ABSTRACTS
Eteete Michael Adam, Babcock University, Nigeria
Recalibrating “thinking like a lawyer into thinking like a social crusader for justice” -a reexamination of the scope of legal training in Nigeria through clinical legal education
This work is concerned with the unearthing of paradigms and dogmas of legal education with the
view of re-appraising the usual confines of training the lawyer in the Nigerian legal system to
transcend the historical frontiers of utility of the facility of the lawyer as a social crusader for justice.
Nigeria inherited through imperial transmutation the Anglo-Saxon legal system with its usual and
historical aristocracy and conservatism. The complexities of legal pluralism in the administration and
literature of the Nigerian law arising from the multifarious make up of the nation state of Nigeria has
greatly impacted on the make-up of the Nigerian pluralistic legal system and therefore its legal
education. The nation in addition to received English law also contends with teaching the lawyer
customary laws, sharia law and local legislation and judicial legislative processes. The lawyer in
training is so busily engaged in learning of legal theories and maxims, judicial pronouncements of
celebrated jurists that at the end of about six years of legal education, the baby lawyer must of
necessity begin another vista of training to adapt to the legal realms of practicum. From the basic
art of client interviewing to simple applications for release of accused persons on bail or writing of
simple solicitors’ letters, the lawyer is in need of fresh training in the art of practice of the law.
Worse still is the fact that there is a vacuum as a result of the absence of statutory requirement for
pupilage before the lawyer begins to be of service to the public domain. This paper looks at the
necessity for recalibration of the training processes and raising the ante of the lawyer’s training into
thinking like a crusader for social justice through reliance on clinical legal education, especially in
Nigeria with high levels of social and economic disequilibrium. The paper recommends inter-alia,
compulsory pro-bono legal services for lawyers above ten years post-call, compulsory public lawyerring, active participation in the anti-corruption anti-poverty crusades and public enlightenment on
matters of citizens-constitutional and human rights, including the right to electoral franchise. The
paper further recommends the exemplary legal mettle of Late Gani Fawehinmi, a Lagos based
lawyer, human rights crusader, as examples of what is achievable through compulsory clinical legal
education in Nigeria. Such and more is the thrust of the new approach to legal training as pioneered
by Professor Ojukwu and others in Nigeria.
Charles Olufemi Adekoya, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria
From theory to practice: the turning point in instructional pedagogy in Nigerian law faculties – a
case study of Olabisi Onabanjo University
Legal education should be value-driven, tailored towards training law graduates who do not only
possess requisite legal knowledge, but who have competence in problem-solving skills, and are
equally ethically and socially conscious, through inspirational instructional techniques. Instructional
pedagogy methods of legal education in Nigerian universities since 1962, until lately, was largely
traditional, by which, in most cases, teaching is dominated by the teacher, and the curriculum is
theoretically driven, neglecting lesson plans, learning objectives or outcomes. The introduction of
clinical legal education ten years ago, in some selected faculties of law and later, the law school, in
Nigeria, marked a turning point in the pedagogy of legal education. The experiential learning
methodology of clinical education changed the face of instructional techniques in most law faculties
and the law school.
This paper examines the traditional methods of legal education pedagogy in Nigerian law faculties
and the Law school, the phenomenal impact of the recent introduction of clinical education, its
human rights content; and shares experience of the faculty of law, Olabisi Onabanjo University in
clinical training methodology. The paper concludes that legal training provided by the law faculties
and the law school, should be knowledge-, value- and skill-based, as well as clinical. It recommends
the institutionalization of the clinical instructional pedagogy in Nigerian legal education towards
equipping law graduates with legal skills, and inculcating in them, ethical and social consciousness.
Matilda Alexander, Andrea Perry-Petersen, James Farrell, Monica Taylor
Queensland Association of Independent Legal Services (QAILS)
Outsourcing CLE to community organisations: the good, the bad and the ugly
In Australia, community legal centres (CLCs) are small, community organisations that deliver legal
advice and casework, community legal education and systemic advocacy, focussing on poor and
marginalised client groups. Since the movement began in the early 1970s, students have played a
crucial role in CLC’s work, as volunteers providing services and increasingly through formal clinical
legal education partnerships.
This panel discussion will provide community legal centres’ perspective of the ‘outsourcing’ of
clinical legal education, and discuss the pedagogical value of locating law students in community
organisations that deliver legal services and advocate for social justice. The support and
development of CLC supervisors is a vital element of these programs’ success, as is a shared
commitment to clients’ needs, human rights advocacy and student learning. How well do CLCs and
their partner institutions achieve these best practices, and what more must be done to ensure that
‘outsourced’ CLE programs achieve their objectives?
The panel includes a number of perspectives from organisations that partner with Queensland law
schools to deliver clinical legal education programs, and will encourage an inclusive audience
discussion about the strengths, challenges and opportunities of placements in community legal
centres for law students.
Dianne Anagnos, University of NSW, Australia
What’s in it for the students? Analysis of student evaluations of clinical legal
education courses
Kingsford Legal Centre offers a range of clinical legal education courses to students at UNSW. We
have been informally collecting student feedback about our courses for over ten years, so have
collected thousands of student responses.
We specifically ask students about their main reasons for choosing to do the clinical legal experience
course at KLC and what they have gained from the course, and invite feedback about the casework,
law reform and community legal education aspects of the course. The student responses are at
times deeply reflective, and include references to how the course has changed their career and
study goals. At other times the responses provide us with concrete suggestions as to how to change
the courses to provide a better experience for the students.
We will use this student feedback to learn more about what students feel they get out of
experiential learning, as a way to guide Universities and community organisations in how they offer
clinical legal education and internship programs to law students.
Maryam Arif, Open Society Justice Initiative
Open Society Justice Initiative helped set up law clinics across Pakistan. Currently, we have clinics
running in Baluchistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sind. OSJI is working closely with the
Pakistan Bar Council to get accreditation for the law clinics. Street Law Clinics are the most
successful model thus far.
Victoria Balogun, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Mental disability: tackling child sexual abuse in resource-deficient communities
through legal education
Approximately 3000 cases of crimes against children are reported every month to the Child
Protection Unit (CPU) in South Africa. This excludes unreported cases as a result of loss of life, threat
or intimidation, ignorance or fear of lack of social-economic support from the perpetrator. According
to research, 1 in every 3 girls is sexually abused before the age of 18 and 1 in every 5 boys share a
similar fate. Despite the existence of various laws, legislation and a willing but incapacitated
executive and judicial system many child-victim or survivor of sexual abuse do not bother to report
sexual abuse activities perpetrated against them or disclose them either. Sometimes, threat or
negative pressure from family members, perpetrators or any person in authority may negatively
influence the child and force the child to keep quiet while the abuse continues unabatedly. Childvictim of sexual abuse are sometimes sworn to secrecy or blamed for the act committed against
them, therefore making them feel responsible for the act and thereby keeping them in a perpetual
state of fear, despair, anxiety or shame which could impact negatively on their mental health and
their community in the long run. Survivors of sexual abuse are exposed to reproductive ill health
such as: sexually transmitted diseases, genital trauma, unwanted pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, forced
abortion perpetuated by perpetrators, parents or persons in authority.
The issue of child-sexual abuse is on the increase in many communities throughout South Africa
lately and this is becoming a very big social problem throughout the country. In a resource-deficient
community where most families live below a dollar per day, more children are becoming victims of
child-sexual abuse. Many youngsters experiment with drugs and alcohol, not out of their free will
but a destructive influence geared by adults. Consequently, many reported but un-concluded cases
of child-sexual abuse are on the increase and many young girls face untimely death as a result of
poor sexual-reproductive health services or complications from clandestine abortion services. These
complications often leave many families dissolute and perpetrators go unpunished. This paper looks
at the role of legal educators in mitigating identified abuse. It also examines how social justice
principles and uniform community participation can be promoted and used to ameliorate the plight
of social and educational exclusion of children, particularly girls with disability. The writer takes
cognizance of the fact that life styles such as alcoholism and drugging have also influenced abuse of
this group of vulnerable children in many communities.
Abidha Beegum, Aligarh Muslim University, India
Synchronization of the goals of legal education with that of legal profession
“Lawyers should assume the intellectual leadership of the country and convey the message of the
Constitution to the masses at large and educate them about their rights and privileges in social
equality and economic justice.”
P.B.Gajendragadkar
In 1961, the Indian Advocates Act was enacted by the Parliament, but the said enactment did not
address properly the pros and corns in the field of legal education and of the legal profession. The
developments in legal education can be grouped into two phases:
1. Expansion and consolidation and
2. Continual quality improvement and increased social relevance.
As the effort is still continuing, legal education in India, especially in the state of Kerala is facing a lot
of challenges. The paper highlights these major issues:globalization problems , lack of professional skills, shortage of efficient training in the field of interest
and survival problems after completion of course etc.
This is because, through the entire syllabi, the curriculum focuses only on theoretical study. Apart
from such conventional method of teaching, practical training, knowledge sufficient to meet today’s
purposes and communication skill etc. should be imparted to the legal education.
So, I would like to point out certain expert opinions and law commission reports etc. to find out
certain solutions to the problem. In the concluding part, the paper will discuss the role of Bar Council
of India and University Grants Commissions to restructure the legal education in tune with the need
of the hour.
Judith Bennett, LaTrobe University and Chris Casey, Loddon Campaspe
Community Legal Centre, Australia
“It really opened my eyes”: the impact of social-justice focused, regional CLE in attracting and
retaining the next generation of lawyers in regional and rural settings: findings from
a longitudinal study
For over 6 years, a regionally-based, social justice focused, clinical legal education (CLE) course has
run in Bendigo coordinated by La Trobe University Bendigo’s Law school in partnership with Loddon
Campaspe Community Legal Centre (LCCLC) and actively supported by local regional organisations
including government, prosecution and private practitioners. Funding has been provided by the
Attorney-General for the last 3 years to support the La Trobe University Bendigo/LCCLC CLE course
partnership.
This joint paper examines the impact of this regional CLE experience on law students’ choice of
career and attraction to and retention in employment as the next generation of lawyers in regional
and rural areas.
This is the first longitudinal study of the impact of the CLE experience in an Australian regional
context. The pilot longitudinal study was conducted by Loddon Campaspe CLC inviting up to 25 past
and present LTU law students to discuss their experiences and outcomes. It is expected to
complement this longitudinal study with in depth interview s and yearly updates.
The paper also analyses the fit with current theory as to the impact of regionally-based, social justice
focused CLE programs.
Our hypothesis is that participating in a regional/rural CLE placement will influence law students in
two ways:
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willingness (or not) to work in or return to work in a regional/rural law practice; and
willingness (or not) to work in the area of social justice law as a volunteer or career choice.
This paper reports findings to date including law students’ perspective, expectations, how these
were met and their current life and career choices. Comments to date have included:
My experience was different entirely to what I expected. I was surprised by just how many
areas of law [organisation X] was involved in and the demands on solicitors.
Prior to my placement, given the serious nature of the work being undertaken, I thought I
would be glancing over some documents and do a lot of photocopying. I was surprised that I
was heavily involved with clients, participating in numerous client interests, assisting solicitors
at Court nearly every week and drafting documents of importance to proceedings on foot. I felt
very pleased that my contributions were so valued and appreciated.
They have made me concrete my ideas that practising law is what I would like out of my degree.
