Clinical legal education (CLE) is a teaching approach that provides law students with practical, hands-on experience through real or simulated legal cases. It aims to create a learning environment where students can identify, research, and apply legal knowledge in settings that closely resemble real-world legal practice. The core idea is to train students in both the substantive and procedural aspects of law, alongside ethical considerations and professional skills necessary for effective legal practice.
The Concept of Clinical Legal Education
CLE emphasizes experiential learning, engaging students in activities like client interviews, legal counseling, mediation, negotiation, and courtroom simulations. This approach helps students develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and advocacy skills, which are essential for a successful legal career. It enables students to understand how the law works in action through real or realistic simulated casework.
How Clinical Legal Education Works in India
Law schools in India typically provide "legal aid cells" where students engage in legal assistance for underprivileged areas[. Clinics equip students with essential skills and techniques, such as legal writing and research, interviewing, investigation, and fact-finding skills, which are necessary for the practice of law. Students also cultivate a strong awareness of empathy and social justice through their efforts.
There are generally three types of legal clinics:
1. Simulation clinics: Students learn from simulations of what happens in legal practice, such as moot court exercises.
2. Out-house real client clinics: Clients require actual solutions to their actual problems.
3. In-house real client clinics: The clinic is based in the law school and is offered, monitored, and controlled by the law school.
CLE includes not only clinical courses but also practice-oriented courses and activities included in or offered outside the curriculum.
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