the microscope of performativity in the same way as curricular activities must be examined? Would imposing a strict quality regime on extra-curricular clinical legal education damage the fundamental nature of its aims and objectives? Should extra-curricular activities should be just that – that the nature of ‘extra-curricular’ should be informal and flexible, and should not be subject to the same constraints as the formal curriculum? Organised Chaos: An Academic’s Perspective on Establishing and Maintaining a Law Clinic Lydia Bleasdale-Hill, University of Leeds This paper will discuss the establishment of the School of Law Legal Advice Clinic at the University of Leeds. The Clinic opened in October 2009, and provides free legal advice to members of the community. Volunteering undergraduate Law students conduct interviews with clients and give them free written advice, under the supervision of solicitors from local firms. The paper will outline some of the key issues which were considered prior to embarking on the establishment of the Clinic, and problems encountered post-establishment. These will include: Recruitment (solicitors, students and clients) Formalising arrangements and procedures with solicitors, and maintaining those arrangements Insurance considerations Establishing the Clinic’s remit (area(s) of law, and extent of assistance provided) Sourcing and obtaining funding Defining the student role Ensuring a positive client, student and solicitor experience (including client care, client confidentiality, health and safety, student training, evaluations, and dealing with student problems) Ensuring a positive experience for you: workload implications and knowing how/where to delegate Gaining and maintaining attention for the Clinic (internally and externally: advertising; keeping the Clinic ‘visible’ when the work is all done privately) Liaising with interested parties (for example other local advice agencies) The paper will also discuss the evaluations students complete at the conclusion of each case, and after performing the role of the ‘office manager’. The intention is for the paper to inform how colleagues might establish their own legal advice clinics, and to add to the growing literature concerning the educational benefits of such Clinics to Law students. Clinical education and the lawyers of the future: one university’s quest for a unique contribution to the legal profession in Kenya Lynette Osiemo & Mmatsie Mooki, Strathmore University, Kenya The university presents the culmination of the formative years in the life of a student, an important time to consolidate the years of study and develop career and life aspirations of any youth. However, ignorance and apathy characterize the university life of a typical student more than the ideal desire for an intellectual experience that would be expected. One question the upcoming faculty of law at Strathmore University in Kenya will face, and one which it most certainly is ready to answer is, why another faculty of law? What does it plan to offer that the numerous other relatively new faculties are not already offering? The law curricula in most of the universities in Kenya is theory-focused arguably because of resource constraints but largely because of a lack of interest or conviction by many and a certain contentment with the status quo. The upcoming faculty presents a valuable opportunity to alter this perception having the advantage of learning from the experiences of the other universities and consolidating best practices in the teaching of law both from within the country, the region and internationally. The curriculum at Strathmore will apply the clinical methods of teaching in several modules of the 2 nd, 3rd and 4th year courses, and law clinics in several areas. By having well researched answers developed in a practical context, we will avoid the common problem of producing ignorant solutions and policies far removed from the problems people face on the ground. To be in touch with reality, the reality of man’s world and man’s problems, we have to understand this man and the society in which he lives, the perpetual subject of our research and studies. A basic study of man is therefore indispensable for anyone who is concerned with and hopes to offer a solution to his problems as we do in the study of law. Units that focus on the study of man such as anthropology and ethics can be integrated in the curriculum and means applied to form law students in these qualities without changing the nature of the subjects taught. A well thought out curriculum that incorporates the clinical method of teaching law will help to transform students from apathetic indifferent persons in search of paper degrees to useful determined leaders able to intellectually connect with their world. This paper will define the structure of an ideal clinical education program, and explore means of addressing the challenges that would compromise its reality. Through such a program, education for the students engaged in the studies will become not merely ‘a preparation for life but life itself’. The Family Law Assistance Program - A new experience for students undertaking clinical legal education Malcolm Bennett, Monash University, Australia The Law Faculty of Monash University in Melbourne Australia has a clinical teaching program in Monash Oakleigh Legal Service. (MOLS) The staff are members of the law faculty. One of the clinical education programs at MOLS is the Family Law Assistance Program (FLAP). This is a government funded initiative which provides experience to law students expressing an interest in taking various courses involving family law cases. This involves students learning to deal with real clients with real family law problems, draw documents and attend court to assist clients who are legally unrepresented. Students undertaking a family law subject may elect to have part of their marks allocated to attending sessions at FLAP. They attend for four sessions at the legal centre and one at court. They complete a 2000 word assignment