Stephen Billett, Griffith University, Australia
Learning in circumstances of legal practice and its integration within legal education
The sites and circumstances of practice have long been accepted within legal work as being the
source of legitimate and worthwhile learning experiences. This has been the case for both initial
preparation (i.e. article clerkship) and on-going development across legal careers. This presentation
seeks to set out some bases for explaining the potency of these practice based experiences in their
own right, by drawing on historical, anthropological, cognitive and workplace based inquiries, as well
as their limitations. This includes the central proposition that learning co-occurs with practice in all
settings, as does the remaking of occupational practice. To enhance these contributions and,
potentially, augment them, including addressing some of their limitations, what might comprise
practice i) curriculum, ii) pedagogies and iii) epistemologies are briefly overviewed, drawing upon
similar sources. Each of these three key elements for explaining and promoting learning through
experiences in practice settings are then elaborated with attempts to align them directly to
application to clinical experiences within legal education. Having established some premises for
explaining and enhancing learning in clinical experiences and legal settings, finally, some suggestions
are advanced about how practice-based learning experiences can be integrated into legal education
programs. This is achieved through a consideration of what might happen before, during and after
those experiences to promote the integration of learning arising from experiences in both settings.
Stephen Billett, Griffith University, Australia
Identifying the applicability of curriculum, pedagogies and epistemologies of practice
for legal education
This workshop aims to test the utility for legal education of the kinds of practice-curriculum and
pedagogies outlined in the plenary session and also consider how students’ personal epistemologies
might best be developed and utilised. The means of proceeding will be to use worksheets referring
to these elements of learning through practices (i.e. practice curriculum, pedagogies and
epistemologies) as reference points and bases for participants’ activities and interactions.
Commencing with individual responses to those sheets, then group and plenary activities, the
participants will engage with scenario based processes to appraise their utility for legal education,
and clinical learning experiences, in particular. This will include appraising those presented, adding
others, and offering judgements about their likely efficacy. Also, the same process will be used to
consider how to prepare students to be agentic learners through promoting their personal
epistemologies. The workshop’s process will explicitly focus on how these concepts and those
provided by participants can be used to identify the premises for and strategies for securing
productive legal graduates. The outcomes should extend to participants’ gaining understandings
about and strategies that can be trialled in their places of practice.
Bagoni Bukar, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria
Legal education and challenges of contemporary developments in Nigeria
The development of any society is anchored on the existence of sound enabling environment for
imparting legal education. Technological breakthroughs and globalization among other things has
made the provision of sound Legal education to would-be lawyers and continuing legal education
for lawyers, judges and academics a sine qua non at both national and international levels in order
to meet up with the challenges of the 21st Century. Hitherto, legal education was and unfortunately
is still to a large extent restricted to the domain of domestic law sufficient enough to give a student
broad general knowledge and exposure to other disciplines in the process of acquiring legal
education so as to meet up with challenges within his immediate environment. Such system of legal
education which exists to date hardly if at all exposes the student or the lawyer to challenges and
the developments in other jurisdictions or in the emerging fields of law, such as transnational law or
even to the basic rudiments of the major legal systems of the world. A lawyer or a judge is a mirror
of the system of legal education that produced him. Sadly, the laws regulating legal education apart
from being obsolete are in some cases conflicting due to the roles assigned to different and
disparate organs in respect of legal education. This has not only retarded the development of Legal
education but also impeded cross fertilization of ideas in the areas of advocacy, forensic evidence,
research and training etc. These laws need to be examined with a view to harmonizing them in order
to bring legal education to the level it deserves. This will entail a critical look at the disparate roles
of bodies and laws, such as the National Universities Commission, Council of Legal Education, The
Nigerian Bar Association and the Legal practitioners Act in order to align them with the realities of
modern system of legal education.
This being the case, the laws regulating legal education at the University and The Nigerian Law
School (academic and professional levels) respectively and the method of teaching will be examined
and solutions proffered with a view to harmonizing the roles of all the organs involved in legal
education so as to meet up with the demands for legal services in a highly competitive and
interdependent world.
Carol Boothby, Northumbria University, UK and Margaret Castles, Adelaide University, Australia
Reflecting on the role of the clinical supervisor – how we see ourselves, how others see us, and
how we meet the expectations of our different stakeholders
In this practical workshop presentation we propose to canvas three aspects of our preliminary
research into this area:
1
2
3
The educational imperative – what does the prevailing literature tell us about being a
teacher in a professional environment.
The importance of equity – how does the role of mentor, and the close personal relationship
that accompanies that role, “fit” with the concept of being an assessor of student
performance.
What guidance can we find in prevailing value statements within the legal and teaching field
that help us to understand how we should adapt our behavior as individuals to the demands
and expectations of clinical supervision and teaching.
There is little written about how supervisors see themselves and how they structure their behaviour
to meet the multiple demands of role model, advisor, mentor, helper, counselor, assessor,
colleague, co-worker. In showing students how we see ourselves as professionals, how we interact
with others in the work place, how we model professional conduct and values, we have an
enormously influential role. The implicit and explicit power imbalances that pervade the law school
clinic can be overlooked in the heat of focused collaboration to meet client goals.
Those of us who have been teaching and supervising for years have an understanding of our role and
how we need to adapt and modify our behaviour to meet the competing requirements. But new
supervisors may find the shift from a practice environment to the more nuanced dynamic of a law
clinic much more challenging. Drawing on the experiences and views of participants in the session,
and on our own perceptions, we will tease out some of these challenges, seeking to relate them to
models of professional behaviour that align with the particular hat that supervisors might be
wearing at different moments in the supervisorial day.
Carol Boothby and Cath Sylvester, Northumbria University, UK
Getting the fish to see the water: an investigation into how students' transfer writing skills
developed in earlier academic or practical settings for use in clinic
In 2010 Tonya Kowalski described the problems faced by students entering clinic for the first time as
a one step backward, two step forward phenomenon. Students appeared initially unable to transfer
skills and knowledge learned in earlier academic and other settings to clinic but once they were
immersed in clinic their skills development improved rapidly.
Clinic is often presented as a ‘bridge to practice’ and delivered as the cap stone to more traditional
elements of an undergraduate or postgraduate degree. However, even with an integrated approach
such as that at Northumbria, a seamless transition to clinical skills is challenging and gives rise to a
constant review of how best to prepare students for clinic. Our research focuses on legal writing.
Anecdotally clinical supervisors observe that students appear to struggle, not only with the form of
professional legal documents (as one might expect with a wide, varied and demanding real client
case load), but also with the structure and content of the analytical and evaluative elements of
professional writing.
Our research used focus groups to find out how students participating in the year 4 clinic at
Northumbria University perceived and adapted their previous experiences of writing for use in the
clinical context. It also explores the transition to clinic and students’ reactions to early feedback in
clinic on their legal writing.
The aim of the research is to identify strategies to assist students with the transfer of writing skills
developed in the wider academic context to those used in clinic. It also considers how students’
experiences of writing skills (both in non-clinic and clinic based teaching) can be delivered in such a
way as to identify common approaches and assist with the often bewildering transition from the
academic writing to early clinical writing.
Deborah Burand, University of Michigan; Susan R Jones, George Washington University;
Alicia Plerhoples, Georgetown University, USA
Clinical collaborations going global to advance social entrepreneurship
“… [Ashoka] share[s] in the goal of training the next generation of lawyers who desire to promote
the common good. We want to do our part to help build the ecosystem of legal practitioners who
are involved in supporting social entrepreneurship. ” Jonathan Ng, Global Legal Director, Ashoka
In the summer of 2012, transactional law clinics from three US law schools: George Washington
University, Georgetown University and the University of Michigan launched a collaboration to serve
a common client, Ashoka and its Ashoka Fellows.
Ashoka is a non-profit organization based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area of the United
States. Founded in 1980, Ashoka is a global leader in the field of social entrepreneurship with over
30 years of expertise in finding and selecting 3000 Ashoka “Fellows” from across 73 countries.
Ashoka Fellows are people who are focused on implementing systems-changing ideas – often by
growing social enterprises that generate social as well as financial returns.
This cross-university collaboration is groundbreaking for US transactional clinics. Accordingly, this
presentation/paper examines why the collaboration was launched, how the collaboration is
structured, what the collaboration is offering clients and participating law students, how the
collaboration has expanded the skills and knowledge of the three clinical directors who are
participating in this collaboration, and, finally, where this collaboration might go next. The cofounders of this clinical collaboration hope that transactional clinics from jurisdictions outside the
United States soon will join in this initiative to advance social entrepreneurship globally.
Anton Burkov, University of Humanities, Ekaterinburg, Russia
Why a Russian NGO collaborates with foreign law clinics and global law firms:
pros and contras
This paper reflects the experience of cooperation of a Russian human rights non-governmental
organization "Sutyazhnik" (meaning “Litigator”) with legal clinics of the University of Quebec in
Montreal (Canada) and the University of Utrecht (the Netherlands) and various international law
firms which provide pro bono services to NGOs.
There is nothing unusual that an NGO cooperates with a law clinic or a law firm. The motivation is
the need for new ideas, new personalities who want to contribute to the protection of citizens'
rights, and additional resources. The question this paper addresses is why an NGO is looking forward
to cooperating with foreign law clinics and global law firms which have no offices in the jurisdiction
where NGO operates?
Some NGOs, especially that work on front line human rights cases in national and international
courts, need assistance that no local law clinic or a law firm would undertake due to conflict of
interests. This could be a law school’s state funding or a legal assistance contract of a law firm with
the government. The alternative would be twinning NGOs’ projects with foreign law clinics and law
firms’ agendas. This has its own pros and contras.
Ibijoke Patricia Byron and Stella Uju Eze, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Clinical legal education in developing countries: a case study of the women’s law clinic
The Women’s Law Clinic, Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan, Nigeria was established in 2007. The
Law Clinic is an exciting initiative and it has recorded great success in Ibadan, Nigeria. It is the only
specialized clinic for women in Nigeria.
The final year students of the Faculty of Law are introduced to Clinical Legal Education through
exposure to live clients and real life situations. An added advantage is the Postgraduate students
who are also actively involved in the Law Clinic. The Clinic serves as a laboratory for students while
utilizing the techniques of Clinical Legal Education. The students are encouraged to render
community service to the indigent women in the society. This is achieved by carrying out
sensitization programmes to different communities, thereby educating indigent or disadvantaged
women on their rights.
The focus of this paper is to bring into light the successes of the Women’s Law Clinic so far since its
inception. It will also address the importance and usefulness of Clinical Legal Education in a
developing country, like Nigeria.
The paper will also consider how culture plays a significant role in accessing justice for women in
Nigeria.
Ana Calvo Sierra, University of Valencia, Spain
Clinical legal education and ethnic discrimination at schools in Europe
The Legal Clinic for Social Justice of the University of Valencia (www.uv.es/clinica) has been working
in a strategic litigation case about ethnic discrimination at schools for the Open Society Justice
Initiative.
The team work, composed by three students and coordinated by two supervisors of our clinic, has
done the legal research using a collaborative work methodology. We have been meeting periodically
during three months, while we shared findings and ideas via e-mail.
In our meetings we discussed our thoughts on the matter, based on the readings of case-law,
doctrine and several reports we were finding and studying. We divided the different areas we could
explore and each of us was assigned an specific matter to do more research about. We focused
mainly in indirect discrimination that involved school segregation and the parental consent defence.
The discussions in this part of the process were very beneficial for us to acquire different views, both
from the legal and sociocultural aspects.
After some meetings, we had the chance to speak via videoconference with a lawyer, member of the
OSJI, to get the definitive guidelines. Lastly, we presented the case to the Legal Clinic students, the
Master students and several professors and supervisors, preceded by the screening of the
documental film 'Our school', directed by Mona Nicoara, about the situation of Roma children in
Romanian schools.
I have had the chance to deepen in the topics of indirect discrimination, consent and the right to
education, as well as to approach to ethnic groups and minorities, as the Roma are, so I have
acquired a better understanding of the situation they live and how society handles it. It has been a
great experience for me in which I have had the opportunity to apply my law studies in a real case,
to put law in a social context, and to learn with an amazing team that has been working hand by
hand until the last moment.
We have just sent this memorandum to OSJI and we are hoping this paper, where we have put our
work and effort can be used to bring about a social and a legal change for the Roma people, as they
are ultimately the ones we have been working for.
