Dissecting the Dichotomy of Skill and Social Justice Theory of Law School Legal Aid Clinics in the USA and India: A Re-look of the Past and the Present

Abstract

With the mushrooming of legal aid clinics across institutions imparting legal education, there exists a conundrum as to their actual objectives. With passage of time, social justice theory is losing ground and skill development theory has gained greater predominance. In order to understand the objectives behind establishing legal aid clinics, the article traces its inter-linkages with the theory of social justice. In doing so, an analysis of the context under which legal aid clinics were established and their relevance to the present day is explored through the article. With the passage of 22 years of establishment of law school legal aid clinics in India, there still exists a dichotomy as to their real purpose and objective. These models of legal aid clinics of the past not only offer insights to develop present models of legal aid clinics, but there is also a need to emulate these models as they are relevant and apt even to this day. The article adapts a comparative approach between India and the USA, chronicling the past and present sojourns of the journey of law school legal aid clinics and the suitability of the social justice theory to the current Indian context.