based upon a case they were involved with at FLAP. "Professional Practice" students attend FLAP for a "trimester" (17 weeks). They are responsible for running their own family law files under supervision and attending court to assist clients. A protocol exists between the court and the law faculty which allows students to appear in court on behalf of clients. The program gives the students a better perspective of family law problems, the clients and the relevant documentation. They see how a court deals with various types of matters particularly ones which they have been associated with. As the FLAP program has a profile amongst local solicitors near the court, students attending the service have more opportunities for employment with these solicitors who are familiar with the program This paper describes the highlights of the Family law program, the benefits to students and some of the unexpected advantages for students undertaking the course and for the course itself. Clinical legal education in the non-governmental organization - example of the Law Clinic "Innocence" Maria Eichart, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Poland There is a general perception that the clinical legal education may develop properly only within the framework of law schools, under the supervision of teachers of law. However, clinical legal education may be sometimes even more effective in the non-governmental organization, which has good connection and trust of law students' population. One of the major concerns of the clinical education at law schools is temporary character of advice and engagement of students in its activities. As a consequence its is sometimes difficult to advice in cases of long-term nature, which require stability and commitment for many years. NGOs are better prepared to coordinate such cases, because they employ personnel responsible for the case. Even if students stop to deal with a given case, they are replaced by new ones, and the role of the NGOs is to stabilize the strategy and litigation of the case. Furthermore, NGOs may focus on specific types of cases and also undertake complex strategic litigation, which is sometimes difficult for law clinics concentrating mostly on legal aid. Example of such approach is the Law Clinic “Innocence” which operates since 10 years within the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Poland – one of the biggest and most experienced human rights NGO in CEE countries. The Clinic was created based on an American examples of the “Project Innocence”. The Law Clinic “Innocence” deals with cases of the miscarriage of justice such as wrong conviction or unjustified prosecution. These cases concern the most severe crimes in which trials can last for many years. The responsibility of students includes in–depth analysis of the case, submitted evidence and fairness of trial. They also prepare complex draft amicus curiae briefs for the court, under supervision of the Law Clinic coordinator. It should be noted that there is also another law clinic of similar type at the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights - dealing with property rights. The paper will present Polish good practices with respect to law clinics operating at NGOs. It will suggest that it is an important model, which should be promoted in CEE countries, in addition to clinical legal education at universities. Which way to follow? New directions of Polish CLE Marta Janina Skrodzka, University of Bialystok, Poland The idea of Clinical Legal Education appeared in Poland 13 years ago and became a chance to set up new academic standards both in teaching methodology and among students. Soon the idea was spread throughout the country, creating total of 25 Legal Clinics at the universities nowadays. CLE became a new chance of connecting theory and practice. Many professors and even more students realized that in order to study in an effective way and become socially responsible and professional lawyers in the future, CLE should be part of law curriculum at universities. Although CLE has become part of legal curriculum it is an additional activity or an optional internship in most law schools. Beside, both professors and students have mandatory activities. It entails that they cannot be fully engaged within the clinical work. That is why, quite often the lack of engagement is the most serious problem Polish legal clinics are facing and it needs time to change CLE to be a mandatory part of Polish legal curriculum due to different reasons. Even though the process has already been started in some law schools, another steps are necessary so that to fill in the gap of “waiting”. Furthermore, an observation of changes caused by the transitions of the modern world, development of science, requirements of the labor market, thus requirements set out by students to their professors and “additional” feature of the CLE, also encouraged me to make the statement that CLE in Poland faces the need of changes that can be the next helpful step in the development of CLE between transition from additional into mandatory part of the legal curriculum. The paper presents an answer to the title question on the new directions in Polish CLE after thirteen years of its existence at law faculties. It analyzes possible ways and patterns of changes on the examples of ideas created by clinical professors and used in their work. The new improvements are shown on examples of: Methodology Project and Audiovisual Techniques Project, where the key issue is to bring the new ideas of teaching together and build one common model for all legal clinics so that to attract both professors and students and help them to be more engaged within the CLE. The paper describes: an idea, preparation and usage of the self made short video movie and an idea of one common model of teacher’s manual with ready to go clinical scenarios combined with methodology training. It also explains how and why to use the tools within the clinical work to increase the effectiveness of teaching by making it at the