Rana Rizwan Hussain
Clinical legal education is a way to impart legal education with practical approach. It harnesses the capacities of the participants in two manners – First it helps to learn what may remain missing in theoretical form of learning. Second it provides an opportunity to apply what has already been learnt.
Law clinics which are responsible for imparting legal education in clinical manner can be organized in two different ways. First in the form of law moots where the students are given a hypothetical case to prepare and then to present and contest before a moot court. This is mainly the responsibility of the law schools to arrange such training facilities for the students. Let me add emphasis here – when we say that it is a responsibility, it means that it is an essential part of the legal education and cannot be compromised.
Second way of imparting clinical legal education is to associate the students with law practitioners where they are given the chance to prepare and present the real cases before the courts. This form of law clinic is more useful as it helps in the capacity building of the students to handle pressure where valuable rights of the parties directly depend upon their efforts. This type of law clinic is the responsibility of the law firms, which still lacks its initiative.
Moreover, the object of clinical legal education is two-fold. One is to train the students for their prospective legal career and the second is to serve the public interest by offering pro-bono legal services. Fulfillment of second purpose is only possible where the students or the graduates are given a due opportunity to become part of the private practice of a law practitioner.
Clinical legal education is a demanding area to work upon for improving the standards of law practice and reforms in the legal system.
The importance of clinical legal education system is vital and can neither be overlooked nor undermined therefore a due attention should be given at every level for its development.
Writer is a practicing lawyer and a lecturer of law
ranarizwanhussain 