Catherine Campbell and Tina Cockburn, Queensland University of Technology, Australia;
Wendy Morrish and Bruce Lasky, BABSEA CLE
Tears, trust, teamwork – transformation: supervising students on international placements
International placements are being sought out by law students interested in community
development and international law as a career path. The students being placed are often eager,
proactive, passionate, visionary and caring. Many have backgrounds as youth leaders, long term
work experience with marginalized groups, strong academic records and a history of volunteerism. A
core component of successful international placements includes supervisors who can support these
students in achieving their goals and give positive, constructive feedback to students.
Simultaneously, the supervisors must be able to assist the students to overcome common
experiences of homesickness, culture ‘shock’, and physical health issues. There are various strategies
to deal with these issues include pre-preparation training, communication strategies, group
activities, cultural exchanges, readings and regular debriefings.
More complex supervision issues can arise when students are dealing with home-related personal
issues or mental health issues. Managing student expectations and behaviour can also be
problematic.
This paper examines scenarios based on real situations encountered by supervisors of students
undertaking short internships with Bridges Across Borders South-East Asia Community Legal
Education Initiative (BABSEA CLE). Using role play, participants will explore appropriate methods for
mentoring and working with students to ensure the best outcome for the student/s and
international placement partner. BABSEA CLE internships take students from tears, to trust through
teamwork to achieving transformative experiences.
Amari Omaka Chukwu, Ebonyi State University, Nigeria
Street law programme in Ebonyi State Nigeria: the gains, the challenges
In the past five years, Ebonyi State University (EBSU) Law Clinic has actively been involved in both
Access to Justice Project in Prisons and Street Law Programmes. These programmes have been eyeopeners on the state of rot/injustice in Nigerian prisons and high level of need in the area of justice
education for the Nigerian masses. However, the EBSU Street Law Programme lately has been a
cardinal project of EBSU Law Clinic. The programme is an educational, legal outreach programme
that trains our law students to teach law at schools, communities, churches, artisan groups, etc,
throughout Ebonyi State in South Eastern Nigeria. The objective of the programme is to sensitise the
average/ordinary person in the street on the workings of the law and the legal system; and also on
how the law affects them. This is usually done through interactive education about law, the
environment, democracy, child and women’s rights; human rights and justice education; while in
the process enhancing students’ skills by learning-and-teaching-others. By and large, the programme
has brought immense benefits to both the students and the larger society. In spite of the gains
emanating from the programme, such as skill development and enhancing professional
responsibility inter alia, there are lots of challenges faced by the students and the law clinic in the
process of implementing the programme, such as funding, logistics and ethical challenges. This
paper discuses the gains and challenges facing street law programme in Nigeria with a view to
getting inputs and suggestions from other jurisdiction on the modus of improving and implementing
one of the pioneer street law programmes in Nigeria, which EBSU Law Clinic represents. The session
promises to be interactive.
Anna Cody, University of New South Wales, Australia
Think a bit harder: how to get our students to reflect more deeply
Students often cite as their reasons for doing a clinical subject “I wanted to get practical skills”. How
can clinical legal educators encourage, teach our students the ability to probe issues of justice, their
roles as future lawyers, their role in their legal system more deeply? There are many well
established practices such as reflective journals, regular group meetings or individual sessions with
students, which aim to teach students how to reflect more deeply on their experience. Another is
to formally include it in the seminar program. The ability to reflect and learn from experience is
crucial to good, sensitive, critical legal practitioners and thus teaching this skill is significant for
students entering the workforce. Some students resist this part of their clinical subject. This
workshop will explore some of the challenges for achieving one of our key goals in clinical legal
education: to teach students to think critically about the law and the legal system and their role
within it.
It will be presented in a participative and interactive way with some formal input from the facilitator
also. It will also draw on the findings of the Best Practices in Clinical legal education in Australia
research.
Malcolm Combe, University of Aberdeen, UK
(Re)Claiming the initiative
Student law clinics come in many shapes and sizes. Intra- and extra-curricular models exist, but is
one preferable to the other? The former has an inherent educational element, whereas the latter
leaves student learning to develop organically. Notwithstanding any debate as to what the optimum
focus of student clinical legal activity should be, or indeed whether there is an optimum focus (for
example, wider social justice or student development), how should the very practical and tactical
decision of introducing an academic element to an established extra-curricular student law clinic be
approached? Is it worth the effort? This paper engages in a literature review of existing clinical legal
education (“CLE”) sources whilst drawing on the author’s experience as a participant in pro bono
legal activity at three Scottish universities. A survey of student volunteers at the Aberdeen Law
Project (“ALP”) – the University of Aberdeen’s student founded and extra-curricular organisation –
adds some statistical and personal insights to this paper. The paper concludes by proposing a course
model for the introduction of academic credit in these idiosyncratic circumstances.
Liz Curran and Tony Foley, ANU College of Law, Australia
Ensuring and assessing quality in clinic and in its delivery of community legal education
This paper will examine through a case study of ANU’s Youth Law clinical program how students can
be given practical training to become good practitioners. It identifies indicators of quality practice in
both the interviewing of clients and in the delivery of community education.
Curran has, over the past two years, conducted research into how to measure quality legal services
in the international and national community legal centre and legal aid context. She has conducted
evaluations using this research of a legal aid commission and community legal centre. The research
has involved input from clinical and practical legal training programs at ANU.
The Youth Law Centre (YLC) provides outreach and community legal education to schools, technical
colleges and to non-legal youth agencies. International research has found that many people do not
contact a lawyer because of perception and access barriers. Those most likely to be seen by the
vulnerable and disadvantaged people, namely non-legal agencies and workers, need to be trained to
help overcome these barriers. The YLC is doing this and its practice will be examined as one
approach to reducing barriers to access to justice.
The lessons from research on measuring quality legal services and outcomes can be adapted to
enable clinic students to have an enhanced experience of legal practice and legal outreach.
Indicators of a good legal interview and of effective community legal education have been identified
in research by Curran. The paper will discuss how these measures can be used to instil
professionalism and a sense of quality legal practice in student lawyers. The capacity to integrate
such indicators in student assessment processes will also be explored. The paper highlights the
opportunities this can bring to ensuring ethical and quality practice in emerging lawyers.
Frank Dignan, University of Hull, UK
The role of universities in providing legal services
In the light of changes to the provision of legal aid contained within the Legal Aid, Punishment and
Sentencing of Offenders Act 2012, to what extent can legal services provided by Law Schools address
some of the shortfall in provision? A summary of the history of legal aid in the United Kingdom and
various cutbacks that have occurred; culminating in its recent withdrawal for Social Welfare Law and
most Family cases. An examination of the most recent government proposals for tendering of
criminal legal aid contracts, alongside the movement towards Alternative Business Structures. What
implications does this have for Law Clinics operated by Universities; and to what extent is it a proper
use of HE resources to provide for services which should, rightly, be met from public funds? The
potential for conflict between government policies and the statement of the Attorney General;“probono cannot be a replacement for state provision and should never be seen as such.” Rt. Hon
Damian Grieve QC, MP, Attorney General, LawWorks Student Awards, House of Commons March
2013.
Heather Douglas and Monica Taylor, University of Queensland, Australia
Understanding the power of law: engaging students in criminal law casework
In 2012, the University of Queensland conducted its inaugural Criminal Law Matters Clinic (CLMC) in
partnership with a range of organisations including Caxton Legal Centre, the Queensland Court of
Appeal and Legal Aid Queensland. The original aim of the clinic was to assist unrepresented criminal
appellants with appeals against sentence or conviction to either the Queensland Court of Appeal or
the High Court of Australia.
A unique feature of the CLMC was its specialist focus on criminal law and appellate procedure. The
clinic was the first of its kind to be offered by a Queensland law school to students in this particular
area of criminal law. The innovative design of the CLMC and its role in filling a gap in both CLE and
access to justice resulted in it attracting a strategic funding grant from the University. One of the
many clinic highlights was a successful appeal against sentence for a prisoner convicted of unlawful
wounding, resulting in a reduction of the prisoner’s non-parole period (R v Andrews [2012] QCA
266).
This paper will describe the particular design of the CLMC and summarise its highlights and
challenges. It will present an analysis of student learning based on students’ reflections and
evaluations. This analysis will focus on students’ observations of structural disadvantage and the
interplay of mental illness, poverty and disability in criminal law casework. Drawing on key
principles of critical legal theory, the analysis will demonstrate students’ developing awareness of
the power of law and of lawyers in both creating and responding to disadvantage. Finally, this paper
will share suggestions for how other educators might establish a similar clinic, with a view to
expanding access to justice in a much-needed area of law.
Kathy Douglas and Stan Winford, RMIT University, Australia
Students making a difference through clinical legal research
Clinical Legal Education can come in a variety of forms. The commonly used approach of students
being supervised in a clinical legal setting, generally a community legal service, has a number of
benefits including students gaining insights into legal practice and developing professional identity.
Another option in clinical education, to augment the traditional legal practice experience, is to
provide students with a placement at a justice agency, court or tribunal. Additionally, this kind of
student experience can be extended to include legal research. Students can undertake significant
legal research projects, supervised by academics and/or research centres, while on
placement. There are a number of benefits to this approach. It reflects the changing nature of the
legal sector and the diversity of work undertaken by law graduates. It provides students with
opportunities to experience non-traditional legal practice such as working in legal policy, research
and law reform. By reflecting the variety of non-traditional legal work undertaken by law graduates,
it enables students to gain an insight into the variety of ways their qualification may be used, and
begin to think more clearly about their careers. It also provides an avenue for students who have a
strong desire to be involved in law reform with an opportunity to engage in legal research and policy
activities linked to actual policy processes such as law reform commission references and inquiries.
For example, at RMIT University Juris Doctor students have the option of a Magistrate-shadowing
placement, that provides insight into judicial practice and also requires them to undertake to
produce a research paper addressing an issue of concern to the Magistrates’ Court. The students’
research is supervised by academics in combination with the staff at the new Centre for Innovative
Justice at RMIT. This approach is especially of value to postgraduate law students as research is part
of their Masters level qualification under the AQF. In this paper we outline the approach adopted at
RMIT and plans for the future.
Riette du Plessis, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
Common Ground: Assessment challenges. Sharing research outcomes: how the introduction of
an alternative clinical model can translate into the effective grading of large numbers of students
Research for a PhD study incorporated a review of assessment methods in CLE across four South
African university law clinics. The combination of large student numbers, clinician workloads and
time constraints proved to be a common challenge, resulting in unsupervised and unassessed
student/client interviews. There is a domino effect in that the challenges experienced by students
during interviews are not addressed and their ability to resolve the problems and present solutions
thereto, also remain unassessed. The impact is potentially huge, as interviews form the foundation
of clients’ cases.
This leads to further assessment challenges: a diverse or restricted client pool, students operating in
different specialised clinical units, students’ education and experience variances, their differing
knowledge of substantive and procedural laws, the neglect of trial advocacy exercises and the
experience, supervision and assessment variances of clinicians.
The study found that, regardless of their mission statements, clinics often neglect their main focus the teaching and training of students. A proposed solution to the management of large student
numbers is the allocation of students to different “firms” within a specialised clinical unit. Each
student will have his/her role as a partner in the “firm”. Effective implementation of these roles will
be illustrated. Students will, apart from the general practical and academic training, also be exposed
to practice management, collegial cooperation and ethics.
With the implementation of student “firms”, clinicians’ supervisory functions will be decidedly more
structured and conducive to the introduction of effective assessment regimes. Reflective journals,
self- and peer evaluations and rubrics are not general assessment tools used in South African clinics.
This ongoing study considers the application of a combination of these methods to student “firms”,
as formative and summative assessment tools. The effective use of rubrics when grading large
numbers of students across different specialised units will be discussed.
