Northumbria Law School hosts international clinical legal education conference

Northumbria Law School was delighted to host over 170 academics from more than 25 countries at this year’s International Journal of Clinical Legal Education (IJCLE) Conference.

The IJCLE is a world leading peer-reviewed open access journal devoted to the innovative field of clinical legal education, published by Northumbria Law School. The first IJCLE conference was held in 2003, in London. Since then clinicians from around the world working with students in the delivery of legal advice and education projects have gathered together each year for their annual conference. Conferences have been held in in South Africa, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, Spain, Czech Republic, Turkey, and Canada.

This year, the conference returned to the home of the IJCLE, and was held in association with the European Network for Clinical Legal Education (ENCLE) and the UK Clinical Legal Education Organisation (CLEO). Professor Kevin Kerrigan gave the welcome keynote address, and the keynote panel was delivered by Lisa Bliss, Mary Anne Noone, and Veronika Tomoskova.

Professor Elaine Hall, editor of the IJCLE, said “We have been blown away by the enthusiasm and scholarship of international clinicians. The network, always strong, supportive and inclusive is becoming ever more complex and collaborative both in the research undertaken and in the deep reflection on what it means to be a clinician.”

Jonny Hall, Faculty Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor (Learning & Teaching), said “The University of Northumbria and the city of Newcastle provided a warm welcome to our delegates, who constantly remarked on the friendliness, openness and curiosity they met – all good clinical traits!  Next year our conference will be in Hong Kong where we’ll continue to explore the ways in which clinic contributes to student learning, community empowerment and access to justice.”