same time more attractive to students. Although it concentrates on the advantages of the tools for both professors and students, it also analyses possible disadvantages and challenges the projects will have to face, if put in all legal clinics. Finally the paper concludes with comments on why reorganized CLE can influence Polish legal education and increase its competitiveness toward the European one by fulfilling the gap of waiting for the “additional-mandatory” change of CLE at the same time. Return to Origins – Joint Clinical Education of Students of Law and Medicine Maxim Tomoszek, Faculty of Law, Radim Líčeník,, Faculty of Medicine, Kateřina Ivanová, Faculty of Medicine, Palacky University in Olomouc, Czech Republic The clinical legal education was originally inspired by the clinical education employed within medical schools curricula. However, since that point their methodical development was mostly independent, with only occasional contact. At Palacky University in Olomouc, the authors of this abstract developed an educational unit connecting legal and medical education in several aspects – personal, substantial and methodical. The personal aspect consisted in participation of both law students and medical students in the education, under supervision of two supervisors, one with medical background and one with legal background. This personal connection allowed for interdisciplinary approach, which is essential in the area of legal liability in the area of health care. Another benefits were learning from each other‘s experience, sharing different concerns and points of view, clarifying difficult questions out of one’s area of expertise. When developing the educational unit, the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) approach originating in the medical education, was adopted as the basis for the unit’s structure. It is ideal for multidisciplinary approach, as it allows for groups composed of students with different background, where difficult legal concepts can be explained by law students to students of medicine and vice versa. The problem was represented by judicial decision, which was analyzed by the students in the course of the first meeting, which lead to formulation of several key questions. These were assigned to particular students, who conducted research and prepared answers to their question. Outcomes of their individual work were presented in the next meeting of the whole group with follow-up discussion heading towards conclusions. Authors also concluded extensive feedback in order to assess the effectiveness of used teaching methods and comparing interdisciplinary education outcomes to single-disciplinary education. Launching a Law Clinic: Lessons from Portsmouth Dr Michael Bennett, University of Portsmouth. In 2009 the School of Law ran a pilot clinic, which gave legal advice to the public. By 2010 this clinic was incorporated into the curriculum as an option on both the LLB and LLM. This paper follows the development of the clinic and reflects on what can be learnt from the experience. The clinic, as set up, is advising on employment law, but it is hoped that the model can be expanded in future into other areas of law. The following issues will be discussed. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Finding resources: conflicts with other cultures within the Law School. Finding clients: conflicts with other legal advice providers. Finding students: selling the clinic to our students and mixing undergraduates with postgraduates. Do students develop their understanding of the law? Do students take responsibility for their own learning? Are we assessing the right learning objectives? The Importance of the Student Practice Rule (Right of Audience) Michael J Churgin,The University of Texas, USA Beginning in the decade of the 1970’s in the United States, state and federal courts (and sometimes legislatures) approved the concept of law students representing clients under attorney supervision and permitting the law student to present cases in trial and appellate courts. The movement swept the nation, although the provisions varied from state to state and court to court. Operating under a student practice rule, a law student had recognized status. I will describe the various types of provisions, how they operate, and my own personal experience – first as a law student in the 1970’s appearing in court and subsequently, as a law faculty member, supervising law students in court. I will also discuss how the student practice rule legitimizes the activities of the law student participating in a law school clinical program. Finally, I intend to give colleagues in jurisdictions that currently have no student practice rule an opportunity to reflect on the value of such a rule for their students and arguments that might be deployed by those seeking to create one. Is teaching values in a multi-ethnic, developing nation facilitated or hindered by the personal circumstance and bias of the academia? Michelle Karels, Lecturer, Department of Procedural Law and Evidence and Deputy Director of the University of the Free State Law Clinic, South Africa The research hypothesis posed by this paper is as follows: There is a difference between the values which are considered important, in the study of law, between those born pre-apartheid and those born after the destruction thereof. From this initial question the paper seeks to prove that the clinical method of teaching values is skewed by the clinician and that this modifying agent has an impact of the students’ perception of ‘the rule of law’. The paper will use a quantitative approach in order to establish the current values (and opinions of value importance) by using a non-experimental research questionnaire distributed to all students currently undergoing the 4 year LL. B programme at the University of the Free State. The researcher will then measure the same variable at local school in Bloemfontein among those who were born immediately prior to the fall of apartheid (now commonly referred to as ‘born