Adrian Evans, Monash University, Australia and Peter Joy, Washington University, USA
Strengthening clinical legal education by developing best practices: comparing approaches
While each country has a different system of legal education and a different system of determining
how a person qualifies for admission to practice law, clinical legal education in every country is a
pedagogy that emphasizes involving students in the work lawyers perform in service to clients with
legal problems. This pedagogy focuses on assisting students to learn how to learn from their
experiences. In Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, clinical legal education
principally developed as an emerging pedagogy in the 1960s and 1970s. In each of these countries,
there have been efforts to develop best practices or standards for clinical legal education to improve
the legal education of students. In some jurisdictions the focus has been on client service and in
others on legal education, though both objectives are commonly recognised as important. Other
notable differences of emphasis have included law reform versus client service, systemic advocacy
versus individual advocacy, and, increasingly, the academic status of clinical teachers. This paper and
session compare the efforts in each country, resulting best practices, lessons learned from
developing best practices, and how these efforts and lessons may aid faculty in other countries as
they consider whether to develop their own best practices for clinical legal education in light of their
cultures, legal institutions, and systems of legal education.
In each sample country, the process to develop best practices or standards has been different. In
Australia, a government-funded three year project (2010-2012) consisting of a project team
comprised of faculty from six Australian law schools closely identified with experiential learning in
law, a national reference group of important stakeholders, and a consultant international reference
group, developed best practices. Members of the project team presented a draft of the best
practices to the Council of Australian Law Deans (CALD) and at the Australasian Law Teachers
Association annual meeting in 2012. The project used the input to make revisions, and CALD
unanimously endorsed the Best Practices, Australian Clinical Legal Education in November 2012.
In the UK, there have been at least two projects to develop standards or best practices for clinical
legal education. First, the Clinical Legal Education Organisation (CLEO) developed a set of guidelines
in 1995, called “model standards for live-client clinics.” CLEO became inactive, and in 2006 there
was a newly-formed CLEO that reviewed and updated the standards. CLEO formally adopted the
revised model standards in 2007. Between the first and second versions of CLEO model standards,
the UK Centre for Clinical Legal Education funded research in 2003 – 2004 to map best practices in
clinical legal education. The task in the UK is now to crystalise these efforts in institutional
recognition.
There have been several different projects in the US to develop guidelines or best practices for
clinical legal education. In the US, the American Bar Association (ABA) sets minimum accreditation
standards for US law schools through its Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to
the Bar (Council). Since 1973, the ABA has adopted and revised some standards that address
aspects of different types of clinical legal education courses, but the ABA Standards are not as
comprehensive as the Australian best practices or UK model standards. In 1977, the ABA and the
Association of American Law Schools (AALS) formed a committee that led the first effort to develop
accepted practices or guidelines for clinical legal education, and the committee released guidelines
for clinical legal education in 1980. The scope of these guidelines comes much closer to the
Australian and UK efforts. From 1986 to 1991, the AALS Section on Clinical Legal Education created a
committee that analyzed aspects of in-house clinical legal education and produced a report that set
forth pedagogical goals, teaching methods, and data on existing clinical programs that addressed
how clinical programs were structured and staffed. Finally, the Clinical Legal Education Association
(CLEA), sponsored a multi-year the effort led by Roy Stuckey that resulted in the 2007 book Best
Practices for Legal Education, which includes best practices for clinical legal education. The CLEA
best practices are closest to the Australian and UK efforts.
In each country, there has been various methods employed to solicit input to inform the resulting
best practices, standards, or guidelines, though every effort shared the common goal of providing
law schools with the necessary information to create sound educational programs. The scope of the
resulting best practices also differs greatly. This paper and session will explore the processes
employed, common themes in the resulting best practices, and how those documents have shaped
and continue to shape clinical legal education in those countries. By examining the strengths and
challenges of both the processes and resulting best practices, this paper and session aim to provide
readers and attendees with the background, different perspectives, and sample models that will aid
them in developing best practices suitable to clinical legal education in their own countries.
While each country has a different system of legal education and a different system of determining
how a person qualifies for admission to practice law, clinical legal education in every country is a
pedagogy that emphasizes involving students in the work lawyers perform in service to clients with
legal problems. This pedagogy focuses on assisting students to learn how to learn from their
experiences. In Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, clinical legal education
principally developed as an emerging pedagogy in the 1960s and 1970s. In each of these countries,
there have been efforts to develop best practices or standards for clinical legal education to improve
the legal education of students. In some jurisdictions the focus has been on client service and in
others on legal education, though both objectives are commonly recognised as important. Other
notable differences of emphasis have included law reform versus client service, systemic advocacy
versus individual advocacy, and, increasingly, the academic status of clinical teachers. This paper and
session compare the efforts in each country, resulting best practices, lessons learned from
developing best practices, and how these efforts and lessons may aid faculty in other countries as
they consider whether to develop their own best practices for clinical legal education in light of their
cultures, legal institutions, and systems of legal education.
In each sample country, the process to develop best practices or standards has been different. In
Australia, a government-funded three year project (2010-2012) consisting of a project team
comprised of faculty from six Australian law schools closely identified with experiential learning in
law, a national reference group of important stakeholders, and a consultant international reference
group, developed best practices. Members of the project team presented a draft of the best
practices to the Council of Australian Law Deans (CALD) and at the Australasian Law Teachers
Association annual meeting in 2012. The project used the input to make revisions, and CALD
unanimously endorsed the Best Practices, Australian Clinical Legal Education in November 2012.
In the UK, there have been at least two projects to develop standards or best practices for clinical
legal education. First, the Clinical Legal Education Organisation (CLEO) developed a set of guidelines
in 1995, called “model standards for live-client clinics.” CLEO became inactive, and in 2006 there
was a newly-formed CLEO that reviewed and updated the standards. CLEO formally adopted the
revised model standards in 2007. Between the first and second versions of CLEO model standards,
the UK Centre for Clinical Legal Education funded research in 2003 – 2004 to map best practices in
clinical legal education. The task in the UK is now to crystalise these efforts in institutional
recognition.
There have been several different projects in the US to develop guidelines or best practices for
clinical legal education. In the US, the American Bar Association (ABA) sets minimum accreditation
standards for US law schools through its Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to
the Bar (Council). Since 1973, the ABA has adopted and revised some standards that address
aspects of different types of clinical legal education courses, but the ABA Standards are not as
comprehensive as the Australian best practices or UK model standards. In 1977, the ABA and the
Association of American Law Schools (AALS) formed a committee that led the first effort to develop
accepted practices or guidelines for clinical legal education, and the committee released guidelines
for clinical legal education in 1980. The scope of these guidelines comes much closer to the
Australian and UK efforts. From 1986 to 1991, the AALS Section on Clinical Legal Education created a
committee that analyzed aspects of in-house clinical legal education and produced a report that set
forth pedagogical goals, teaching methods, and data on existing clinical programs that addressed
how clinical programs were structured and staffed. Finally, the Clinical Legal Education Association
(CLEA), sponsored a multi-year the effort led by Roy Stuckey that resulted in the 2007 book Best
Practices for Legal Education, which includes best practices for clinical legal education. The CLEA
best practices are closest to the Australian and UK efforts.
In each country, there has been various methods employed to solicit input to inform the resulting
best practices, standards, or guidelines, though every effort shared the common goal of providing
law schools with the necessary information to create sound educational programs. The scope of the
resulting best practices also differs greatly. This paper and session will explore the processes
employed, common themes in the resulting best practices, and how those documents have shaped
and continue to shape clinical legal education in those countries. By examining the strengths and
challenges of both the processes and resulting best practices, this paper and session aim to provide
readers and attendees with the background, different perspectives, and sample models that will aid
them in developing best practices suitable to clinical legal education in their own countries.
Aaron Finn, James Cook University in conjunction with Townsville Community Legal Service
Finding the balance: tensions and harmonies of experiential legal education in a regional setting
The Townsville Community Legal Service’s clinical legal studies program produces a number of
desirable outcomes for the TCLS, clients, students and James Cook University’s School of Law. These
outcomes include increased student awareness of and appreciation for social justice issues, an
increased likelihood of students staying in regional and remote areas and in areas with significant
need for legal services, and increased student satisfaction with their university experience and
intended career path. There can however be a tension between pursuing those outcomes and other
factors including the need for structured and appropriate student experiences within an academic
framework, meeting and prioritising demand for free legal services in a generalist legal practice, and
organisational capacity issues including the time and cost invested in the clinical legal studies
program. These tensions are most apparent when the types of legal matters actually dealt with by
clinical students are compared against established service provision priorities. This paper examines
fifteen years of clinical legal education at the Townsville Community Legal Service to reflect on the
program’s outcomes, together with the tensions and harmonies observed with the TCLS’s social
justice objectives.
Frances Gibson, University of NSW; Kieran Tranter, Griffith University;
Mary Ann Noone, La Trobe University, Australia
Filming the clinic
In 2003, documentary makers spent 6 months at Kingsford Legal Centre at the University of New
South Wales filming the clinical legal education programme there. The resulting film was made into a
ABC public broadcast TV series in 4 half hour parts shown in 2004 called Street Practice. There were
impacts of the filming on the students, staff and clients of the Centre. The program is still shown in
some law schools,
After the programme had been shown, an article was published in the Griffith Law Review by Kieran
Tranter which stated that Street Practice presented CLE as being about changing the values and
career orientation of law students through ethical training through experience. The article
questioned the role of clinical legal education and claimed that Street Practice suggested that CLE in
Australia has moved away from its foundational political concerns with injustice and embraced a
very different project which involved clinical supervisors wanting to change students’ values. Article
The Different Side of Society Street Practice and Australian Clinical Legal Education Griffith Law
Review, Vol. 15(1), pp. 1-26
is available at http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/handle/10072/14034
This session will be a panel session featuring:
Frances Gibson, Director Of Experiential Learning, Law UNSW
Kieran Tranter, Senior Lecturer, Law, Griffith University
Mary Anne Noone, Associate Professor Director of Clinical Programs La Trobe University
The panellists will explore with the audience a number of issues arising out of the documentary and
subsequent article including:
1. Do documentary makers have a role in clinical legal education programmes? If so what
restrictions if any should be placed on them
2. Benefits/Disadvantages of documentary films about clinics
3. Should a purpose of clinic be “value change”?
Jeff Giddings and Zoe Rathus, Griffith University, Australia
Street law: everyone is a learner – even the teachers
The Griffith Law School has offered ‘Street Law’ as part of its suite of Clinical Legal Education courses
since 2010. It involves the students working in groups of 2 or 3 to develop interactive presentations
which are then delivered at High Schools in the Gold Coast area. During the three years it has
operated we have collected data about what students considered they drew on in undertaking this
course and what they learned – about the law, themselves and how the world works.
The paper will briefly outline some of the logistics and challenges in establishing a Street Law course.
It will also describe how the original structure has been redesigned in light of the feedback we have
received through the research.
We will then turn to the interesting data we have collected about our students’ experiences which
will include a discussion of:
The importance of skills based aspects of courses earlier in the program – particularly mooting,
negotiating and other forms of oral presentation

Lessons from their preparation:
 having to negotiate with busy teachers to plan their sessions
 how to structure - a skill many felt that law had taught them
 how to simplify complex ideas – a critical skill for client work

The fabulously creative delivery methods the students developed and applied

Lessons from their lessons:
 The fine art of active listening
 Self-confidence and sense of their charisma
 How to assert control – discipline was an unexpected concern for some

Big lessons:
 The role / responsibility of lawyers in community legal education
 The ‘buy in’ by our teacher partners
We conclude that this course has been favourably viewed by the students who have undertaken it
and facilitates the development of key qualities and skills required by legal practitioners and other
professions likely to be entered by our students. It also accommodates the six threshold learning
outcomes identified for a Bachelor of Laws by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council in 2010
and reflects the kind of graduate attributes sought by universities and law schools.
