Interdisciplinary clinics – the next step in the evolution of clinical legal education?

Roper, Victoria (2018) Interdisciplinary clinics – the next step in the evolution of clinical legal education? In: International Journal of Clinical Legal Education Conference 2018, 28th - 30th November 2018, Melbourne, Australia.

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Abstract

In his keynote speech at IJCLE 2017, Kevin Kerrigan discussed the potential to develop a live client clinical approach right across the undergraduate curriculum. At the same conference, the presenter delivered a paper about a multi-disciplinary clinical teaching project at Northumbria University which was then in its pilot year. The project involves students of the Student Law Office (SLO) and Entrepreneurial Business Management (EBM) students working together to identify legal issues and solve business problems. The SLO is a long-established in-house law clinic that provides pro-bono legal assistance for businesses, community organisations and members of the public under the supervision of qualified practitioners. The pioneering EBM programme involves students setting up and running their own businesses and is one of only a small number of undergraduate programmes in the UK incorporating venture creation as part of the curriculum. Unusually, the experiential project immerses students in the role of both learner and teacher, whilst exposing them to students from another discipline. This paper will build upon the 2017 paper, presenting the results of a recently conducted research survey into the now expanded teaching project. Through the use of an online survey, data has been gathered from both sets of students in order to (a) evaluate the impact the project has had on their learning and skill development and (b) identify any ways in which the project could be improved. Wider lessons for collaborative learning and teaching more generally will be extrapolated from the research data. The benefits and challenges of such collaborative working will also be explored.

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