frees’) in order to establish if a disjoint exists between the values inherent in those born before regime change and those born afterwards and the impact thereof on legal education in South Africa. From this initial identification of values the paper will then qualitatively examine the role of culture and ethnicity in the teaching of these values with specific reference to African cosmology. The paper will postulate that the current system of value teaching is fundamentally flawed as it fails to take ‘communal culture or collectivism’ into account and pre-dominates with western attitudes and influences. “Using Experiential Learning Courses to Prepare Students for Lawyering and Life: Identifying, Developing and Assessing Critical Competencies” Monique Lampke, University of Dayton and Ann Vessels, University of Denver, USA The University of Dayton School of Law and the University of Denver College of Law are committed to teaching and utilizing the benefits of experiential learning (i.e., externships) in an era when the study of law offers few opportunities for training law students on how to develop collaboration, interpersonal, and professional skills and when low-risk opportunities for students to learn how to apply theories to cases, facts, and clients are the exception, rather than the normal. Experiential learning courses programs fulfill the education objectives discussed in BEST PRACTICES FOR LEGAL EDUCATION (2007). First, our experiential learning courses assist students in adjusting to their roles as professionals by: (a) exposing them to the realities and challenges of the practice of law with appropriate supervision and adult learning experiences; and (b) providing them with low-risk learning opportunities in which to observe different styles of advocacy, skills, approaches, and solutions. Second, these courses help students become better legal problemsolvers by raising their level of competency and giving them a solid grounding in various areas of substantive law, practical application of legal theories to cases and clients, and in ethical and social issues. Third, experiential learning courses encourage students to develop interpersonal and professional skills, such as analytical, complex problem-spotting and problem-solving skills, collaboration skills, and client interaction skills. Fourth, such courses help our students reflect and learn from their experience, successes, and mistakes through journals, a classroom component, and constant communication with their Faculty Externship Supervisor and supervising attorney or judge. This paper will focus on: (1) the competencies we seek for each student in an experiential learning course (i.e. externship) to achieve; (2) how schools can provide opportunities for students to develop proficiency in such work, in; and (3) how to develop reliable methods for assessing student achievement. Enhancing Student Learning through Assessment in Clinical Legal Education Mutsa Mangezi, Rhodes University, South Africa. “The use of assessment defines what students regard as important and how they spend their time and how they come to see themselves as students and then as graduates” 1 Modern theories of assessment recognise assessment as a method of teaching. It is a means through which students can learn what they do not know more effectively by engaging in a conscious learning process. Assessment must therefore focus on the learning process and aim to facilitate new learning in the student. This paper seeks to consider the assessment practices in Clinical Legal Education (CLE) courses with specific reference to the Legal Practice Course at Rhodes University, South Africa. I argue that assessment in CLE needs to not only meet the basic requirement of being fair, reliable, transparent and valid, but its methodology should also facilitate a process of learning in students. To this end, I argue that sound assessment in CLE must necessarily align with “real world” needs, be diverse and ongoing and finally it must make use of methods that facilitate a conscious learning process such as participative assessment and criterion referenced assessment. It is argued that such an approach is consonant with the recognition that CLE is about the development of professional skills, which can only be cultivated with intent through the passage of time and practice. Assessment in CLE is thus a celebration of growth, not perfection. The paper begins with an outline of the Legal Practice Course. I then consider the theories of assessment with a view to establishing what sound assessment practice in CLE is. Finally, I seek to implement some of these assessment principles in one of the assessment pieces in the Legal Practice course in an attempt to develop the course and refine the assessment of the legal practice course. 1 George Brown “Assessment: A Guide for Lecturers” (2001) Learning and Teaching Support Network Generic Centre at 4. The Challenges and Opportunities of an Interdisciplinary Clinic Paula Galowitz, New York University, USA Law school clinics are increasingly becoming an important part of the opportunities that law students have to engage in interdisciplinary collaborations with other professionals to represent clients effectively. The nature of these collaborations varies considerably: It may include, for example, law students working with other professionals in medicine, social work, public health, nursing, mental health, education, business and engineering. This paper will focus on one such collaboration: a medical-legal partnership in a law school clinic, in which law students and medical providers collaborate to address health care issues more effectively. I co-teach a Medical-Legal Advocacy Clinic that employs a medical-legal partnership with a multidisciplinary and holistic approach to provide legal advocacy in a medical setting for clients referred by medical professionals. I have previously written about collaborations between lawyers and clients (Collaboration Between Lawyers and Social Workers: Reexamining the Nature and Potential of