Jeff Giddings, Griffith University and Judith Dickson, La Trobe University, Australia
Common ground in supervision: understanding both our shared and distinctive practices
Effective Supervision is the hallmark of quality clinical legal education. In keeping with workshops
delivered at previous IJCLE and Australian clinical conferences, the presenters propose an interactive
workshop designed to:
1. share insights regarding best practices in supervision;
2. consider the main gaps in current scholarship relating to clinical supervision;
3. explore differences in supervision approaches across different clinical models and in
different countries; &
4. consider the extent to which supervision is context-specific.
Scenarios will be used to examine particular issues related to how we understand the purposes and
practices of supervision.
Neil Gold, University of Windsor, Canada
The medium is the message: practice what we teach
The classical definition of clinical legal education as a method of learning and teaching requires that
students undertake a professional legal role under the supervision of and guidance by a skilled
practitioner/instructor. The preparation for and the experience and debriefing of the conduct of that
role provide the student with the focal, but not the only, opportunities for learning.
The instructor serves in many roles, including: as a mentor/supervisor who intervenes at
predetermined, appropriate and serendipitous times both to promote learning and assure effective
and responsible practice; as resource to identify means of assistance to the learner; as an agent of
reality who helps the student ground her decisions and choices practically and strategically; as a
facilitator of both group learning and of a learning exchange among and between members of the
learner group(s); and as a role model of exemplary practice as both a lawyer and an instructor. In
the clinical setting, learning often occurs from and through various forms and opportunities for
instructor-prompted/guided and self-directed reflection by students. Reflection occurs before,
during and after the performance of the various aspects of the role.
In the clinical model of learning and teaching the learning theory adopted by instructors coupled
with consistent and aligned teaching methods is the medium and in their practice become the
message. Similarly, the underlying principles and practices of effective lawyering are also the
medium and, as modeled in an effective teaching and learning process, are the message. The
medium(s) work(s) on us and change(s) us without our knowing it because we are distracted by the
content of what is being taught. Thus it is the aligned learning and teaching theory and delivery
through coherent methods, and not simply the content that change our intra- and interpersonal
dynamics and us. Similarly it is the lawyering theory and lawyering methods, and not simply their
content, that change our intra- and interpersonal dynamics and us. When we maintain the
consistency of the medium and message and practice what we teach we send intensely important
messages about the profound responsibilities of legal practice and provide a foundation for student
competence and excellence in learning, teaching and lawyering.
Kristoffer Greaves, Deakin University, Australia
A mutual confrontation of structure and accident. A framework for researching how lawyermentors engage with scholarship of teaching
Whether lawyers use intuition, educational theory, practical philosophy or something else, Greaves
is interested in how lawyers who teach lawyers’ skills at the postgraduate pre-admission stage
engage in scholarly activities regarding their teaching work. Defining ‘scholarly activities’ is
problematic, perhaps more so if clinical/practical legal education is exiled to academia’s periphery.
What constitutes ‘scholarly’ work; is it necessary or desirable? What motivates teachers’
engagement with scholarly work; what is their capacity to do so? What symbolic support and
resources do clinical schools commit to scholarly activities regarding teaching? Greaves describes
how he adopts Lévi-Strauss’ concept of bricolage to interlace interdisciplinary theories, qualitative
methodologies and methods to investigate the above questions reflectively and reflexively. Greaves
argues innovative lawyers engage in bricolage by experimentally reorganising and coalescing
practices and knowledge as part of a dynamic ‘dialogue with the materials and means of
execution.’* Similarly, bricolage is well adapted toward design and conduct of theoretically coherent
and innovative study of lawyers’ engagement with scholarly activities regarding their teaching work.
Here, bricolage involves experiments with theories, methodologies, and methods in a process
involving ‘construction and reconstruction, contextual diagnosis, negotiation and readjustment’.
Jonny Hall, Northumbria University, UK
Experimenting in the clinic: a design based research experiment introducing a community of
enquiry intervention in Northumbria University’s Student Law Clinic
This paper will argue that there is still some way to go in fulfilling Stuckey’s (2006) call for clinicians
to understand clinical education. In order to do so, clinicians should engage more fully with
empirical research.
Design Based Research offers an opportunity to clinicians as it involves experimenting to both
support and understand learning processes (Cobb and Gravemeijer, 2008).
This paper will report on a small scale Design Based Research experiment in a clinic meeting in the
Student Law Office at Northumbria University. The research question was whether a Community of
Enquiry based intervention could improve the quantity and quality of dialogue by all students in
considering professional ethical issues, with a particular focus upon participation by all and not the
few.
The experiment involved conducting a short conversation with students involving an ethical dilemma
in the way that the tutor would ordinarily approach the class. The tutor then went on to discuss a
second ethical dilemma using a community of enquiry approach based upon a development of
Lipman’s Philosophy for Children (Haynes). The paper will report on the analysis of transcribed
student dialogue in both the pre-intervention and experimental classes and offer some suggestions
for further research in this field as well as arguing for more substantial empirical research in the field
(including Design Based Research).
Ann Herriot, Queensland Public Interest Law Clearing House, Australia
The role of student advocates in the Mental Health Review Tribunal (Qld)
There are over 11,000 hearings in the Mental Health Review Tribunal in Queensland each year. The
majority of these concern “involuntary treatment orders”. A doctor has power to place a person on
an involuntary treatment order but only if the treatment criteria under the Mental Health Act are
satisfied. The Tribunal can confirm, revoke or vary the order. Unfortunately, in Queensland less than
3% of patients appearing in the Tribunal have any form of representation. This is the lowest level of
representation at mental health tribunals in the country.
To address this issue, in 2012 the QPILCH Mental Health Law Practice established the Tribunal
Advocacy Service in which trained, senior law students take instructions and represent clients at the
Tribunal. We now have a panel of more than 40 trained advocates to provide assistance and
representation to clients across the State.
The feedback from clients, from the Tribunal and from the advocates themselves has been positive.
Our student advocates are playing a vital role in the protection of the rights of people with mental
illness.
This paper will address how the service was established, some of the obstacles and difficulties and
how these have been overcome, as well as the future of the service.
Ross Hyams and Denise Sadique, Monash University, Australia.
The value of incidental learning
There is much to be gained by students learning together in a multidisciplinary environment.
Enabling students to interact in a multidisciplinary clinical setting enhances their opportunity to
learn from each other, as well as from their supervisors. As well as "formal" learning opportunities
which take place in the classroom or seminar environment, or indeed in one-to-one instruction with
a clinical supervisor, students working in a clinical setting have a range of opportunities to be
exposed to informal, or incidental learning. This is learning that takes place in an opportunistic,
unplanned and often, serendipitous fashion.
This paper will first attempt to define and describe incidental learning. It will then focus on the
opportunities for incidental learning which can arise in a multidisciplinary legal clinical setting,
concentrating on both formal and informal learning outcomes and will ask whether such outcomes
can be measured and if so, how. Ultimately, it will be concluded that much essential learning takes
place by incidental learning in a multidisciplinary clinical environment and that we should seek to
create and maintain a work environment that nurtures this type of learning. Accordingly,
recommendations will be made for future clinical education which may be able to capitalise on and
nurture collaboration, transfer of learning and informal learning opportunities.
Colin James, Newcastle University, Australia
How to present: mindfulness, acceptance and commitment for clinical supervision
Clinical supervision can involve stressful situations, such as anxious clients, distressed students or
facts suddenly becoming more complicated so that the case feels outside our competence. Arguably
the most common response to these developments is informed by our cognitive dominance. We
tend to 'fuse' with our cognitions, uncritically believing the thoughts and emotions that arise as factbased and need acting upon. The common CBT approach to stress and anxiety reinforces the
cognitive dominance of our culture, suggesting we work to control our anxiety, be it in ourselves and
others, aiming to eliminate it if possible or at least suppress it so we can get on with the task at
hand. The problem is that sometimes the decisions we make are more about avoiding or diminishing
our anxiety and less oriented to best practice based on values.
Being present combines mindfulness, acceptance and commitment (MAC) so that our clinical
practice is aligned with our values and is not thrown by responding to negative thoughts or anxieties
we may feel in ourselves or perceive in others. This presentation examines the empirical support for
using MAC in clinical supervision and its potential to inform legal practice.
Colin James and Felicity Wardhaugh, Newcastle University, Australia
Helping students develop emotional competency
Clinical legal education goes beyond the conventional legal education by exposing law students to
realistic experiences of legal practice under the supervision of experienced practitioners. The
benefits of ‘live-client’ clinical legal education are well established in the literature. Despite these
known benefits until recently concerns were expressed that attempts were not being made to
‘measure what we value’. The development of a “standardised legal client” (Barton et al, 2006) was
a significant step forward in developing ways to assess and grade the competency of law students’
interview skills. This paper suggests we can go further. As well as measuring the students’
competency, we can develop programs to assist the students in their live client interviewing skills.
Best practice in client interviews is now more focussed on the client's perception of their needs,
rather than simply the facts and the relevant law which the lawyer decides is important. One
implication is that lawyers need to acknowledge the emotionality of a client's situation. This paper
suggests we should be helping law students to develop emotional competencies and the paper
discusses a program at the University of Newcastle which is setting out to do this.
Peggy Kerdo, La Trobe University, Australia
Learning from practice: mindfulness based stress reduction and clinical legal education
In 2010, mindfulness meditation was introduced into an existing clinical law program at La Trobe
University. In 2012, a full 8 week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program was
introduced to the same clinical law subject (the West Heidelberg Clinic).
Mindfulness is investigative in nature and this is why it appeals to so many lawyers, law students,
judges (and doctors, medical students and other professionals). The practice of mindfulness has
been shown not only to reduce stress, but to increase performance. Mindfulness has to be learned
and this is done in the West Heidelberg Clinic via a series of exercises as created by Professor Jon
Kabat-Zinn in 1979 at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, replicated and delivered at
hundreds of institutions and organisations throughout the US, Europe, Australia and Asia. In the
practice, the students are guided to notice their own experience in any particular moment.
Experiences are examined – whether they are physical (sounds, smells, bodily sensations, tastes),
emotional (sad, glad, peaceful, anxious, distracted), or thought based (about what we like or dislike,
future planning or past memories, fantasies and fear) with no judgment. There is no good and bad
practice. There is just the practice of paying attention on purpose, in the present moment and nonjudgmentally.
This paper tells the story of the development of the West Heidelberg Clinic MBSR program, about
why and how the program was introduced into a law subject and the challenges of getting law
students to sit still.
Kevin Kerrigan, Northumbria University and Philip Plowden, University of Derby, UK
Is clinical supervision inconsistent with clinical research?
We regularly have researchers asking us for access to our clinic students or supervisors to undertake
surveys, interviews or fact finding with a view to preparing research projects and we happily assist
but it leaves us thinking - why don't we do this ourselves? Why is it so hard to undertake sustained
research as a clinical supervisor? This interactive discussion will explore some of the obstacles to
research in the clinic, comment on the importance of engaging with research and the potential for
clinic to contribute and comes up with ideas for promoting a more pervasive research culture in the
clinic.
Part 1 – Some obstacles to research in the clinic
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Clients
Students and grading
Skills and background of supervisors
Service ethos of the clinic and the delivery model
Part 2 - Importance and potential
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Acceptance by rest of the academy
Advancing the evidence base for claims made in relation to educational advantages of clinic
Increasing demands of institutions
Potential in relation to pedagogy research, skills theory and analysis, socio-legal study,
community impact, in-depth substantive law
Part 3 - ideas for developing a clinic research culture
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Creating the research space: physical, temporal, cultural
Collaboration
Developing skills and confidence through involvement of non-clinicians
Using student cohorts for longitudinal studies / students as research partners?
Small scale, short time research projects
Tereza Krupova, Charles University, Czech Republic
Teach or not to Teach Law to Non-law University Students? Can lawyers be effective in
educating non-lawyers?
