Presentation Transcript

1. Clinical scholarship

   Jonny Hall Acting Associate Dean Undergraduate Programmes/Clinic Northumbria University School of Law Editor International Journal of Clinical Legal Education
2. Why scholarship? "a tendency, within clinical programs, to subordinate the question of what should be taught to the demands of what students are actually doing.” G Bellow, ‘On Teaching the Teachers: Some preliminary reflections on Clinical Law Courses, in ‘In a Service Setting: Working Papers Prepared for CLEPR National Conference, Buck Hill Falls, Pennsylvania (1973) 374, 378 “This tendency still continues in clinical education, but it is one that we should resist and overcome.” R Stuckey, ‘Teaching with Purpose: Defining and Achieving Desired Outcomes in Clinical Law Courses’ (2006-2007) 13 Clinical L. Rev 807, 812
3. “like future horticulturists confining their studies to cut flowers, like architects who study pictures of buildings and nothing else. They resemble prospective dog breeders who never see anything but stuffed dogs. And it is beginning to be suspected that there is some correlation between that kind of stuffed-dog study and the overproduction of stuffed shirts in the legal profession.” J Frank ‘Why Not a Clinical Lawyer-School?’ (1932-33) 81 U. Pa. L. Rev. 907, 912
4. “is it not plain that [without abandoning other methods] law schools should once more get in intimate contact with what clients need and with what courts and lawyers actually do?” J Frank ‘Why Not a Clinical Lawyer-School?’ (1932-33) 81 U. Pa. L. Rev. 907, 913
5. ‘As active practitioners within the mainstream [clinicians] are uniquely able to contribute to legal education's understanding of the outside world". R, Boswell, ‘Keeping the Practice in Clinical Education and Scholarship’ (1992) 43 Hastings L.J. 1187, 1193
6. Clinical Scholarship should spring from the goals of Clinical Legal Education itself Professional competence Values and social justice AND include Reflection on and improvement of the pedagogy – Question: Why Does it work and how can we make it work better?
7. Professional skills vs public service? “The arguments over whether clinical scholarship should have a predominantly skills or public interest orientation touch on the underlying values and purposes of clinical legal education…a debate over the heart and soul of the clinical movement.” F Bloch, ‘The Case for Clinical Scholarship’ (2004) 6 International Journal of Clinical legal Education 7, 11
8. An argument for skills-focused scholarship [skills focused scholarship] “can help clinical educators to do what they are uniquely wellpositioned to do in the academy-namely to remedy legal education's notorious weakness in preparing students for the actual work they will do as lawyers.” P Hoffman, ‘Clinical Scholarship and Skills Training’ (1994-1995) 1 Clinical L. Rev. 93, 94
9. Values and social justice It is not enough for clinicians to provide students the opportunity to look at the real world through the representation of clients. Clinical teachers must sensitize students to what they are seeing, guide them to a deeper understanding of their clients' lives and their relationship to the social, economic and political forces that affect their lives, and help students develop a critical consciousness imbued with a concern for social justice. S Wizner, ‘Beyond Skills Training’ (2000-2001) 7 Clinical L. Rev. 327, 338-339
10. The case for pedagogic scholarship “The appropriate question for legal education is not whether students learn from experience, but to what degree, if any, these learning possibilities are greater than offered by traditional law school pedagogy.” G Bellow “More than thirty years later, legal education has not completely answered the question posed by Bellow. If clinical education is going to continue to thrive and grow, or even to maintain its current position in legal education, we must work harder to understand the strengths and limitations of each form of clinical education R Stuckey, ‘Teaching with Purpose: Defining and Achieving Desired Outcomes in Clinical Law Courses’ (2006-2007) 13 Clinical L. Rev 807, 812
11. An overview of clinical scholarship thus far J P Ogilvy, Clinical Law Review Special Issue 11 Clinical L. Rev. 5 2004-2005
12. Examples of scholarship from Ogilvy’s Bibliography Clinical Methodology and Pedagogy -10 pages Clinic design and administration – 7 pages Supervision – 2 pages Assessment and Evaluation – 1 page Lawyering skills – 14 pages Professional Responsibility (values and ethics) – 14 pages Poverty Law/Political Context of Clinical Legal Education -14 pages
13. Where are the gaps in current clinical scholarship?– a personal view Whatever our preoccupation – an empirical enquiry into our actual students’ learning experience the experience of young professionals and how clinic might better help them achieve professional competence and fulfilment as lawyers The real impact on social justice of clinical programmes assessment
14. So, What is clinical scholarship? “clinical scholarship may be about skills, public interest practice, or clinical legal education itself. What is important is that clinical legal educators take the initiative to claim their scholarship and direct it in a way that supports and advances the broader goals of the clinical movement.” F Bloch, ‘The Case for Clinical Scholarship’ (2004) 6 International Journal of Clinical legal Education 7, 11
15. Clinic For All? 10th International Clinical Legal Education Conference in association with the Clinical Legal Education Organisation Conference RADISSON BLU HOTEL, DURHAM 11-13 JULY 2012