Since leaving his post as PILA Manager and returning to the School of Law at NUI Galway last September, Larry Donnelly has been working to promote the expansion and enhancement of clinical legal education programmes at Irish law schools.
Clinical legal education, which offers law students the chance to see how the law works in the “real world” and instils in them an awareness that law can be a valuable tool for promoting social justice and protecting human rights, has become a global phenomenon.
While Irish law schools were relatively late to embrace clinical legal education, there has been a steady expansion in clinical programmes in recent years, and there are many exciting clinical initiatives on the horizon. As part of its remit to promote the use of law in the public interest in Ireland, PILA has been at the heart of much of this ongoing activity. Larry Donnelly is now leading PILA’s efforts on this front from NUI Galway.
In October of last year, a roundtable meeting of interested legal academics from a number of different institutions was held in the School of Law at UCC. At this productive meeting, two proposals were endorsed. First is the formation of an Irish Clinical Legal Education Association. This association, which will have representatives from universities, institutes of technology and the professional bodies, will foster the sharing of experiences and plans, inter-institutional collaboration where appropriate, collective efforts to obtain much needed resources and international engagement at the highest level. Second is the first ever conference that will focus specifically on the development of clinical legal education in Ireland. This conference will be sponsored jointly by PILA and NUI Galway, will take place in Galway and will serve as the official launch of the Irish Clinical Legal Education Association.
Other significant happenings of note are:
1) Larry Donnelly gave a paper at the plenary session of the Irish Association of Law Teachers Annual Conference, entitled “Taking the Next Steps in the Development of Irish Clinical Legal Education,”. Please click here to read
2) Prof. Gerard Quinn and Dr. Eilionóir Flynn, of the Centre for Disability Law and Policy, NUI Galway, with input from colleagues in other Irish law schools, made a submission to the Law Reform Commission, entitled “Enhancing Access to Justice by Harnessing the Potential of Clinical Legal Education in Ireland”. Please click here to read
3) the School of Law at TCD has just advertised a part-time assistant professorship in clinical legal education. Please click here for more information
Clearly, these are exciting times for Irish clinical legal education. More detailed information about the upcoming PILA/NUI Galway conference on clinical legal education will feature in a subsequent Bulletin.