Clinical Legal Education Training Materials

Curriculum materials on how to teach clinical legal education and street law, and how to operate a university-based clinic, are now available on the Open Society Justice Initiative's website.

The materials were developed for the First Southeast Asian Clinical Teacher Training workshop, in which faculty from law schools in seven Southeast Asian nations met from January 30 to February 3 in Manila for specialized training in teaching clinical legal education. The training brought together law professors and other faculty from law schools in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam to learn about teaching in clinical legal education programs and how to operate university-based clinics and street law programs.

The training, organized by the Justice Initiative and the Ateneo Human Rights Center at Ateneo Law School, familiarized attendees with the teaching methodology used in clinical legal education programs and enabled them to share experiences in running university-based legal clinics and street law programs. Participants worked together to develop lesson plans for teaching practical lawyering skills and street law, and received training in running legal aid clinics.

The training also included visits to the legal clinics at the Ateneo de Manila University and the University of Philippines, and to Manila-based alternative lawyering groups.

The training materials cover a range of topics, from the general (e.g., an overview of the clinical legal education field) to the specific (e.g., how to teach negotiation and mediation skills). Case studies are used throughout to illustrate the lessons.

"Although these materials were developed for a Southeast Asian audience, they can be used in other contexts as well," said Mariana Berbec-Rostas, the Justice Initiative's junior legal officer for Legal Capacity Development. "Anyone who wants to learn about clinical legal education methodology or how to teach students in a clinical education program can benefit."