the Relationship, 67 FORDHAM L. REV. 2123 [1999]). In this paper, I will use the model of medical-legal partnerships to examine the opportunities and challenges of an interdisciplinary clinic. Each of the professions in an interdisciplinary collaboration has its own values and definition of role that can affect the ability to collaborate effectively. These can create opportunities for improved service for our clients, for students to develop into more reflective practitioners and for better instruction for students (particularly through the opportunities it offers for using another profession as a mirror to deepen reflections on professional role). Conflicts can also arise in these collaborations in many different ways, including differing views of responsibilities to client/patient, duties of confidentiality and conflicts of interest. In the paper, I will explore some of these opportunities and challenges. Standing upright in the winds that blow: The rule of law, unpopular causes and clinical legal education. Peggy Kerdo, La Trobe University, Australia What happens when law students are confronted with assisting clients who have committed crimes that are abhorrent or morally repugnant to them? The West Heidelberg Community Legal Service represents clients who have had their visas cancelled under the “character” provisions of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) at the Administrative Review Tribunal of Australia (‘AAT’). Most of the clients have been found guilty and served time in jail for terrible crimes. Students prepare all aspects of an appeal to the AAT under supervision. They visit the client in immigration detention, prepare statutory declarations and submissions, attend directions hearings and instruct at the hearing itself. Throughout all of this, ideas of the rule of law, a concept that was just a theory in law school, are examined and the students are challenged and supported to think deeply and face up to their own prejudices and fears. This paper submits that when the rule of law is thus made real for law students, the ideal will embed itself in their future non-judgemental practice of law and thus keep the rule of law alive and vibrant in the legal system. Legal Clinics and pro bono activities: differences and similarities Pilar Bonet, University of Valencia, Spain Clinical Legal Education has a double objective: on the one hand, it makes efficient the theoretical teaching by joining it to the practice since the students are working in real cases and with real clients. On the other hand, it provides law students with a great opportunity to advise people without resources and to resolve such problems that it’s not easy to have obtained legal aid. “Pro bono publico” activities are works or actions carried out ‘for the public good’. Pro bono initiatives supported and promoted by several bar associations are increasing in the last years all over the world. Both actions are promoting the access to justice by poor and low-income persons, or non-profit organizations; in both cases the action is not remunerated. So universities and lawyers are carrying out a social function, while professors in clinical legal education are training law students besides, they are playing a role as practitioners also. This paper will compare and contrast these two methods of lawyers’ contributions to access to justice and assess the future of clinical legal education and pro bono service in the context of Spanish legal education and legal profession. Public legal education in law schools Richard Grimes, Consultant, Talkinglaw As a matter of principle, civic education is a cornerstone of an engaged and accountable society. As a matter of practicality, a person who understands, at least in outline, how the law affects his or her everyday life, is in a better position to make informed choices. In principle or practice promoting awareness of rights (and responsibilities) should empower people to ask the right questions and to seek help where it is needed. Just as education in general is seen as a ‘good thing’, public legal education or ‘legal literacy’ is similarly an important aspiration. According to a study by the Legal Services Research Centre (part of the Legal Services Commission) the estimated cost of unresolved civil legal disputes for the 3 years up to 2006 was £13 billion. How much might have been saved - human as well as financial - in terms of the real cost of family breakdown, unemployment, homelessness and a host of other common difficulties, if the people affected were more aware of their legal position? What does this have to do with law schools? To what extent should this and can this be part of a wider legal education mission and what might public legal education in a law school look like? Drawing on experience in the UK and further afield, this presentation will be in the form of an interactive workshop in which delegates will explore the options and the implications. Making a Difference: Using Clinical Legal Education for Policy Change Richard Owen, University of Glamorgan, Wales This proposal will look at a work in progress which has seen various attempts to use clinical legal education to campaign for changes to administrative practice, policy and legislative change within the context of the devolved settlement in Wales. The proposer is module leader for a module which accredits students for their academic reflections on their experiences advising at Citizens Advice Bureaux. This teaching has included supervising students who have reflected on the social campaigning role of Citizens Advice. The proposer has also used some of the newer approaches to law making such as consultations and petitioning as teaching tools within more traditional teaching settings and will reflect on the pedagogical and motivational value of this. In the UK general election in 2005 only 37% of 18 – 24 year olds turned out to vote (average voter turnout 61.4%) down from 39% (average voter turnout 59.4%) in 2001. In the 2007 elections to the National Assembly for Wales 30% of 