Legal Education Programs Research Articles

Юридична клініка як інноваційна форма навчання студентів-юристів

The paper discusses the process of modernization of Ukrainian legal education, in which special attention is paid to the practical training of future lawyers; an important role in this process belongs to clinical training. The value of a legal clinic as an organizational structure and a special training program is determined. The integration of these values allows us to define the nature of the legal clinic as an innovative method of teaching law students. The essence of the method is to develop students' professional competencies by considering "real" cases and solving real problems. The paper describes the content and program of clinical legal education, presents an innovative (clinical) curriculum that includes general and special training courses, areas of activity of the legal clinic and rules of legal work of students under the guidance of teachers to ensure free legal provision of services for low-income citizens. The author describes in detail possible field trips to provide free legal assistance and legal awareness to the public (reception of citizens in the offices of state and municipal institutions, legal assistance to non-governmental organizations, thematic seminars, walks, visits to the regions of the Republic, etc.). The author analyzes the role of the legal clinic in higher education institutions and its significance for students, teachers and clients.

Clinic in the Times of COVID-19

This paper considers the challenges faced by clinical legal education programs in responding effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic. Client needs are different and more acute. They also need to be balanced with the safety of students and staff. Services will need to be delivered remotely. The article considers some of the key legal issues generated by the pandemic, highlighting the need for clinics and other legal service providers to respond to these emerging legal and related needs. In responding, clinics will be best served by adhering to their pedagogical principles in the design of new services and in reshaping existing practices. This should enable clinical programs to ensure that the experience of students remains distinctive, albeit different.

Adoption and Implementation of Clinical Legal Education Programmes in the Indonesian Legal Education System

Legal education in Indonesia has followed a traditional model, focusing on the rote transfer of legal doctrine. Students are taught legal theories and sources of law but not how to critically apply the law in concrete real-world scenarios. Consequently, law graduates tend to be unprepared for the workforce, which is a regular complaint of employers. To overcome this impediment, some law faculties in Indonesia adopted clinical legal education (CLE) as a ‘new method’ in the legal education system, whereby students not just learn theory but also gain practical legal experience. This article analyses the adoption of the model and methods of applying CLE to legal education in Indonesia. This study uses the doctrinal research method with a qualitative approach. It is found that the adoption of CLE in Indonesia is diverse; some programmes include it in the core curriculum, while others make it an extracurricular activity. CLE programmes generally use three of six methods, namely street law, advocacy and internship. The differences in the three methods of CLE directly influence their success, exposing participants to interaction with live clients, public speaking and networking. This article recommends that in order to achieve the optimal implementation of CLE, uniformity of the CLE adoption model in Indonesia’s legal education curriculum is needed.

Clinic in the times of COVID19

This article considers the challenges faced by clinical legal education programmes in responding effectively to the COVID19 pandemic. Client needs are different and more acute. They also need to be balanced with the safety of students and staff. Services will need to be delivered remotely. The article considers some of the key legal issues generated by the pandemic, highlighting the need for clinics and other legal service providers to respond to these emerging legal and related needs. In responding, clinics will be best served by adhering to their pedagogical principles in the design of new services and in reshaping existing practices. This should enable clinical programmes to ensure that the experience of students remains distinctive, albeit different. The experience of the Monash Clinical Program is provided to demonstrate the value of using a clinical best practices framework to guide the responses to the challenges generated by COVID19. Research related to clinical best practices undertaken as part of the planning for implementation of the Monash Clinical Guarantee has shaped the programme’s response to COVID19. The article then considers a range of issues generated by the move to virtual delivery of client services and the clinic’s teaching programme. The article concludes with contemplation of how clinical programmes can best plan for ‘the new normal’ that will present itself after the pandemic.

Zoom, Zooming, Zoomed into the Future! Moving to Optimist from Skeptic on Online Mediation

Last month, I was asked to present a continuing legal education program to between 60 and 100 government attorneys working for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania who were active as mediators and mediation participants.

The Value of Participant Feedback: Insights from Learners in a Novel, Non-University CLE Setting in China

In the scholarship on Clinical Legal Education (CLE), there is relatively little attention to “insider” (participant) perspectives, a skew towards Global North CLE studies, and little exploration of innovations that may take CLE beyond the setting of formal tertiary education. Taking these critical observations as its starting point, and seeking to extend the scholarship in these regards, this paper explores data from 72 feedback questionnaires completed in 2011 and 2012 by participants over two courses of a semester-long, English-Mandarin bilingual a novel legal education program in the People’s Republic of China (China).

The Policy Clinic at Northumbria University: Influencing Policy/Law Reform as an Effective Educational Tool for Students

The Student Law Office (SLO) at Northumbria University has recently incorporated a Policy Clinic (PC) into its existing, and well established, clinical legal education (CLE) programme. This innovative PC model was introduced in order to broaden the reach of the CLE programme, appealing to those students who want to focus on law reform and/or who are unsure about whether they wish to enter the legal profession. This teaching method aims to deepen a student’s understanding of the law as they learn not just about the legal framework but also how laws are actually made and influenced.

