Annual Conference was a Great Success

Clinical legal education is a form of study that involves students actually performing in role as a lawyer. It serves many functions such as educating students about justice and injustice, enhancing legal knowledge, developing legal skills and providing a community service.  A key purpose of clinical learning is to equip the lawyers of tomorrow with a richer notion of their role in the service of clients and in the broader public realm.  The conference focused on the impact that clinic might have on the life of future lawyers and thus on the legal systems they help to shape.  

The keynote speakers were some of the leading scholars in the field of legal education: Professor Peter Joy, Professor of Law and Director of the Criminal Justice Clinic, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, St. Louis, Missouri; Professor Paul Maharg, Professor of Legal Education, Northumbria University; Catherine Klein and Leah Wortham, Professors of Law at Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law and Beryl Blaustone, Professor of Law at City University of New York Law School, New York.

There were also 50 parallel papers covering a huge range of issues and addressing the experience of diverse legal jurisdictions including: The United Kingdom, Spain, Poland, Czech Republic, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Malawi, United States of America and Ireland.

Alongside the main conference there was a student poster competition (details available on the website www.ijcle.com), informal clinical supervision sessions and a wide range of social events.

The conference is further evidence of Northumbria’s growing reputation as a leading centre of clinical scholarship in the world.