18 – 34 year olds said they voted (up from 19% in 2003) compared to average voter turnout of 43% so there’s a clear trend for low turnout amongst younger age groups who are less inclined to vote than older voters. As a result, The Governance of Britain Green Paper, published in July 2007, highlighted the need for the Government to engage with young people and encourage them to play an active part in British society. As a response to this, the proposer is currently part of a team which has bid for public engagement monies and seeks to increase political participation of “hard to reach” groups of young people aged 14 – 19 through use of petitioning, open consultations, etc. particularly through use of political participation websites. Whilst at the time of writing, it is not known whether the bid has been successful it has involved a partnership between the University of Glamorgan, BBC Wales and Citizens Advice Cymru. The proposal will also consider whether or not it is easier to use clinical legal education to attempt to bring about administrative, policy and legislative change within a system of devolved government. Richard Owen is Associate Head of the University of Glamorgan Law School. He is an independent reviewer for the Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX) and an external examiner for the Edinburgh Napier University and the University of Lincoln, as well as UKCLE's consultant in Wales. He is currently a committee member of the Association of Law Teachers. Learner-Centered Instruction in Clinical Legal Education: Lessons from a Model Street Law Class Richard L. Roe, Georgetown University, USA Street Law, or practical law for laypersons, is a promising approach for educating the public about the law that affects people’s daily lives and developing their civic and academic skills, as well as for meaningful public service and outreach in the community by law schools and law students. Moreover, it is highly effective in developing the lawyering abilities of law students as a matter of clinical legal education. In a 15 minute video that highlights the key elements of an exemplary Street Law class in an inner-city high school in Washington, D.C., the range of instructional possibilities and values – from instructional methods to learning outcomes – can be examined. The instructor employs a number of techniques in the context of a mock trial, including a roleplay, class participation, direct instruction, guided practice, advocacy, and assessment. This presentation will show and discuss the video and discuss the accompanying paper, focusing on the identifiable components of the highly interactive, participatory, and learner-centered methodology and the learning value to both the law student instructor and the end learners, in this case high school students. The video will be examined from two perspectives: 1) how to conduct an effective Street Law class and teaching in general on a substantive topic, in this case rules of evidence, distilling fundamental methodological principles for Street Law and clinical legal education generally and 2) how law student and layperson engagement in authentic law-related issues can develop and advance lawyering and civic skills. The video was produced by the D.C.Bar Association and its Labor and Employment Section. Early Efforts at a Pedagogy of Practice in the U.S.: 1870 to 1920 Richard J Wilson, American Society of International Law, USA The case method and accompanying reforms at Harvard during the reign of Christopher Columbus Langdell and Charles Eliot were a direct challenge to the teaching of law through the traditional apprenticeship method, widely in use throughout the U.S. as a direct import from mother England. The apprenticeship method became a target for inadequacy in training, denigrated as intellectually weak, insufficiently scientific, mere training for a trade, etc. As the case method and German legal science took hold everywhere, however, a significant counter-movement developed to keep a pedagogy of practice within the emerging university legal academy. This movement has been largely overlooked in the history of clinical education, which points only to the existence of a small number of “legal dispensaries” during that period. In fact, there were other innovations that are still a part of active teaching today, including the classic use of moot courts (a direct import from the Inns of Court), more elaborate and indigenous “practice courts” with entire trial proceedings in simulation, legal document drafting and the teaching of court procedure as a national rather than local discipline. Each of these movements grew and thrived during those early days, and provided a seedbed for later efforts at more complete clinical training. The best efforts of the legal scientists and East coast elitists could not drive these practical elements from the academy, especially in the non-elite Eastern schools such as those in the pragmatic West and urban night schools. The movement grew and thrived until World War I, when law school enrollments fell off generally and precipitously. From Practitioner To Educator: Can Litigators Let Go? Sara Chandler, College of Law, London and Rebecca Parker, College of Law, Birmingham It is often the case that supervisors of student law clinics run caseloads where law students have the opportunity to learn and develop legal skills while assisting clients through pro bono services. Results of an empirical survey carried out in March 2010 demonstrate a high degree of agreement among practitioner-supervisors of the issues encountered by clinic supervisors, and their feelings about the transformation of their roles within the legal education field. How much responsibility can supervisors give their students? How much intervention should a supervisor use? This paper will examine the issues for clinic supervisors as they develop models of supervision which best suit student learning and development. It is planned that the paper will give rise to an interactive session in which participants can examine