Clinical Legal Education
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Student Testimonials
"From my own experience I must admit that the benefits of clinical legal education are immense and it is this combination of theoretical legal understanding and the hands on approach one develops from clinical education that proves to be invaluable in a student's legal development."
Colin Lenihan BA, LLB, LLM (Criminal Justice) - read more »
Public Interest Law Clinical legal education is an education that is both experience-based and academic. It allows students the opportunity to pursue theoretical enquiry into legal issues as well as gaining exposure to real legal situations in practice in a context where law is utilised in the public interest.
Clinical legal education in Ireland takes on many different forms and the concept is under development at a number of institutions.
One example of student lead clinical work is NUIG FLAC (National University of Ireland, Galway, Free Legal Advice Centre) as explained here by the Society's Auditor, Aisling Dillon:
"NUI Galway FLAC was established in January 2010 by members of the NUI Galway Law Society. The establishment of FLAC in NUI Galway was marked with a lecture on access to justice with speakers including Noeline Blackwell and Gerry Whtye.
This student FLAC aims to promote access to justice on campus in NUI Galway. It provides free legal advice clinics to students of NUI Galway. These clinics are staffed by trained law student volunteers who work under the supervision of qualified practitioners from the Galway area. It took a huge effort on the part of members of the Law Society to establish NUI Galway FLAC. These members formed a sub-committee of the Law Society to run the free legal advice clinics and offer informational seminars to students of NUI Galway. In March 2010 NUI Galway FLAC held two seminars; one on criminal law and another on student debt and credit.
The legal advice clinics take place on a weekly basis during the academic year on Tuesday evenings from 6-7.30pm and are based in Aras na Mac Léinn, NUI Galway. NUI Galway FLAC has been so successful that the members involved lodged an application to form a new student society in NUI Galway and that application has just been approved. In the future the legal advice clinics and other activities of NUI Galway FLAC will be conducted by the NUI Galway FLAC Society. It has the support of the Community Knowledge Initiative and the School of Law, NUI Galway."