CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

 

“Clinical legal education” means education that is experience-based and focuses on appropriate lawyer roles, legal institutions, professional responsibility, and the theory or practice of legal representation or dispute resolution.  This craft contemplates a range of skills and values commensurate with the development of professionalism, such as the ability to solve legal problems through various dispute resolution devises, the provision of competent representation, the recognition and resolution of ethical dilemmas, and the promotion of justice, fairness and morality.

Clinical Legal Education extends to all fields of law which are taught in the law schools and universities.  There are two components of Clinical Legal Education: Moot Court Training and Conducting Actual Clinics.

Apart from lecturers and class-room discussions, CLE essentially includes Moot-Court preparation and role enactments for the law students.  Such simulation helps in orienting students towards anticipating Court situations, handling and communicating with the client.  It helps them to prepare briefs geared with practical orientation and actual Court room procedures.  Moot Court training leads to better interpersonal communication – as students are trained to understand the psyche of clients, judges, etc. Such training leads to sharp reflexes and their presence of mind is honed by continuous exposure to practical experiences.  The students are trained to be thorough professional : client confidentiality, being conscious of their body gestures, facial expressions and body language which should show alertness and attentiveness.  Moot Court training obviously leads to improved communication skills, improved legal vocabulary, and better comprehension of the issue at hand.

Training students through the medium of conducting clinics is another indispensable aspect of legal education.  An actual clinic is organized, for example, Lok Adalats on family law matters, Arbitration, Lok Adalats on public utility services, such as water, electricity, transport, etc. Students actively participate in organizing these clinics and learning dispute resolution mechanisms.

Still other types of clinics pertain to the performance of public services such as, legal aid for prisoners, poor, women, juveniles, etc. In such practical clinical training sessions, to take an example, the students are involved in drafting actual petitions and presenting them to the Magistrate’s seeking relief according to law.  Such exposure goes a long way in sensitizing the budding lawyers and curbing human Rights violations in our society.  By participating in such clinics and working for the most marginalized and vulnerable groups of society, the students are better attuned to the kind of human rights issues which they will face once they actually begin the rigours of legal practice.

This training programme on Clinical Legal Education is an endeavour of Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, to orient students towards achieving these ends.  It needs to be reiterated that the movement of human rights education can be best carried forward by conducting similar practical workshops and training programmes in human rightrs advocacy and law clinics.  This training programme is benefited from its association with the South Asian Law Schools’  Forum for Human Rights (SALS FORUM), which is a nascent organization, and is the first step in the South Asian Region to bring human rights education in the forefront of the struggle for human rights.

In future, the students will be trained to present petitions to the National and State Human Rights Commissions, on human rights violation on behalf of the victims or their families.  Similarly, students will be oriented in approaching the various UN human rights implementation agencies on issues of human rights violations.  It goes without saying that NGOs which form the crux of social service movements and who work at the grassroots level will be involved in these clinics, to give the students a first-hand experience on human rights issues in the prevailing society.