Integration of legal aid activity in law school curriculum: an overview of Bangladesh and India

Abstract

If law students at the formative stage of their career are exposed to legal aid services, they become motivated to deliver the service when they enter into professional life. The purpose of the present article is to examine the current status of Bangladeshi legal education with regard to the integration of legal aid activity in law school curricula from an international human rights perspective. The article also compares the Bangladeshi legal education with the Indian practice. The article indicates that Bangladeshi students are not adequately motivated, through academic exercise, to use the law for the poor people. As a result, they learn to become mere lawyers to fight legal cases without acquiring adequate service-mindedness to serve the poor people of the community. The article finally recommends that legal education in Bangladesh is required to explore the potentials of clinical legal education with a compulsory component of legal aid programme. Moreover, Bangladesh can learn from the standard practices of the Indian law schools.