Clinical Legal Education at NUI Galway: Some Reflections and a Case Study

1. Clinical Legal Education at NUI Galway: Some Reflections and a Case Study Lawrence Donnelly, Lecturer, School of Law Moya de Paor, Solicitor, Northside Community Law Centre Lorcan Burke, Student, School of Law Inaugural Conference on Service Learning NUI Galway, 9 March 2010

2. What is Clinical Legal Education? • started in mid-20th century in the United States • nexus between theory and practice • experiential learning or “learning by doing” • two components: development of practical skills and improving access to justice

3. Social Justice at the Heart “a major stimulus for many programs that developed during the 1960s and early 1970s was the desire to serve the needs of the unrepresented, to sensitize law students to their ethical and moral responsibilities to society. . .and to give law schools a role in their communities.”

4. Irish Legal Education • skills training traditionally the preserve of the professions • emphasis in substantive law modules on theory • law is an undergraduate subject

5. Bridging the Gap • analytical, research and writing skills • develop the student’s capacity for critical thought • connectedness between theoretical aspects of law study and the “real world”

6. Three Clinical Models • “live” law clinics • externship/placement • simulation

7. Our Clinical Programme • Clinical Placement • final year B.C.L. students • 5 ECTS • optional, one semester module • 10 hours per week • students assessed on work product, supervisor evaluation, participation in class seminars and reflective essay

8. Placement Opportunities • Equality Authority – Dublin • Rape Crisis Network Ireland – Galway • Immigrant Council of Ireland – Dublin • Amnesty International – Dublin • National Federation of Voluntary Bodies – Galway • Director of Public Prosecutions – Dublin • Northside Community Law Centre – Dublin • COPE – Galway • Practitioners – nationwide

9. A Case Study: Northside Community Law Centre (NCLC) • What is NCLC and what does it do? • a Clinical Placement supervisor’s perspective • a Clinical Placement student’s perspective

10. Future Steps • full-time one semester placements and/or part-time placements available to more students • expanded staff of clinicians to maximise student participation • other models of CLE • cooperation among similarly situated academics – potential for a CLE network in Ireland?

11. What are the benefits? • provision of legal training that is forward thinking, open to innovation and has attracted a high level of interest • graduates grounded in theory and equipped with practical experience – an advantage in an extremely competitive job market • an increased number of young law graduates who, by virtue of their experience, are committed to achieving social justice and will promote law reform to that end

12. Bibliography • Booker and Woodruff, “The Bologna Process and German Legal Education: Developing Professional Competence through Clinical Experiences,” (2008) 9 German Law Journal 575. • Council on Legal Education for Professional Responsibility, Clinical Legal Education in the Law School Curriculum (1969). • Cunningham, “The Use of ‘Boot Camps’ and Orientation Periods in Externships and Clinics: Lessons Learned from a Criminal Prosecution Clinic,” 74 Mississippi Law Journal 983 (2005). • Donnelly, “Irish Clinical Legal Education Ab Initio: Challenges and Opportunities,” (2008/2009) 13 International Journal of Clinical Legal Education 56. • Dubin, “Clinical Design for Social Justice Imperatives,” 51 Southern Methodist University Law Review 1461 (1997/1998). • Stuckey, “Teaching with Purpose: Defining and Achieving Desired Outcomes in Clinical Law Courses,” 13 Clinical Law Review 807 (2007). • Tarr, “Current Issues in Clinical Legal Education,” 37 Howard Law Journal 31 (1993). • Terry, “Externships: A Signature Pedagogy for the Apprenticeship of Professional Identity and Purpose,” 59 Journal of Legal Education 240 (2009). • United Kingdom Centre for Legal Education (www.ukcle.ac.uk)