Apart from making their own living, the job of lawyers and law students should be to reduce
injustice in society. There are many ways this uneasy mission can be fulfilled – the most common
one is to take cases to courts and protect the victims of injustice. Another way is to prevent or at
least mitigate injustice by educating people about their rights and helping them to follow legal rules
and face basic legal problems themselves. Whereas there is little doubt that lawyers have their place
in defending cases, it is not so universally evident that lawyers are effective in educating non-
lawyers. In my paper I will focus on the legal education of university students who do not study law
as their main subject.
For various reasons, law has been established as an obligatory part of curricula on many universities.
But is the idea of teaching law to future doctors, economists, teachers and journalists really helping
anything? Isn’t it too late to try to teach law during university studies, especially when we consider
the low motivation of students concentrating on other subjects? And if we agree that some law
should be taught to non-lawyers, what part of law – general legal principles, norms relevant to
everyday life or specialized norms of the particular profession? And may, after all, teaching law help
the future members of the elite to avoid committing future injustices, or would it rather help them
to become better in perpetrating them? And lastly, how should law be taught and can law students
get involved in this process?
After presenting the key questions described above and suggesting some answers, I am keen on
opening the discussion for the audience and hearing different approaches in other countries. After
all, law is most probably more often taught to non-lawyers than to lawyers so this topic is of a key
importance.
Tereza Krupova and Jan Potucky, Charles University, Czech Republic
Street law programme at Charles University in Prague from assistants perspective
Charles University in Prague (Czech Republic) is known to be clinical education less friendly than it
could be. Though thanks to prof. Michal Urban who founded the Street Law clinical programme on
Faculty of Law, Charles University has now some experience to share with other universities in Czech
Republic which started their Street law programmes lately.
Prof. Urban decided to share his teaching skills and knowledge and accepted former Street Law
students with exceptional performance as his assistants. Thanks to his kindness we could have
gained some invaluable experience and unique perspective which differs from those of the
professors. As Street Law assistants we also teach law at high schools and take Street law students
there to join our lessons.
The aim of the session is to present the experience with Street Law clinic in Prague as assistants.
First, clinical programme will be introduced and experience and plans for future development and
innovation shared. Secondly the brainstorming and general experience sharing with present
participants will be conducted. What should be improved in the field of Street Law in Prague? We
are also keen to hear the know-how from other universities to compare and discuss the possible
future improvements in Prague.
Kerin Lughaidh, National University of Ireland Galway, Republic of Ireland
Back to the future: negotiation and mooting, blasts from the past – keys to early years clinical legal
education in the 21st century
Mooting and negotiation are key skills to enable law students to bridge the perceived and actual
chasm between the academic teaching of law and the practice of law in the real world in Ireland. The
divorce of practice from the teaching of law in the law schools of Ireland can be traced back to their
English common law roots and the tradition of both the Barristers and the Solicitors through their
various professional schools to retain complete control over the vocational training of the
prospective entrants to their professions.
This talk will focus on the experiences gleaned from running both the National University of Ireland
Galway (NUIG) mooting and alternative dispute resolution modules and the pitfalls, successes and
disappointments encountered. It will draw from the experiences of the two NUIG teams coached at
the International Law School Mediation Tournament hosted by the Law Society of Ireland in 2013,
The Irish National Negotiation Tournament and the inaugural internal NUIG Moot Court Module.
Mooting, in particular through the argument of moot points of law before a hypothetical superior
court of appeal on a point of law, causes students to look at how law works – the first time some
students have done so - and to argue the case from both sides in written submissions and oral
arguments before the court.
The paper will allude to the historical significance of mooting and negotiation. It will also refer to the
pedagogical advantages from both the academics’ and the law students’ perspectives. It will
highlight how this ancient and venerable teaching method has a place in the new millennium law
school - not on the periphery but at the very core of what and how students are taught.
Paul McKeown, Northumbria University, UK
Student attitudes towards pro bono and voluntary work
It is widely believed that the provision of pro bono programmes at law schools instil a pro bono
ethos in students although much of this is based upon anecdotal evidence. Grimes and Musgrove
(2006) state that by encouraging students to become involved in pro bono work at law school, it is
likely to develop their commitment to, and understanding of, professional values, which should in
turn lead to their active involvement in pro bono work later in their professional lives. There has
been little empirical research on this subject. The reported empirical data appears not to support
the anecdotal evidence. Granfield (2007:1379) states that half the respondents to his survey did not
believe their law school experience made them more committed to doing pro bono work as a
practising lawyer. Rhode (2003:454) reports that the most common objectives for law students
were a desire for a financially rewarding and secure career as well as intellectual challenges. Rhode
(2003:455) goes on to state that fewer than a third of respondents had changed their objectives
during law school.
This paper will explore whether the attitudes of students undertaking a mandatory clinical
programme at Northumbria University change as a consequence of pro bono and voluntary work.
Data from a survey of undergraduate law students will be used to engage in debate as to whether
the clinical programme instils a social ethos amongst the students and encourage participation in
future pro bono activity.
Judith McNamara, Catherine Campbell and Emily Darling, Queensland University
of Technology, Australia
Moving beyond traditional clinics: creating a new legal clinics through community partnerships
To overcome the challenge of finding placements for large student numbers, QUT has partnered
with community organisations to enable students to work on community-based projects addressing
a community need. Students work in interdisciplinary teams with the community organisation to
resolve issues and identify solutions to suit the organisation and client base. This paper will describe
the community engaged learning pedagogy that is employed in the unit and will consider the
benefits and challenges to law students of working collaboratively and developing community
relationships. Critical appraisal of the legal system and the role of lawyers and analysis of the
professional and ethical responsibilities legal practitioners is a focus of the unit. Explicit emphasis is
placed on developing a sense of social responsibility and inculcating a pro bono ethos. Students
attend workshops on topics such as reflective practice, cultural competencies, client solutions,
collaborative practice and ethical obligations. This paper will discuss the challenges in creating the
new legal clinic unit, benefits to students and community partners, and the results of initial student
evaluation of the unit.
David McQuoid-Mason, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Developing and presenting an ‘instant’ street law mock criminal trial
The presentation will be a demonstration of how to create the facts for an ‘instant’ mock criminal
trial in the classroom – as opposed to giving students the indictments and statements of the accused
person and the various witnesses in a scripted mock trial. The presentation will also explain the
different steps that are used to prepare up to 24 students in an adversarial mock trial or 32 students
in an inquisitorial mock trial. The technique is used to train Street law students to prepare for and
conduct mock trials with their target learners who may be high school learners, awaiting trial or
juvenile prisoners or community groups. Street law mock trials are usually carefully scripted, but the
‘instant’ mock trial provides law students with valuable insights into the challenges witnesses
experience when they seek to recall what they actually saw or heard in a court room environment.
Victoria Murray, Northumbria University, UK
The role of clinic in times of economic recession
This paper will explore whether clinics have a particular role to play during a recession. It will
consider what clinics seek to achieve in modern legal education (skills development versus social
justice) and analyse whether there is a moral/ethical obligation to assume a greater role in times of
recession.
This paper will address:
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What is meant by “social justice” in the context of pro bono law clinics and clinical legal
education?
Whether in times of hardship, pro bono clinics should assume a specific role when the cost
of legal assistance is viewed as too expensive and/or where legal aid is not available
Whether there is a moral/ethical obligation on clinics to expand in times of recession
How pro bono clinics should adapt, if at all, to address unmet legal need in times of
economic difficulty?
Whether in times of hardship clinics become a necessary part of legal education rather than
a luxury
Whether there is a risk pro bono clinics will be used to permanently fill the gap when/where
legal aid is withdrawn.
The paper will argue that the focus of clinic has expanded and in modern legal education there is
more of an emphasis on skills development. Consequently, social justice is no longer the primary
objective in clinical legal education.
This paper will conclude that whilst clinics have a role to play in ensuring access to justice in times of
financial hardship, the focus on educational, rather than social justice aims, restrict the ability of
clinics to expand fill the void.
Helene Namisi, Namisi & Company Advocates; Lynette Osiemo,
University of Witwatersrand, Nigeria
Sustainable legal clinics in Kenya: lessons from the South African and American funding models
Clinical legal education has in recent times become an important component of most law school
curricula around the world. The need for expansive clinical legal education in Kenyan universities has
been echoed in the new Constitution where access to justice is enshrined in the Bill of Rights, and in
legislation such as the Legal Aid Bill, 2012 which advocates for the use of clinical legal education as a
vehicle to provide legal assistance to indigenous and disadvantaged members of society.
The success of most clinical programs in the developed countries is arguably due to availability of
funds to run the clinics, coupled with the low student-to-faculty ratios which allow the faculty to
work closely and intensively with students. In Kenyan universities, attempts at establishing and
sustaining clinical programs have been plagued by high student-to-faculty ratios, by the low funding
that public universities receive and other competing programs which are viewed as being more
commercially viable. For the few faculty members, who are overworked and have to contend with a
large student population, there is little or no incentive to set up and sustain legal clinics.
Studies indicate that a curriculum that incorporates the clinical method of teaching law has
numerous advantages. It encourages students to work together, to communicate and share ideas
and convince themselves of the practical solutions they can offer to the problems they see. Clinics
equip the students with the practical skills that many employers look for in law graduates, thus
making them more marketable and useful.
This discourse attempts to analyze trends in international clinical legal education with specific focus
on funding and sustenance of clinics. The aim will be to propose a work-able funding system that will
make the goal of having sustainable law clinics a reality for Kenyan universities.
Omolade Olomola and Oluyemisi Bamgbose, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
The dynamics of street law and community awareness – revisiting the syllabus of
clinical education in Nigeria
According to the Black’s Law Dictionary, street law simply means law as applicable on the street as
‘street crime’ is generally directed against a person in public, such as mugging, theft, or robbery.
Thus ‘street law’ is the law relevant on the street and in the society generally.
In a democratic country like Nigeria, where the rule of law is the driving force of the government,
legal education assumes great significance. Under such a system, it is a great responsibility to teach
and to train students to be competent and socially relevant lawyers. The legal profession in this era
of globalization is at a transformative stage in its history, thus all efforts should be geared toward
having a comprehensive curriculum for training law students. Legal education should be such that it
meets the ever growing demands of the society and should be thoroughly equipped to meet the
demands of the complexities of different situations.
Legal education is therefore the key to administering rule of law in a democratic society.
Experience in developing economies such as Nigeria has shown that many individuals bask in the
euphoria of their ideas about what the law is and its applicability in different circumstances. For
instance, it is very common for a friend to report another friend to the police on common matters
such as borrowing, installment payments, marital conflicts like failure to pay school fees, landlord
and tenant matters; the list is endless. Nigeria Police Stations has been turned into a hub of different
activities of what ought not. The reason for this is not farfetched, the level of legal literacy is very
low and the little knowledge acquired from the street actually misrepresents the position of the law.
Thus, this paper seeks to address ways by which street law as an integral part of Clinical Legal
Education can play the role of a mediator between the society at large and the legal system in order
to reduce the frictions created by misconstruction of the law. Furthermore, Street law will simplify
and demystify legal education by bringing it to the reach of the common man. It would also
contribute to community development and enlightenment.
The aforementioned can only be possible by inculcating the teaching of Street Law into the
curriculum of clinical legal education. Through street law, advocacy skills of the students would be
sharpened and it would also be an avenue for future lecturers and professors to brush up their
teaching skills.
Olusegun Michael Osinibi, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria
“Sir, prison inmates are dangerous and they kill with bare hands!”: overcoming the challenges of
maintaining a criminal law clinic in Olabisi Onabanjo University
The wheel of the criminal justice system turns very slowly in Nigeria. Seventy percent of inmates in
Nigeria’s overcrowded prisons are individuals accused of various crimes but who have not had the
benefit of a fair trial in a court of law. These individuals, referred to as “awaiting-trial inmates” have
not been convicted, yet they languish in jail for indeterminate periods due to an inept criminal
justice system and the inadequacy of advocates to take up their cause. The activities of certain
lawyers who take up cases pro bono are insufficient in addressing the situation due to the excessive
number of such inmates.