Does Clinical Legal Education Need Theory?

Clinical legal education (CLE) is an increasingly common feature of legal education programmes in higher education around the world. The growth in this area has led to a developing academic literature facilitated by specialist journals and conferences, which have produced a largely pragmatic and practice-orientated discourse, with relatively little discussion of wider theoretical issues and their relevance to this area of academic practice. This conceptual study contextualizes the growth of CLE in the UK by considering the influence of two neoliberal policy drivers: marketization and the decline in publicly funded legal advice and representation. It proceeds to consider how these policies have helped to shape the practice-oriented focus of the literature on this area before making an argument that giving more explicit focus to theoretical issues has the potential to enrich the growing body of CLE literature.

Edukacja prawna w szkolnictwie podstawowym i średnim w Polsce, wybranych państwach Unii Europejskiej oraz w Serbii i Wielkiej Brytanii

A legal education program, as a general rule, is implemented in the educational systems of all European countries analysed in this article. Most often, however, as it is in Poland, it is not a separate school course, but legal topics are integrated with various school subjects. If a separate school subject called “Legal education” appears in school curricula, it is most often taught in general education schools as an optional course or in vocational and technical secondary schools - as a course supplementing the knowledge of the future graduate about the legal aspects of the profession taught.

The Value of Participant Feedback: Insights from Learners in a Novel, Non-University CLE Setting in China

In the scholarship on Clinical Legal Education (CLE), there is relatively little attention to “insider” (participant) perspectives, a skew towards Global North CLE studies, and little exploration of innovations that may take CLE beyond the setting of formal tertiary education. Taking these critical observations as its starting point, and seeking to extend the scholarship in these regards, this paper explores data from 72 feedback questionnaires completed in 2011 and 2012 by participants over two courses of a semester-long, English-Mandarin bilingual a novel legal education program in the People’s Republic of China (China).

Student Wellbeing Through Teacher Wellbeing: A Study with Law Teachers in the UK and Australia

Research confirms law students and lawyers in the US, Australia and more recently in the UK are prone to symptoms related to stress and anxiety disproportionately to other professions. In response, the legal profession and legal academy in Australia and the UK have created Wellness Networks to encourage and facilitate research and disseminate ideas and strategies that might help law students and lawyers to thrive. This project builds on that research through a series of surveys of law teachers in the UK and Australia on the presumption that law teachers are in a strong position to influence their students not only about legal matters, but on developing attitudes and practices that will help them to survive and thrive as lawyers. The comparative analysis reveals several differences, but also many similarities with law teachers in both countries reporting negative effects from neoliberal pressures on legal education programs that impact their wellbeing, performance as teachers and ability to adequately respond to student concerns.

Developing CLE in Myanmar-Lessons Learned and Global Guidance

This paper, Developing CLE in Myanmar: Lessons Learned and GlobalGuidance, is an adaption of an Advocacy Paper entitled The Global Pathand Future of CLE in Myanmar, which merged from findings from morethan three years of BABSEACLE’s work, often in collaboration with NewPerimeter (DLA Piper’s global pro bono non-profit affiliate) and HerbertSmith Freehills (HSF) (collectively referred to as the “Consortium”). TheConsortium worked with eighteen Myanmar university law departmentsto implement Clinical Legal Education (CLE) programmes in partnershipwith diverse stakeholders in Myanmar (2013-Present). The Paperpresents key strategies which the author believes will contribute to thesustainable future of a nationwide CLE programme in Myanmar withinsights and lessons learned that are applicable both regionally andglobally. This timely initiative was undertaken with broad, wide-rangingsupport from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), theUnited States Agency for International Development Promoting Ruleof-law Project (USAID PRLP) and other related organisations. This Paperhighlights how drawing on and applying findings from regional andglobal experiences, CLE in Myanmar has grown from its nascent stageinto a young but ever increasing vibrant movement of educational andjustice change and impact. In doing so, this movement is helping tocreate the noteworthy educational justice change and impact, includingits interaction with others in the legal sector, that we are currentlywitnessing. This Paper evaluates the impact of implementing anationwide CLE programme in Myanmar from early 2013 to the present.Simultaneously, the Paper is also a timely resource for planning; todevelop, implement or strengthen CLE programmes in Myanmar andworldwide. It also offers pragmatic recommendations to facilitate theexpansion, institutionalization, and sustainability of CLE in Myanmarand elsewhere.

MODERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES IN JURISPRUDENCE

Digital technologies are actively entering into social relations, including well-established state legal institutions. At present, digitalization has deeply penetrated into the field of legislative and law enforcement practice. The analysis of the main development directions of digital technologies and the areas of their “penetration” into jurisprudence using general scientific and special methods allowed the authors to identify the main directions and prospects for the implementation of the main digital concepts in legal practice. The authors of the paper take into account the interdisciplinary nature of the problems posed, which determined the bilateral nature of the study. The results of the study can be used in the field of conducting both general theoretical and informational research. They can also be applied as part of legal education programs.

