The Ed O'Brien Street Law and Legal Literacy International Best Practices Conference, Durban, South Africa, April 2016

Abstract

South Africa has been the home of a vibrant public legal education (PLE)　programme for many years. Indeed its Street Law initiative has been　described as one of the strategic responses to　and a　catalyst for change during the apartheid era. The focus on democracy and human rights for all　in the lead up to and following the 1994 election has aided the transition from the old regime to the new.　

Ignorance of the law and legal process is of course a problem in many developing and developed countries and an　international conference was therefore　planned last year to bring the ever-expanding international legal literacy scene to Durban in order to identify and share best practice - an attempt to promote and support a better understanding of rights and responsibilities under the law.　

The untimely death of the Street Law co-founder, Ed O'Brien, in July 2015　gave the event even greater poignancy. The conference was not only a global sharing of experience but also an important reminder of how this movement began and of Ed's (and others') role in that process.