the issues which they encounter in the development of their supervision methodology The theory of learning and how it helps promote clinical legal education Shaheda Mahomed, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa “Education is not limited to training the mind and filling it with information, but involves all aspectsintellectual, religious, moral and physical- of the personality of the learner. It is not enough to impart theoretical learning; that learning must be put into practice. True learning is that which affects behaviour and whereby the learner makes practical use of his knowledge” Al-Ghazali (A.D. 10581111; A.H. 450-505) The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on the theory of learning. For centuries philosophers and educational theorist have submitted that the best form of learning includes the study of theory complimented by practical experience. It is my submission that students at law school should be taught within this dynamic. In addition to learning theory law students must engage in practice in order to conceive value to their study. In this paper I will discuss several learning theories proposed by prominent philosophers. My focus during the discussion will be on answering the following question: how do “students” learn best? In an attempt to address this question I will explore the influence of extrinsic factors such as political, social and economic, on students learning as may be particular to the dispensation in South Africa. Clinical Teaching through Popular Culture Tamsin Nelson and Paul McKeown, Northumbria University This paper aims to explore the use of popular culture to engage students in clinical teaching. Students often have difficulty in identifying many subtle legal issues which may arise from a client’s factual account of a problem. The paper explores an exercise in which students were asked to identify and analyse the legal issues which arose in an animated feature film. Students were also asked to prepare a presentation on the legal issues and their application to the facts and answer questions in a small group setting. The aim of this exercise was to encourage students to holistically approach and analyse factual problems which may not have an obvious legal significance. The authors will draw upon the comments of students during a focus group session and their own observations to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the exercise. Teaching professionalism in legal clinics– what new practitioners say is important Tony Foley and Margie Rowe, ANU College of Law, Australia This paper reports on an empirical research project currently underway in one Australian jurisdiction. The study provides a snapshot of the lived experience of a group of new lawyers in their first year of practice. What these lawyers report provides fresh insights into how a clinical legal education experience might better prepare new lawyers for practice. Traditional notions of professionalism generally emphasise the importance of autonomy, public service orientation, task variety and collegiality as markers that those involved in certain work are professionals. In the case of legal professionalism, the additional need to adhere to the requirements of fidelity to the law and fidelity to a client are usually added. However analysis of data from interviews and workplace observations while tracking a cohort of entry level lawyers highlights new themes in the development of professionalism. Three distinct themes emerged as being relevant to new lawyers developing their sense of growing competence and their sense that they were becoming ‘real’ lawyers: Being exposed to ‘dramatic learning’ events (surviving ‘being thrown in at the deep end’) while feeling supported and developing their confidence and competence through close mentoring and supervision; Seeing legal practice as more than just a rational and rule-based activity, to one that involves being confronted by real people displaying real emotions and presenting complex problems outside the scope of the legal system; and Finding a comfortable balance between one’s own values and those modelled and practised by colleagues in their firm, while also accepting the commercial realities and pragmatic limitations of legal practice. This paper suggests that clinical legal programs offer unique opportunities to give students an early exposure to these experiences within a reflective setting before they enter into practice and suggests how programs can be tailored to do this. The Community Legal Education Movement In Southeast Asia “Law Students Making A Difference” Wendy Morrish, Director of Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia Community Legal Education Initiative (BABSEA CLE) There is a well known tale that is told about those working in the field of “Human Rights”….One day a man is walking along the beach, which is covered with star fish recently washed onto the shore. He comes across a child who is throwing many of them back into the sea. The man says to the child, “there are so many, you will not make a difference why bother?” to which the child replies “it has made a difference to that one”. Since 2003, BABSEA CLE has continued to work in Southeast Asia, promoting Community Legal Education (CLE) programs at universities and in civil society. The need for legal education and legal assistance to underserved communities is so large it is almost hard to fathom. Southeast has some of the highest rates of human right and justice violations, including human trafficking; women, young girls and some young boys held as sex slaves; drug related crimes anything from smuggling drugs, selling and criminalization of addicts; appalling and dangerous working conditions; land grabbing and forced housing evictions; citizenship and statelessness issues; little to no access to health care, medicines, education; little to no understanding of registration of births and marriages; violent crimes on women and transsexuals; migrant worker abuse; a judicial system that is unattainable to