What we mean by Public Interest Law
Rather than being defined as a distinct area of law, FLAC defines public interest law as a way of working with the law for the advancement and protection of human rights and for the benefit of marginalised and disadvantaged people through litigation, law reform and legal education.
Using the law to benefit marginalised or disadvantaged people has long been part of legal life but it wasn't until the 1960s in the US that the term "public interest law" was coined. In Ireland, public interest law is ongoing, regardless of whether or not it is formally referred to as such.
For PILA, public interest law involves:
- Law reform - this includes research on issues of concern, developing reform proposals, lobbying and campaigning;
- Legal education - this involves incorporating an awareness of public interest into third level and professional legal education through, for example, the teaching of public interest law (as is currently the case in TCD) or the development of clinical (i.e. practical) legal education as a structured part of the course of education (as in NUI Galway and UCC);
- Community legal education - this involves a range of measures to 'demystify' the law and to raise awareness of the law amongst disadvantaged and vulnerable people. Examples include the provision of information materials (in print or on-line), community legal education projects, training, 'Street Law' programmes in the USA and elsewhere where law students deliver legal education to members of the public;
- Public interest litigation - this involves the use of litigation (i.e. the process of bringing a case to court) in a strategic manner to advance the position of disadvantaged groups and individuals. It involves a wide range of activities from the identification of an issue, identification of potential cases, preliminary advice, the bringing of the case itself, and the implementation of the court's decision. Consideration of this area will also involve looking at alternative forms of resolving issues of law (such as, in the Irish case, the Ombudsman)