International Journal of Clinical Legal Education

The Challenges of Human Rights Advocacy on Social Media in the Context of Legal Clinics

Taysa Schiocchet — 2024-11-13

The consolidation of social media as a medium of information and social mobilisation reinforces the importance of using this resource to base advocacy strategies undertaken by legal clinics, especially those regarding human rights education aimed at elucidating concrete issues that are dear to democracy. This research intends to identify, describe, and discuss the main challenges related to communication on human rights by legal clinics, based on the experience developed at the Paraná’s Federal University Human Rights Clinic (CDH/UFPR). If, in theory, Instagram had proved to be the most pertinent tool for disseminating research — even considering the digital exclusion of a significant quantity of Brazilians — the experience revealed the first major challenge to be the incongruity between the parameters governing the algorithmics functioning in the app and the academic and scientific nature of the clinic’s content. By subverting and re-signifying a space governed by market interests — that impose themselves every day as a communication hub — we sought to promote the dissemination of evidence-based scientific knowledge to our channel's community of followers. In which we paid special attention to the adaptation of legal and technical language to a more accessible approach while still preserving the quality of the information being disseminated; the efforts to ensure knowledge transit and theoretical alignment in a team made up of researchers from different areas; the need to involve third parties in collaborating on the joint production of publications; and, finally, obstacles related to the scarcity of financial resources and project management.

Keywords: digital advocacy; legal clinics; human rights; social media.

Empowering Ukraine’s First Legal Responders: Ukrainian-US Collaboration and Clinics

Susan Felstiner — 2024-11-13

At the onset of the full-scale Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, U.S. law clinic professors worked alongside the leadership of the Association of Legal Clinics of Ukraine. The mutual objective was to support Ukrainian law professors and facilitate the continued legal education of their students, particularly the acquisition of skills typically taught in law clinics. Ultimately, the online partnership that developed focused on skills training and included seven Ukrainian law schools, faculty from over six U.S. law schools and one private law firm, and USAID Justice for All Activity in Ukraine. The overall goals of this collaboration were to support the teaching and skills training for Ukrainian students as they pivoted their work to grapple with accessing an entirely new set of skills to navigate lawyering during the war.

Shaping the Future: Professor Elaine Hall’s Impact on Clinical Legal Education and Innovations in Teaching

Lyndsey Bengtsson — 2024-11-13

The Place of Restorative Justice and Experiential Andragogy in the Curriculum

Rebecca Samaras — 2024-11-13

This paper is centred on three fundamental and overlapping points.

First and foremost, students in many disciplines, notably Law are, more often than not and regardless of jurisdiction, largely passive participants in their learning, frequently being the recipients of content-driven curricula delivered primarily through lectures and assessed at end of study periods through written and/or oral examinations.

Secondly, although based on a specific case study – the creation and delivery of a new course/module at a leading UK University – we believe that what has resulted from the innovation involved has significant lessons for (legal) education elsewhere and as such we are keen to share our own experience in the hope of informing and inspiring others.

Finally, and with specific reference to the subject matter concerned, most dispute resolution systems in general and criminal ‘justice’ processes in particular take little account of longer-term consequences of adjudications and outcomes for all concerned. This claim is explored as we discuss the course/module itself below.

The purpose of this paper it to describe and analyse how a more constructive approach to legal education can take place, exampled by this study of restorative justice (RJ) and forms of experiential and reflective learning and the impact of this.

Streetlaw at Sussex One Year On: Where did we come from, how far did we get and where are we going?

Jeanette Ashton — 2024-11-13

Against the backdrop of the broader clinical legal education movement and the employability agenda in the context of a UK law degree, this article reflects on the experience of introducing a Street law (“StreetLaw”) programme into the curriculum at the University of Sussex. Drawing on the findings of a small-scale research study, this article explores the value of StreetLaw in community and educational settings from the perspectives of the undergraduate students participating, and the organisational partners. Themes include building community relationships; ‘giving back’; access to justice; professional skills development, and embedding learning in a real-world context. Alongside this, in step with the widespread recognition of the importance of reflective practice for students in clinical legal education, the author reflects on the challenges and opportunities of developing and leading the project.

Community Legal Clinics and Clinical Legal Education in Singapore

Burton Ong — 2024-11-13

A common thread underlying many clinical legal education initiatives – to support access-to-justice imperatives – is interwoven with broader policy initiatives within a legal system to develop its pro bono legal service channels for the benefit of the wider community. The former can make meaningful contributions towards the pursuit of the latter, while the flourishing of the latter can create valuable opportunities for the growth of the former. One of the major reforms made to Singapore’s legal system in the last decade was the establishment of a nation-wide network of community-based legal clinics, connecting volunteer lawyers with laypersons seeking legal advice and assistance navigating the country’s legal system. The work of such legal clinics can potentially benefit tremendously from engaging the assistance of law students through structured clinical legal education programmes, thereby enabling these lawyers-in-training to develop their practical and professional skills by applying what they have learnt in the classroom to real-world “clients” under the supervision of qualified legal practitioners. This article explores the potential for a closer alignment between the pro bono activities of Community Legal Clinics and the development of clinical legal education initiatives within Singapore’s law schools, analyzing empirical data from the author’s experience volunteering at a legal clinic alongside undergraduate law students to formulate recommendations that may generate desired outcomes on both fronts.