Guest Article by Dr Liam Thornton & Prof Imelda Maher - Clinical Legal Education in UCD Sutherland School of Law

Dr Liam Thornton is a lecturer in law and director of clinical legal education in UCD Sutherland School of Law.

Prof Imelda Maher is the Sutherland Chair of European Law in UCD Sutherland School of Law. 

There are both broad and narrow conceptions of what precisely constitutes clinical legal education. Ireland, somewhat like the UK, has a number of factors that make direct comparisons with US and Austral-Asian systems of clinical legal education not only unrealistic, but wholly unwarranted. The fact that the majority of our students will be entering university for the first time to undertake law as an undergraduate degree should not be glossed over. This is very significant. This may go some way in explaining why clinical legal education is only now gaining a strong foothold in Ireland.  It also explains why a broad conception is taken, with the ambition being to engage students with the question of why the law works in the way it does in particular environments (government, legislative, commercial civil society) rather than specifically focusing on students providing real-life law clinics under the direction of solicitors.

This broad conception of clinical legal education is reflected in the design of the new UCD Sutherland School of Law building which opened last November and in the approach to clinical legal education within the School.  The UCD Arthur Cox Clinical Legal Education Centre is the first clinical legal education centre of its kind in Ireland. Drawing on best design in clinical education spaces in Law Schools in Ireland (notably the moot court in the University of Limerick, Austral-Asia (Bond, UNSW, Singapore and Sydney Law Schools), the US and the UK (especially Northumbria- the national leader in clinical education in the UK),  UCD CLEC contains dedicated clinical suites to facilitate experiential and clinical learning, a moot court, vulnerable witness room, judges' chambers, client counselling suites, student group work rooms and a boardroom. In addition there is a ceremonial court room in the UCD A & L Goodbody lecture theatre.

In anticipation of the opening of these new state-of-the-art facilities, the School of Law has increased the clinical component of its programmes in recent years; with modules on students’ skills in advocacy and mooting, alternative dispute resolution. In addition, the School embeds problem-based learning within modules like property law and competition law in practice. Most recently, the School has offered internship modules. On top of these developments, students also now have the opportunity to visit leading commercial and corporate law firms and alumni in London during an intensive week study trip. The most recent of our clinical modules, Legal Practice II (Legal Internship) has proven very popular with students, the professions and non governmental organisations. In its inaugural year, students, after competitive application, were placed in a variety of commercial and non-commercial legal service providers and innovators. Students engaged in a wide variety of legal practice: be it shadowing, visiting court, dealing with clients or undertaking practical research. The benefit of UCD students to our internship partners can be clearly demonstrated with just one (of many!) examples with the research of one UCD intern last summer contributing to the Children’s Rights Alliance: A Guide to Children’s EU Rights in Ireland. As many of our internship partners have indicated, UCD law students are a font of enthusiasm and knowledge, who bring a range of useful skills to their internships.

As well as the provision of undergraduate clinical opportunities, the School continues to offer graduate clinical opportunities, with strong clinical components to our Professional Diploma in Arbitration and Professional Diploma in Labour Law.  It is envisaged that clinical opportunities for our graduate students on our many programmes will continue to expand.

The vision of the School of Law includes being a leading centre for clinical legal education through professionalism, innovation and excellence in teaching, student based placements and research at undergraduate and graduate levels. The School values all forms of clinical legal education: mooting, negotiation, arbitration, alternative dispute resolution, client counselling, internship, public interest law and provision of student led research to for profit and not for profit partners. The opening of the new Sutherland School of Law with a dedicated Clinical Legal Education Centre ensures that clinical legal education in UCD will continue to expand in the coming years. 

If you would like to find out more about the Clinical Legal Education Centre or are interested in becoming an internship partner, please get in touch, clec@ucd.ie.

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