This article asks and endeavours to answer the following questions: What should we as legal academics seek to place at the heart of the educational experience for our students? And how can we do it? The article argues that the disorienting moment should be a central component of the optimal twenty-first century legal education and that clinical legal education programmes are the ideal conduits for bringing about disorienting moments for students. The article shares the reflections of students in the clinical programme in the School of Law at the National University of Ireland, Galway. These reflections, it is submitted, establish that clinics are likely the best means of provoking the deeper questioning that flows from disorienting moments. Furthermore, the students’ reflections, on their own, make a powerful case for why law schools should prioritise and resource clinical programmes.
Author Biography
Lawrence Donnelly, National University of Ireland
Lecturer & Director of Clinical Legal Education, School of Law, National University of Ireland, Galway
