Abstract
A global overview of clinical legal education (CLE) shows that there are ongoing efforts worldwide to promote CLE. The development of university law clinics and CLE in central, eastern and western Europe indicates concrete attempts to expose law students to legal practice in various ways.1 The guidelines for CLE are, however, not followed uniformly across all the jurisdictions under discussion.
The Bologna Process is an intergovernmental higher education reform process launched in 1999 that includes 48 European countries, aimed at ensuring comparability in the standards and quality of higher education qualifications.
The European Network for Clinical Legal Education (ENCLE) was established in 2012 to promote justice and increase the quality of legal education through the CLE methodology. Nevertheless, CLE is not yet widely implemented across Europe, with only a limited number of universities integrating the methodology into their law curricula.
Independent law clinics, largely inspired by students, were established a few years after Ukraine’s independence. CLE in Ukraine, however, has faced significant challenges since the onset of the war with Russia in 2022. The Association of Legal Clinics of Ukraine (ALCU), in cooperation with international clinicians, was actively promoting CLE prior to the war. According to their 2022 data, 16 law schools offered CLE as a compulsory course, 12 offered it as an elective, while 16 provided some form of extracurricular activities. Currently, only certain parts of Western Ukraine are considered relatively safe for citizens and clinicians. In response to the ongoing situation, the ALCU encourages clinics to use technology to support students and clients.
Legal education in Poland began in Kraków in 1364. The advocacy profession was initially regulated by the Duchy of Warsaw and the Napoleonic Code; self-regulation only followed after independence in 1919, and for the attorneys’ profession in the 1980s. There was, however, a plea for the establishment of law clinics as early as 1904. Polish CLE, following the American model, was first introduced at the Kraków Law School in 1997, followed quickly by a clinic in Warsaw in 1998 and a further 27 clinics over the next eight years.
The Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic were formed when Czechoslovakia ceased to exist on 31 December 1992. Czech law schools initially attempted to create clinics where practitioners would present seminars, in the hope that externships would follow. The Palacký University in the Czech Republic launched the first clinic in 1997, where students advised clients under supervision. All Slovak universities offered Street Law programmes by 2000 and had established law clinics by 2016. However, CLE is not part of mainstream legal education in either the Czech or Slovak Republics.
Legal education in Croatia was shaped by socialist traditions. The bar association initially opposed the formation of law clinics, but the European Union’s negotiators insisted on their establishment when Croatia’s Legal Aid Act was drafted in 2008. The Zagreb Law Clinic, established in 2010, was modelled on the Norwegian system and follows a hybrid approach that integrates clinical work into law students’ studies. All the law schools in Croatia currently have live client law clinics based on the Zagreb model.
The Republic of Malta is a member of both the European Union and the British Commonwealth. Malta’s public law system follows British common law due to its history as a British colony, resulting in the use of both English and Maltese as legal languages. Private law is based on civil traditions and practice, and court proceedings are conducted in Maltese. The European Union has introduced additional legal influences. The law clinic at the University of Malta was established in 2007, offering a CLE course for academic credit.
Traditional methods of legal education continue to dominate in Hungary. Only a few law schools employ the CLE methodology. Three types of law schools can be identified: those that have never had a law clinic, those that offer Street Law programmes on occasion and the those that offer CLE as an elective course. Only three law clinics in the country offer students the opportunity to work with live clients.
Students at a private university in France offered legal advice to the poor between 1802 and 1805, following the closure of universities by the revolutionary government in 1795. This, however, ended when Napoleon reinstated universities in 1806 to serve as his mouthpiece. References to law clinics appear in 1840, 1900, and again during the 1920s and 1930s, but none of these efforts succeeded. After the Second World War, national schools were established outside university context for the judiciary (1958), attorneys (1970) and notaries (1973), while universities continued to provide only seminars and tutorials. The legal profession became increasingly critical of the lack of practical training at universities during the mid-2000s. This criticism culminated in the formation of the clinical movement in 2007 and the establishment of several law clinics between 2007 and 2010. By 2023, France had 40 law clinics, including three in overseas French territories. In most clinics, students offer legal advice to live clients under supervision.
The Fourth German Jurists Forum proposed the formation of law clinics in 1863, leading only to seminar instruction. The idea resurfaced in 1900, but fell into obscurity under the Nazi regime, whose legislation remained for decades after the Second World War. Authorities in the city of Bremen permitted the establishment of a law clinic in 1978. The Legal Service Act of 2008 provided for the establishment of law clinics. Students were the driving force behind these initiatives and there are currently 92 law clinics in Germany, with 70 providing live client services.
The mid-twentieth century saw the first attempts to establish law clinics in Italy. An organisation, L’altro diritto (“the other law”), which is still part of the modern clinical movement, was established by the end of the 20th century and involved students assisting inmates in Tuscan prisons. The first university law clinic was established in 2009 and 39 of the 59 universities in Italy currently have law clinics. Italian clinics want to use the CLE methodology to break down the conservative power structures that characterize Italian legal culture, with the goal of promoting social change. However, criticism levelled against Italian clinics indicates that there is no uniform understanding or application of the CLE methodology.
Law shops first opened in Tilburg in the Netherlands in 1969 as a result of the youth rebellion of the 1060s. Their influence in academia, however, began to fade somewhat after the government introduced legal aid. Nonetheless, many law shops continue to operate, focusing exclusively on local matters. The Maastricht law clinic opened in 1988, offering CLE as an elective course. The CLE course is compulsory for LLM students at the Amsterdam International Law Clinic and encompasses eight clinical units, focusing on both national and international cases. The International Law Clinic in Utrecht was established in 2009 and focuses on the international legal community.
The Juss-Buss (“law bus”) mobile law clinic was established in Oslo in 1971, with students providing legal consultations to the poor using a bus. This initiative pioneered the basis of the current ecosystem of student legal advice in Norway. Several university clinics have since been established, although some universities still employ traditional teaching formats despite reforms.
Spanish legal curricula remained static since the end of the Franco dictatorship in 1975. A law clinic movement emerged in the mid-2000s, resulting in the establishment of several university law clinics. The 1994 Declaration of Salamanca was adopted by the Spanish clinical movement in 2018 to promote CLE and is currently hoping to effect nationalisation. Spanish clinics also mobilise during emergencies under the umbrella of the Salamanca Declaration.
Keywords: clinical legal education; clinical legal movements; externship; independent law clinics; law clinics; legal profession; live client clinics; public legal education; Street Law programmes; traditional legal education
- This article’s featured image was created by Selim Karadayı and obtained from Pexels.
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