Part 6
Glossary of clinical legal education networks
Part 6.1
Glossary of clinical legal education networks
There are clinical legal education networks around the world that provide forums for clinicians to come together and share good practice, discuss new ideas and offer peer support. This Handbook would not have happened without such networks and we would encourage clinicians new and old to make use of these connections. The clinical community is a generous and welcoming one.
Details of many such networks and key organisations that work with and support them are set out below.1
Europe
Organisation | Description | Contact details |
Clinical Legal Education Organisation (CLEO): UK | CLEO is a UK-based charitable organisation aimed at fostering, promoting and developing clinical legal education in all its forms, including education, training, collaboration and research. It frequently holds events and workshops for clinicians and offers a mentoring scheme. | Email: info@cleo-uk.org |
European Network for Clinical Legal Education (ENCLE): Europe-wide | ENCLE is a European Network of people committed to achieving justice through education. It aims to bring together people from different countries, who exchange perspectives and work collaboratively from a variety of legal, educational and organisational settings in order to promote justice and increase the quality of law teaching through clinical legal education. | Email: encle.info@gmail.comWebsite: http://encle.org/ |
LawWorks (the Solicitors Pro Bono Group): England and Wales | LawWorks is a charity working in England and Wales to connect volunteer lawyers with people in need of legal advice, who are not eligible for legal aid and cannot afford to pay, and with the not-for-profit organisations that support them. Its aim is to support lawyers in developing the knowledge and confidence to provide competent probono legal advice and to keep abreast of developments in the pro bono sector. Many university clinics register as part of the LawWorks network. | Website (which includes a contact form): www.lawworks.org.uk |
Scottish University Law Clinic Network (SULCN) | The Scottish University Law Clinic Network works for the promotion of access to justice and to raise awareness of student law clinics and their activities. | Twitter: @SULCN |
Streetlaw UK and Ireland Best Practices: UK and the Republic of Ireland | An informal network that holds annual conferences dedicated to sharing best practice in the teaching and delivery of Streetlaw/public legal education. Its events are advertised via CLEO. | For enquiries contact Linden Thomas: l.thomas@bham.ac.uk |
Worldwide
Organisation | Description | Contact details |
Association for Canadian Clinical Legal Education (ACCLE): Canada | ACCLE is a group of individuals and clinics who have come together to provide a forum for legal educators across Canada to share best practices, pedagogies and other information related to clinical legal education, and to encourage the promotion and improvement of clinical legal education in Canadian law schools. Individual and clinic membership is available for a small fee. | Email: info@accle.ca |
Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA): USA | CLEA exists to advocate for clinical legal education as fundamental to the education of lawyers. Among other things, CLEA and its members seek to foster excellent teaching and scholarship by clinical educators, and to integrate clinical teaching and extend its methods into the legal education program of every law school. Offers full membership, associate membership and group membership options for a small fee. | Email the President: clea@cleaweb.org |
Global Alliance for Justice Education (GAJE): Worldwide | GAJE is a global alliance of persons committed to achieving justice through education. GAJE holds worldwide conferences and engages in other activities that are aimed at promoting the exchange of information and experience among persons involved in justice education around the world. Clinical education of law students is a key component of justice education, but GAJE also works to advance other forms of socially relevant legal education involving practising lawyers, judges, non-governmental organisations and the lay public. | Website (which includes a contact form): https://www.gaje.org/ |
International Journal of Clinical Legal Education (IJCLE): Worldwide | The International Journal of Clinical Legal Education is an international peer reviewed open access journal devoted to the innovative field of clinical legal education. The journal organises an annual conference which takes place in a different country each year. | Website: https://www.northumbriajournals.co.uk/index.php/ijcle |
Network of University Legal Aid Institutions Nigeria | NULAI Nigeria is a non-governmental, non-profit and non-political organisation committed to promoting clinical legal education, legal education reform, legal aid and access to justice. | Website: www.nulai.org |
South East Asia Clinical Legal Education Association (SEACLEA) | SEACLEA is a Southeast Asian Network of people and institutions committed to improving the quality of legal education and achieving justice in part through the use of clinical legal education. It aims to bring together people from different countries, who will exchange perspectives and work collaboratively from a variety of legal, educational and organisational settings in order to increase the quality of law teaching and improve justice through CLE. | Facebook: ‘South East Asia Clinical Legal Education Association’ |
Street Law Inc | Street Law Inc is a global, non-partisan, non-profit organisation with more than 40 years of experience developing classroom and community programs that educate young people about law and government. Street Law Inc works in the USA and around the globe. | Website: www.streetlaw.org |
Street Law South Africa | Street Law South Africa deals with public legal education, human rights and democracy education programmes at South African universities and works extensively internationally. | Facebook: @StreetLawSouthAfrica |
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1 Note that the organisations detailed here have a specific connection to, or focus on, clinical legal education and pro bono. Broader legal education networks and associations such as the Association of Law Teachers, the Socio-Legal Studies Association, the Society of Legal Scholars and the Legal Education Research Network may also hold events and facilitate conference streams that will be of particular interest to clinicians.