Global Agendas, Cultural Capital and Self-Assessment of Clinical Legal Education Programs

Modern clinical legal education programs are rich in their diversity and ambition, so much so that it is often difficult to decide if a self-described clinical program meets the description of 'clinic' or is in reality something less than that, seeking to achieve academic acceptance without investing in faculty understanding of clinical pedagogy or the money needed to provide reasonable personnel and physical infrastructure. In most countries, there has been little effort to establish standards for clinical legal education through accreditation bodies. Given the dearth of national direction, most law school deans simply decide to let the description and definition issue remain obscure. They do so for many reasons: because national legal education system bureaucrats imperfectly understand or recognise clinical methods; because students' consistent requests for more experiential legal education are muted and respectful; because traditionally-educated legal academics are wary of bringing practice-related content into their doctrinal classes; because doctrinal content is relatively cheap to teach compared to clinical methods; and finally, because finding a definition for 'clinic' and then acting on it is not required in any international accreditation context and rarely in a national context.

Taking justice to people in crisis: Mobile legal clinics

Mobile legal clinics can be used to provide better access to justice in many different ways. The Nepal projects discussed and evaluated here used law students and private lawyer volunteers to conduct legal education programs, give counsel and advice, and provide legal representation. Mobile legal clinics like these can be replicated for people in personal crises or natural disasters anywhere. The goal of this article is to provide information the reader can use to create mobile clinics to meet the needs of people in crisis in any situation. Assessing these programs is also discussed.

Clinical programs, social justice and transformation through student learning

This article considers whether different types of Clinical Legal Education (CLE) programs have the same potential to provide a transformative learning experience for students. The author uses Mezirow’s theory to postulate that, although addressing a societal need, ‘missing middle’ Clinical Legal Education programs – those that assist middle-income Australians – may not provide the necessary environment, including an environment ripe for ‘disorienting dilemmas’, for transformative learning. After a comparison of missing middle clinics in Australia and poverty law clinics in the United States of America (US), the author suggests that disorienting dilemmas may only be offered by Clinical Legal Education programs aimed at assisting society’s most vulnerable people.

An Essay on Legal Writing in Plain English

This essay is addressed to law students, lawyers, law professors, legislators, and judges who write in English. It offers tips on writing clearly, concisely, and engagingly in the plain English style. This is the style taught in U. S. law schools and in continuing legal education programs for U. S. lawyers and judges. And federal law requires federal agencies to use the plain English style when they write regulations and other public documents. It is offered here to encourage you to use the plain English style when your goal is to communicate efficiently and effectively.

Fake News, Alternative Facts, and Disinformation: The Importance of Teaching Media Literacy to Law Students

Like legal education, media literacy education teaches critical thinking skills. Students with media literacy education are able to evaluate media messages and decide for themselves the truth of media. Media literacy education is critical at all levels, but it should be a required inclusion for every legal education program.

Connectivity, confidentiality and confidence: Key issues in the provision of online pro bono activities

The provision of pro bono activities for law students has become an established feature of the undergraduate legal education landscape in Law Schools in the United Kingdom (“UK”) and beyond, providing the experiential elements of clinical legal education programmes. Pro bono activities conducted online, or utilising and enhanced by technologies in other ways (for example, through the development of a mobile phone application providing legal guidance), are increasingly becoming a part of this offering, reflecting wider shifts within legal practice and society and an increasing recognition of the importance of digital literacy skills. This paper will situate these forms of online and technologically-enhanced pro bono activities both within the wider context of contemporary clinical legal education and also as a part of broader professional and societal shifts. It will explore a variety of innovative approaches being taken internationally, including work done by The Open University’s Open Justice Centre in the UK, before moving on to focus on a number of key challenges and opportunities which may arise through the increasing provision of these new forms of pro bono activities by Law Schools. These include the potential and pitfalls of the technology involved, issues with confidentiality (particularly in the context of online legal advice) and the issue of how to foster trust in the online environment. The paper will conclude with a number of suggestions for areas requiring further research and discussion to enable contemporary clinicians to fully utilise the potential of online and technologically-enhanced pro bono activities.

Curriculum And Instruction Challenges In Clinical Legal Education In Indonesian Law Schools: Breaking The Legacy

Clinical Legal Education has recently been accepted as pedagogic model in most Indonesian universities ever since Asia Foundation Collaboration authorized eight universities to pursue this program (Nurjaya,2011). The purpose of Clinical Legal Education in universities was to broaden the scope of legal education in Indonesia. The law academia as well as the industry looked at this new trend as an opportunity for graduates to enhance their knowledge and skills to meet the needs of the changing time. Indonesian universities though do not have the autonomy to design new curricula and have to depend on regulatory agencies like Ministry of National Education, Indonesia. This study highlights areas of reforms in curriculum and instruction of the legal education in general and changes required in clinical legal education program, in particular. The theoretical framework comprises a reform structure in the curriculum of Clinical Legal Education as a response to new and modern needs, thus breaking the legacy. The implications of this study are significant for legal academicians, law framers and law students. Future studies can be carried out to introduce new study programs in various fields of Clinical Legal Education in all universities in Indonesia.