Thinking About Clinical Legal Education

Thinking About Clinical Legal Education provides a range of philosophical and theoretical frameworks that can serve to enrich the teaching and practice of Clinical Legal Education (CLE). CLE has become an increasingly common feature of the curriculum in law schools across the globe. However, there has been relatively little attention paid to the theoretical and philosophical dimensions of this approach. This edited collection seeks to address this gap by bringing together contributions from the clinical community, to analyse their CLE practice using the framework of a clearly articulated philosophical or theoretical approach. Contributions include insights from a range of jurisdictions including: Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Ethiopia, Israel, Spain, UK and the US. This book will be of interest to CLE academics and clinic supervisors, practitioners, and students.

experiences grounded in social justice and community partnerships.?- Lucy

practice. It's a 'must read' for every law teacher's bookshelf.? - Rach Spencer,

for justice, and their ability to balance theory and practice." - Professor Simon

This book is an important and timely publication for several reasons. First, it marks a significant departure from existing scholarship on experiential learning in law. It goes beyond the ?why? and the ?how? of setting and running legal clinics ? that much of the existing literature looks at, as valuable as this is ? and focuses on broader and in-depth analyses of what such a form of education can involve. Secondly, the book marks what might be considered to be a coming of age for clinical legal education (CLE). Earlier work largely sought to justify the need for and worth of CLE. With CLE firmly established in many, possibly now most, jurisdictions on the global stage there is less need to concentrate on merit and justification and more of an opportunity to explore some of the fascinating and important dimensions of this approach the learning and teaching of law and the legal process. Hence we see chapters reflecting the philosophical, ethical and human rights considerations involved in planning, designing, running and evaluating CLE not to mention the political context in which this all takes place. In addition the book represents a departure from the mould of previous work in that it shows very clearly the need for theory in understanding and implementing CLE as well as showing the potential for further research and debate. CLE is now part of the curriculum across law schools in the civil, common, Shari?s and customary law worlds and without doubt is here to stay. This publication makes that very clear indeed and adds considerably to the body of knowledge on the subject.

Richard Grimes, Visiting professor Edinburgh Law School and Charles University, Prague