In view of this dire background and the need to inculcate the awareness of community service,
human rights as well as criminal law advocacy in law students right from the university and to
facilitate experiential learning, the Criminal law advocacy section of the Olabisi Onabanjo University
Law Clinic was conceived to serve as a veritable training ground to implement the law-in-action
approach to legal education.
This paper reviews the challenges of running a criminal law clinic such as the initial apathy of
students due to rampant jail-breaks in Nigeria and the potential danger of being attacked by hostile
inmates on the one hand and the sheer joy of facilitating the long overdue release of unjustly
incarcerated citizens while learning practical aspects of the law. The paper maintains that with the
efforts of Network of University Legal Aid Institutions (NULAI) in providing a functional curriculum
for pre-trial detention law clinics, and the establishment of more criminal law clinics in Nigerian
universities, the seemingly intractable problem of over-crowded prisons in Nigeria will soon be
history.
Richard Owen, University of South Wales, UK
Gathering the excluded voice: the TXT Inside/Outside project
The TXT Inside/Outside project was a collaboration between a legal academic, computing and social
scientists, and a conceptual artist. The project involved young offenders aged 15 – 19 held under
secure conditions using text art to reflect on their experiences of law, life and the legal system.
The key idea for the piece was to ‘gather’ and ‘release’ the voices of young people held in custody
(Inside), to be seen, heard and responded to by the public at large (Outside). The focal point of the
action was a ‘stage event’ in the centre of Cardiff, where the text messages of a small group of
young people in custody in South Wales were displayed on a large screen, with the public being
invited to respond by texting their own messages. A documentary film from the event, which
included the projections and interviews with the public, was subsequently shown to and discussed
with participating young people in custody.
In preparation for the main, stage event, the TXT2 team ran two workshops with young people in
custody within the usual educational programme of a young person’s unit. Some 35 messages were
developed and 29 of these were cleared by the prison authorities for later transmission.
On Saturday 11th February 2012, the large BBC screen in the Hayes area at Cardiff city centre was
used to display the messages. Postcards announcing the event and inviting participation were
handed out by the team in the morning. At 12 noon a 3 hour event began. The messages of the
young people in custody were displayed on the left hand side of the screen, while the passing public
sent live SMS text messages for instant display on the right hand side. Occasionally, additional
prompts to the public were displayed at the bottom of the screen. A live roll of adjacent text
messages from the young offenders and the public was created putting them in ‘dialogue’ with one
another.
The event was videotaped and included interviews from members of the public. An edited
documentary was played two weeks later to the young offenders in a final workshop. The final
workshop group included some young people in custody who had not participated in the earlier
sessions. The film provided a platform for discussion of the original text messages written by the
young people, of the messages posted on the screen by the public, and of the vox pops. The young
people in custody who saw their messages displayed on the large, public screen in the film appeared
to be profoundly moved. Experienced prison staff commented on unprecedented levels of
attention and focus.
This presentation will reflect on what the experience might have meant for the young offenders,
whether it had been possible to authentically gather their excluded voice and enter into a dialogue
with those from whom they were normally excluded. It will explore the possibilities of text art to
bring about genuine rehabilitative transformations in the lives of young people.
Andrea Perry-Petersen, Queensland Public Interest Law Clearing House, Australia
What is current best practice in contemporary clinical legal education?
Weighty and well-known literature such as R Stuckey et al, ‘Best Practices for Experiential Courses’
(extracts from Chap 5) Best Practices for Legal Education: A Vision and A Road Map, Clinical Legal
Education Association, USA, 2007 sets out best practices for clinical legal education.
The presenter will briefly describe QPILCH’s services with particular focus on its clinical legal
education program. The discussion will focus on one of QPILCH’s clinics to illustrate how the
principles of best practice apply, challenges and key learnings.
Participants will have the opportunity to discuss if and how those principles remain current.
Through sharing:
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examples of how to apply the principles in practice;
examples of real challenges in applying the principles and how they might be overcome;
current best practices for clinical legal education – are there emerging trends?;
thoughts on whose perspective should be included i.e. only the student, host agency or the
“big picture”?; and
thoughts on expanding established principles of best practice to refer to outcomes for the
host agency or the future of the profession?;
practitioners’ experiences may suggest the development and application of contemporary best
practices for innovative clinical legal education both now and in the future.
Marco Piazza, College of Law, Sydney, Australia
Elephants’ graveyard or creepy treehouse? – using a social networking service
in an online PLT course
The College of Law is the largest provider of Practical Legal Training (PLT) in the Asia- Pacific region.
We have been offering online teaching of PLT to our students since 2002. The vast majority of our
students now choose to complete their course online.
I have taught our online course since 2004. Some students comment at the conclusion of their online
course, that whilst our course was very good and that they had learnt a lot; they had found the
experience isolating (and less enjoyable than they would have liked) because of the relatively few
opportunities that they had for interaction with their classmates.
How best to achieve that social connection online and hopefully improve their learning experience?
The obvious solution seemed to be a Social Networking Service (SNS) like Facebook? But when I
informally asked students about my prospective use of Facebook, a vociferous minority made
patently obvious that they did not want me anywhere near Facebook.
For this reason I chose a SNS called Yammer – colloquially known as ‘Facebook for Business’. I
wanted to compare the merits of a SNS with more traditional modes of communicating with
students such as email. I conducted a trial of Yammer versus email over a 16 week period starting in
June 2012 with a full time online class of 36 students. The students were surveyed at the conclusion
of their course.
At this session I will present the results of that 2012 trial (with some comparisons to another
Yammer trial I am conducting this year with 58 part time students) which clearly showed that
student conversation, interaction and collaboration online were all highly encouraged by the use of
Yammer. And overall they assessed Yammer as far superior, when compared with their use of email.
Mutaz Qafisheh, Hebron University, Palestine
Legal education, apprenticeship, law profession and legal aid: pillars for clinical education
reform in Palestine
Despite the existence of six legal clinics in Palestinian universities and the plans to open a similar
number in other universities, Palestine’s clinical legal education is still in transition. It may take years
for clinics to take a firm root in the frameworks of legal education, professional training, bar
association’s policies, and legal aid. Law schools have not yet formulated a clear system for clinics
within the curricula. After obtaining their degree, law graduates spend two years practicing law
before being qualified as lawyers, regardless of the time that they might have spent in clinics. The
bar association has recently reformed the apprenticeship system by requiring trainee lawyers to
attend practical training classes, conduct a research paper and to sit for an exam. The bar, however,
has ignored the linkages between the apprenticeship, clinics and legal aid. The recently-adopted
Legal Aid Bill, co-sponsored by the Palestine Bar Association and the Ministry of Justice, has similarly
failed to recognize clinics as a means for legal aid providing. This paper argues that the clinical legal
education in Palestine, if it could be more efficient, should be structured to complement the
apprenticeship stage, to strengthen the legal profession, and to become a formal legal aid provider.
It elaborates on the areas that should be reformed to develop a coherent clinical system that goes in
parallel with the professional training, practice and legal aid. The paper discusses how legal clinics
can strengthen the apprenticeship, legal profession, and legal aid; as each of these mechanisms may
form a ring in the justice chain. It pursues a comparative approach, looking at models of successful
clinical programmes in various countries, using available scholarship and interviewing clinicians
locally and abroad. It will be divided into four sections; each tackles one of the aforesaid pillars of
clinical reform.
Hadley Saayman, University of South Africa, South Africa
The significance of UNISA Law Clinic’s street/community law programme
The UNISA Law Clinic (previously named the UNISA Legal aid Clinic) was established in 1985 and was
focusing mainly on access to justice for indigent communities. During the year 2011 a resolution was
taken at the College Board of the University that the Law Clinic will host the street law programme,
which was previously co-ordinated by the Department of jurisprudence, with effect from 2012.
The Law Clinic has designed a programme and focussed on the following subjects: Children’s rights
during a divorce transition, Domestic violence, Employment law, Succession law and Maintenance.
Students are trained in various regions and they must then go to their respective communities
(schools, prisons, old age homes, etc.) to present informal seminars/information sessions. In this
manner students reinforce their understanding of particular areas of law while honing their oral
communication skills as they help educate the public about different aspects of law. The programme
is designed to introduce the law and human rights to people of all levels of education, providing a
practical understanding of the law, the legal system and the constitution of South Africa.
This paper explores the impact of the consolidation of a democratic society through the cultivation
of a culture of rights and responsibilities as well as respect for the Rule of Law. The paper hopes to
provide some insight into the Clinical Legal Education programme by the LAW Clinic as a part of an
open distance university.
Susannah Sage Jacobson, Tania Leiman, Deborah Ankor, Flinders University, Australia
The professional relationships between supervisors as a distinct learning space: an appreciative
inquiry of a student legal advice clinic
Flinders Legal Advice Clinic (FLAC) is a small fledgling University student staffed service based in the
Southern Suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 2011 FLAC was established by drawing
on best practice models from other Australian student legal clinics and recognition that clinical
education learning and teaching is multi-layered (Giddings, 2008; Evans et al, 2012).
Grounded in experiential learning pedagogy, legal clinics provide students with a sense of personal
ethical, moral and professional identity (Kift et al, 2011 at p.502-504), and develop collaboration
skills through interviewing clients in teams, and providing written legal advice. In addition, while
working under close supervision of supervisors, students also interact in new and different ways
with their teacher/supervisors.
Clinics seek to balance competing objectives of effecting student learning, both with social and
community justice goals, and providing professional and competent legal advice for clients
(Giddings, 2008; Evans et al, 2012). As such, the teacher/supervisors are also required to engage in
highly complex professional dealings and exchanges not only with students and the Faculty but, just
as crucially, with each other.
Originally developed by David Cooperrider, Appreciative Inquiry is a form of action research often
used as a tool in evaluating the effectiveness of organizations and people. (Cooperrider and
Whitney, undated). By reflecting on past experiences, it seeks insight into positive events, identifies
peak performance and explores possibilities for creating future successful practice (Giles and Kung,
2010). This tool allowed FLAC to identify an emerging distinctive learning opportunity within the
relationships between supervising solicitors as a key pedagogical strength of FLAC.
This presentation will report on the findings of this research and explain how recognizing the nature,
significance and value of the interactions and relationships between academic supervisors in a
student legal clinic can be instrumental in creating unique occasions for learning from practice.
Mary Spector, SMU, USA
Understanding consumer reports: travelling from representation to research
to reform and back again
Consumer reporting agencies maintain files of sensitive personal information on more than 200
million Americans. It is estimated that nearly 40% of consumers discover errors in their credit
reports, the consequences of which can prevent them from accessing affordable credit, insurance, or
housing and also impair their eligibility for employment.
The SMU Consumer Advocacy Clinic developed a pilot-project to explore credit-reporting accuracy
that incorporates components from several clinic models. The presentation will discuss benefits
and challenges the mixed-model presents to faculty. It will also discuss how such projects provide
important community service, enhance students’ learning and contribute to law reform efforts.
The project has four principal components:
Community outreach. In collaboration with community partners, student attorneys educate
consumers about credit, credit reporting and the importance of protecting personal financial
information.
Direct assistance. Student attorneys provide consumers with access to credit reports and
the opportunity for a one-on-one review for accuracy. Upon request, student attorneys also provide
assistance in disputing errors.
Research. During the review, student attorneys survey consumers to collect data from
credit reports regarding accuracy of personal information, accounts, public records, and inquiries.
Upon request by the consumers, student attorneys provide assistance to dispute errors and, with
consumers’ consent, collect additional data regarding the dispute process. In collaboration with
graduate students from the University’s Department of Statistics, students and faculty will review
and analyze the data.
Policy Advocacy. Collaborating with community partners, clinic students and faculty
anticipate using data to enhance reform efforts to improve practice and policy regarding use of
private consumer information.
