Promoting Justice Through Clinical Legal Education

Book excerpt: Clinical legal education is of increasing significance to law schools in Australia and across the globe. The potential to combine community service with student learning distinguishes clinical teaching from other forms of legal education. This book considers how to best recognise and realise the contributions that experiential learning methodologies can make to legal education. It identifies the contributions that clinical programs can make to student learning, social justice, community engagement and research. In this book, Jeff Giddings provides a framework for understanding both the pedagogical and political dimensions of the establishment and sustainability of clinical programs. He uses in-depth historical case studies of major Australian clinical programs to identify how various interested groups can harness the great potential of clinical legal education.