many……”there are so many….why bother?” BABSEA CLE supports many CLE students’ activities in Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. The programs are fast becoming the incubator for future social justice leaders in their country and the region. BABSEA CLE is witnessing the beginning of these young legal students that similarly to the “child” at the beginning, are experiences how by helping a few, improves the life of that person, their family and so on. The CLE program is motivating these young law students to ask more about what is happening in their country; internationally and how they can help and learn. Our interactive presentation is intended to highlight the achievements of CLE programs and the CLE movement in Southeast Asia and worldwide. (See attachment “A” for BABSEA CLE Organizational Highlights 2009). The presentation will be divided into 4 sessions of approximately 10 – 15 minutes each. Interactive Session 1 – Demonstration on the communities in Southeast Asia that law students are connected to through the CLE programs. These groups vary from Transgender and male sex workers in Thailand, Juveniles in the Malaysia’s detention centers; remote Laos villages at risk of human trafficking and land grabbing and a rehabilitation center for sex workers and drug addicts in Vietnam as well as many others. Interactive Session 2 - Feedback and reflections from the law students from journals, blogs and articles, experiencing through their eyes why the need for lawyers to do pro bono work and become the future champions of social justice is so very vital in Southeast Asia and world wide as well as how the participation in the CLE program affected them. Interactive Session 3 - Modern communication tools to build capacity and strengthen law students, building legal networks and develop legal materials, research skills and creative thinking in the global legal community. Interactive Session 4 – Feedback session and Q&A, ways to support and lesson to be learned from CLE programs internationally. Getting Back to the Sandbox: Designing A Legal Policy Clinic William Wesley Patton, Professor, Associate Dean of Clinical Programs and J. Allan Cook and Mary Schalling Cook Children's Law Scholar Whittier Law School, Costa Mesa California, USA The paper describes how a clinician can construct a clientless policy clinic based upon an analogy to the use of a sandbox in elementary education as a self-directed laboratory for student exploration. The paper uses educational psychology research to demonstrate why each law student in the policy clinic, rather than the professor, should choose the substantive legal area and the specific policy topics for the student’s clinical cases. Unlike the ordinary clinic in which the professor implements his or her vision of social justice and legal expertise in choosing the legal forum and topics for students’ cases, here the students’ interests direct case selection. The paper describes the clinical professor’s role in this experimental student self-directed and selfselected universe, explains how the professor as a legal specialist can work with students on legal problems outside the professor’s expertise, and demonstrates how this model will increase law students’ life-long interest and involvement in pro bono activity. Criminal Clinics in China Ying Dai, China University of Political Science and Law, China This paper examines the history of criminal clinics in China, its status quo, challenges and possible solutions. The first part of this article explores the track of criminal clinics in China, which starts on the basis of 7-year development of Chinese clinical legal education. At the very beginning, there were only three pilot schools opened criminal clinical courses. Now, there are 16 pilot schools throughout China and some other schools opened their own criminal clinics without outside funding. The second part examines the status quo of criminal defense clinics. There are a variety of themes of criminal clinics, such as juvenile justice, community correction, criminal reconciliation, and criminal defense in legal aid or minor cases. The author will take Renmin University, Sichuan University and Northwest University of Politics and Law as examples to introduce the types of work undertaken by the criminal defense clinics e.g. the types of cases taken on, the level of involvement of students, the role of professors and supervising attorneys, etc. The third part reflects on the challenges faced by criminal clinics in China: a. Establishment of criminal defense clinics – criminal clinic is not a regular course in law school, hard to take off without outside funding; no clear idea of course design, confusion among some clinicians about the difference between clinic, internship and moot court; b. Operation of criminal defense clinics – lack of case source; no legitimate status of students in doing criminal case; greater risks than other clinics; c. Sustainability concern of criminal defense clinics – evaluation system to teachers discourages them from clinical teaching; deviation from criminal defense clinic due to the difficulty of criminal defense clinic; lack of independence, incapability of self-support. The fourth part proposes some solutions to the current problems in order to build criminal clinic into a sustainable part of Chinese legal education. a. Selection of pilot school: a reform on CCCLE’s voting system and the introduction of competition system; b. Selection of students: choose JMs, who already pass the bar exam, instead of juniors; c. “Street law” on clinics: to clarify clinic’s role and goal to school administration, clinicians and their colleagues; to expand the use of clinical teaching methods; d. Risk prevention system: selection of case, student’s rule and management regulation, teacher’s supervision, and insurance e. Capacity building: the management power should be shifted to CCCLE; local organization and people should be trained to do the administrative work, consult the experts, organize the training, and attract funds.