The presentation will highlight some of the project’s findings and conclude by presenting tentative
conclusions to support reform efforts at the state and national levels.
Rachel Spencer and Matthew Atkinson, University of South Australia
Towards a pedagogy of the integration of an on-site clinic within the law curriculum: using
de-identified clinic files within tutorial programs
The School of Law at UniSA has been operating a clinical program via its Legal Advice Clinic (which is
situated within the Law Building) for just over two years. The benefits of a Clinic within the environs
of the Law School are numerous. One of those benefits is the existence of files which can be
accessed for ‘case scenarios’ for a variety of courses, relieving the Law teacher of the endless quest
for creative inspiration in order to develop interesting and plausible fact scenarios for problem based
learning.
This proposed interactive workshop will examine the pedagogical model which has been introduced
into the Professional Conduct (Ethics) and Civil Procedure tutorial programs. The model is an
example of the integration of the clinical program within the wider law curriculum. Specifically, real
Clinic files are de-identified and used in tutorials as the basis for discussion and problem solving.
The workshop will showcase how this is done, including the maintenance of client confidentiality and
the avoidance of conflicts or potential conflicts. The workshop will also demonstrate how the use of
real legal problems can not only resolve a course co-ordinator’s plight of thinking up endless new fact
scenarios, but also their acceptance by students in preference to fictitious dilemmas. The additional
benefits of the tutorial program serving as an introduction to the Legal Advice Clinic and as a basis for
the development of a pro bono culture and a consciousness of access to justice issues at a local level,
not just for students in the clinical program, but for all law students will also be explored. Of
additional importance is that this model allows for funding for the Clinic to be accessed based on a
formula that calculates the number of full-time equivalent students enrolled in courses for which the
relevant tutorials are held.
Participants will be shown the pedagogical methodology of the model and will be invited to offer
constructive criticism and to share similar ideas, with a view to the development of a best-practice
model.
Carol M Suzuki, Don L Dickason, Mabel F Dickason, University of New Mexico, USA
Client counselling regarding competency and aid in dying
How do we teach law students, who for the most part have no medical training, to follow best
practices when counseling their clients who desire to make end-of-life plans regarding their medical
care and treatment? How do we deal with the challenges posed by “death with dignity” legislation in
the United States, which requires patient competency?
Advance directives such as health care proxies, “do not resuscitate” orders, and health care powers
of attorney, contemplate that a patient lacks capacity to make decisions. “Death with dignity”
statutes are likely to increase in availability across the United States. Thus far, they abandon those
who are incompetent because they require the self-administration of lethal medication and terminal
illness leading to death within six months. A student in a clinical law program assisting a client who
has a medical condition that leads to progressive incompetency must consider how to counsel the
client with compassion and to discuss alternative plans.
Competent legal representation requires a clinic student to thoroughly research what is available to
a client in the legal realm. The law student should discuss the benefits and limitations of legal
documents. Competent client counseling would also require thoughtful and reflective client
contemplation regarding choice of surrogate, medical care provider and facility. The law student
should help a client to reflect on the potential positive and negative consequences of choices made
to better ensure patient autonomy and avoid litigation regarding medical care and treatment.
End-of-life planning should be a deliberative process, and the choices made by a client should reflect
thoughtful consideration of alternatives available to a client. From a pedagogical perspective, it is
well-suited to teach a law student about client counseling, reflection, legal research, drafting and
professionalism.
Ann Thanaraj, University of Cumbria, UK
Using virtual clinics to develop and experience professional responsibility and clinical
legal education
This paper will focus on the following:
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The increasing need for ethics, professional responsibility and legal identity to become a
compulsory subject in the undergraduate curriculum
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Reports recommending evolution of the undergraduate law curriculum and what we can
learn from it:
Carnegie report 2007 on Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law
Solicitors Regulation Authority 2009 report on Preparatory ethics training for future
solicitors
Learning and Teaching training review 2011
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A rational for encouraging professional responsibility and legal identity in undergraduate law
students - There has been growing interest in the art of lawyering. Recommendations that
the teaching of professional ethics should not simply be left to vocational courses or legal
training, instead, more should be done at the academic stage (rather than in the vocational
stage) has also received judicial support. Currently, legal education in England has focused
on the production of ‘good lawyers’ by concentrating on developing the technical lawyering
skills and knowledge (such as client interviewing and negotiating) rather than moral legal
values (such as awareness of professional responsibility, awareness of legal identity and
ethics) which is essential to support excellent lawyering. Further, the CCBE (Council of Bars
and Law Societies of Europe) adopted a recommendation on training outcomes for all
European lawyers that included making ‘future lawyers aware of their professional identity
and of the role of the profession within the administration of justice and in society at large’.
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The Cumbria ‘Lawyer Skills’ case study which assesses whether a simulated virtual
environment through which law students can experience the lawyer-client and other
relationships in effect instils the core values of the profession – Second year law students
work in teams on a case. The aim of the whole transaction is to give students real experience
in the practice of handling a personal injury claim (prior to litigation), particularly:
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dealing with, and being responsible to a client, constructing client’s case, negotiating
the claim on behalf of client, acting professionally and ethically, case and file
organisation, preparing for and conducting client interviews, legal research tasks on
Alternative Dispute Resolution, vicarious liability and quantum and requesting for and
gathering evidence
-
Apart from the advice interview and the negotiation to settle on liability and quantum,
students carryout all aspects of the transaction using a virtual medium.
-
Here we will assess the following:
- Benefits of simulated learning environments
- Experiential learning – pros and cons of using simulations over liveclinics
- Does the lawyer skills module encourage ethical thinking, professional
responsibility and legal identity
Liam Thornton, University College Dublin
Building a Culture of Clinical Legal Education in Ireland
Clinical legal education is a relatively new discipline within Irish law schools. There is a need to
communicate clear theoretical and practical reasons for its introduction. Drawing on, and
distinguishing from, literature from other jurisdictions, my paper situates Irish clinical legal
education as a form of education that provides transferable skills beyond traditional 'lawyering'. The
regulation of the legal professions and methods of qualification as solicitors and barristers may be
changing (Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011). In light of this, it is necessary to consider how
undergraduate law degrees in Ireland can provide students with a normative understanding of the
roles, duties and responsibilities of legal practitioners in Ireland. It is argued (Donnelly and Paris,
2008) that a ‘paradigm shift’ is occurring (or has already occurred) in the provision of clinical legal
education in Ireland. While arguing that students should have an opportunity to undertake clinical
based modules in an undergraduate degree, this paper seeks to explore the rationale for Irish clinical
legal education in the first place. Current justifications of clinical legal education programmes, it is
argued, are overly focused on employability and narrow focus on potential future student clinicians
becoming legal practitioners (either solicitors or barristers). While clinical legal education should
certainly provide such exposure to legal practice, the role of the law student within clinic is, I argue,
much less restrictive than this.
Amelia Thorpe, UNSW; Judith Preston, Solicitor to the Supreme Court of NSW & NT
The land and environment clinic at the University of New South Wales – an Australian case study
Traditionally clinical legal education has focussed on clinical programs in legal centres, whether on
campus or in the community. This paper will present a case study on an alternative clinical
experience introduced in Australia this year, the Land and Environment Court Clinic.
This innovative clinic is a partnership between the University of New South Wales and the Land and
Environment Court of NSW. The clinic benefits from strong support at the highest level, having been
developed at the suggestion of the Chief Judge. The Land and Environment Court was the world’s
first specialist environmental court established as a superior court of record, and this clinic is one of
many innovative moves taken by the Court to promote access to justice.
Inspired by a clinic run in the Subordinate Courts of Singapore, the clinic allows students a unique
opportunity to experience the Court process from many angles from student assistant for the
community to budding lawyer observing the good (and otherwise) litigation lawyer demonstrations
across the Court’s dispute resolution processes. It allows the students to work with the community
in a wide range of matters providing enhancement of the service the Court already provides to
litigants in person. From the Court’s perspective, it affords the Court an opportunity to become
more involved in community outreach, which assists university law schools in producing a better
standard of well-trained ethically-minded practitioners of the future. The case study will review the
experience of the inaugural clinic and reflect on any changes to be made to improve the experience
for all participants and suggest some new directions to broaden the course outcomes.
Ben Walsh, Latrobe University, Australia
Excursion based learning
For the last three years Latrobe University has offered a clinical legal education subject Sentencing
Law, Practice and Policy.
Whilst traditional clinical legal education methods are used including client interviews and observing
at court, the subject is based around a number of field trips (excursions) to institutions involved in
sentencing in Victoria, including the Sentencing Advisory Council and a maximum security prison. For
example, during the field trip to the prison, students discuss a wide range of matters face to face
with sentenced prisoners such as their reasons for offending, issues of rehabilitation and life in jail.
This presentation discusses the benefits and challenges of incorporating this form of experiential
learning into a law subject. It is proposed that field trips help students engage meaningfully on a
number of levels with the subject matter of the academic course through the social interaction
between the students and the different people and perspectives they encounter.
Lynne Weathered, Griffith University, Australia
The on-going impact of a social justice clinic: perspectives from former students
University-based legal clinics can often offer students a valuable hands-on learning platform within
their legal degree while at the same time, providing a social-justice service to the community. Typical
broad-spectrum pedagogical goals within such a clinic experience are that students will attain
workplace skills and cultivate professional values, however, evidence as to whether such goals have
been met has been somewhat limited. This article utilizes the results from one clinic’s 10 year
survey, to analyse whether former students considered their clinic experience provided them with
work ready skills, whether it influenced their choice of career and their thoughts on for example,
human rights, work, pro bono work and more generally, whether this social justice clinic had a
longer-term personal and professional impact on the former students. In doing so, it suggests that a
clinical experience at university can have a significant impact on students in a variety of ways, many
of which are likely to remain with them as they progress through their career.
Jenni Whelan, UNSW, Australia
Perspectives on trans-national collaborative clinical projects as a learning experience: critical
assessment of strategies and benefits
Up until this year, the partners of the work of the UNSW Human Rights Clinic have included
community groups and civil society organisations in South East Asia and Australia.
In 2013, however, the Clinic is undertaking its first collaborative projects with the students at the
Faculty of Law, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). In the first project, students from UKM and
the UNSW Human Rights Clinic will produce a report to assist Malaysian NGOs to identify
opportunities for policy and legislative reform regarding Malaysia’s implementation of its obligations
as a migrant worker receiving country. In the second project, students from UKM and the UNSW
Human Rights Clinic will produce a report for the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human
Rights which identifies a model regional framework specifically in relation to the guardianship of
Unaccompanied Minor Asylum Seekers.
The collaborative projects have raised many learning opportunities for the students involved
including, significantly, the opportunity to reflect critically on the benefits and challenges that arise
for lawyers working across cultures.
This presentation will outline the collaborative model used in the current projects, reflect on the
students’ critical evaluation of the strategies and benefits of the collaboration and assess what
changes could be made to the current model to maximise its impact as part of the UNSW Human
Rights Clinic program.
Helen Yandell, Monash University; Zoe Rathus, Griffith University;
Colin James, Newcastle University, Australia
Strengthening placements of clinical supervisors from the South East Asia region
Clinical legal education programs are growing in South East Asia. International clinicians have been
visiting university programs in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand for some years. With the
strengthening of these programs, clinical supervisors from Vietnam and Laos have started to
undertake placements with a range of universities in Australia, in Victoria, NSW and Queensland.
This session aims to workshop the role of university mentors and explores the types of support
necessary to enable the visiting clinical supervisor and the host university to maximize time and
resources and to facilitate learnings that are transferrable on return to country of origin.
We will look at the challenges and strengths of visits to date, with a focus on identifying the
principles that underpin placements that are productive for the visiting clinician, their law school and
the host university. This could lead to the preparation a best practice guide that can be used for
future placements of clinicians from within the south east Asia region.