Abstract
Social justice has always played an important role in clinical legal education (CLE). Clinicians are aware that students need to acquire the necessary legal skills and strategies related to client-centred lawyering, process choice and procedural justice. This paper shows that increasingly, despite clinicians’ recognition of the value of teaching social justice in CLE, those who promote it face various challenges in instilling in students the notion that social justice is important. This paper discusses some of these challenges, including, that as experiential education expands, students are being offered clinical placements in the private sector where clients do not face the barriers in accessing justice similar to those in community settings. It therefore becomes imperative to encourage students to retain the notion that social justice is an important value. This paper makes suggestions for how these challenges can be overcome to enhance students’ awareness of the importance of social justice and ensure that it remains a value they retain as 21st century practitioners.
Highlights
Students undertake clinical legal education (CLE) to learn what lawyers do in practice.2 Students engage with real-life clients and manage their matters, learning practical legal skills under the supervision of qualified legal practitioners (‘clinical supervisors’).3 Students learn about the various technical, ethical and procedural obligations with which lawyers must comply
Social justice has always played an important role in clinical legal education (CLE)
Students can be provided with scenarios containing ethical dilemmas, which through discussion, they can consider alternative means to Students a Deep Understanding of Ethical Practice’ (2005) 8 International Journal of Clinical Legal Education 104; Barry, Dubin and Joy (n 9); C Menkel-Meadow and B Moulton, Beyond the Adversarial Model: Materials on Negotiation and Mediation (West Publishing, 2007); Kevin Kerrigan, ‘How Do You Feel About This Client?’ A Commentary on the Clinical Model as a Vehicle for Teaching Ethics to Law Students’ (2007) International Journal of Clinical Legal Education 37; Anna Cody, ‘What Does Legal Ethics Teaching Gain, if Anything, from Including a Clinical Component?’ (2015) 22(1) International Journal of Clinical Legal Education 1
Summary
Students undertake CLE to learn what lawyers do in practice. Students engage with real-life clients and manage their matters, learning practical legal skills under the supervision of qualified legal practitioners (‘clinical supervisors’). Students learn about the various technical, ethical and procedural obligations with which lawyers must comply. Students engaging in clinical programs need to be provided with opportunities to develop a sense of social responsibility and to recognise injustice in society and the legal system Byron supports this notion, suggesting: CLE inculcates in students a sense of professionalism, a spirit of community lawyering and social justice. To improve supervisors’ fostering of students’ awareness of social justice, supervisors must first appreciate the central role they play in helping students learn in a clinic or placement environment129 and in explaining the limitations of the law and legal processes.130. Before taking on substantial professional responsibility, students need to be prepared via supervision that directly emphasises the significant duties lawyers owe both to clients and the administration of justice.137 As students develop their skills and become more confident, they can be allowed to take greater control over their future learning as they determine for themselves the best ways to approach issues and problems.138. Students to understand and perform important lawyering tasks, such as questioning, listening, consolidating issues and problems and engaging in creative legal analyses.163 In this way, students develop the essential legal practice skills to enable them to problem solve and think critically about their approach to advising clients
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