Can the traditional law curriculum be delivered via clinical and experiential learning?

Kevin Kerrigan, Jonny Hall and Adam Jackson (Northumbria University) led a discussion forum exploring the viability of clinical and experiential methodology playing a more prominent role in the delivery of the core law curriculum and the development of general and intellectual skills.

Download Jonny and Kevin’s background paper for the session, Clinic and the wider law curriculum at the bottom of the page. For more on the issues explored here see Clinical legal education: theory, practice and possibilities, which summarises the main issues relating to the use of clinical education as an integral part of the law degree programme at Northumbria.

We are convinced that this is a propitious moment for uniting, in a single educational framework, the two sides of legal knowledge: (1) formal knowledge and (2) the experience of practice. We therefore attempt in this report to imagine a more capacious, yet more integrated, legal education.

— Educating lawyers: preparation for the profession of law (Carnegie Report, 2007, p12)

The Carnegie Report indicates a perceived need in the USA to more closely align substance and practice in legal education. With rare exceptions, legal education in the UK remains wedded to a largely linear approach towards academic development. Students develop knowledge of substantive law and theoretical principles in their undergraduate study, followed by practical legal skills and procedural knowledge in a vocational course, and finally implementation of knowledge and on the job training during their apprenticeship stage (training contract or pupillage). A compartmentalised approach towards student development tends to lead to separation of learning and teaching methodologies and priorities. Legal practice tends to be all but ignored during the academic stage of legal education, whereas doctrine and principle are sidelined during the vocational stages.

The emergence of clinical legal education in the latter half of the 20th century has posed challenges for traditional pedagogy. Clinical legal education often thrives in law schools, however it tends to do so with a distinct identity, purpose and values, so that a barrier is erected between regular learning and clinical learning. It is fair to say that, at least in the UK, clinical legal education is not yet mainstream.

In this session the presenters first outlined their argument – that clinical and experiential methodology ought to be given greater prominence in law school teaching and learning strategies, in order not only to help develop students’ legal skills and professional awareness, but also to hone their academic skills and substantive knowledge. They argued that clinical and experiential activities can and should play a key role alongside other methodologies in delivering core legal knowledge and understanding, and then posed a range of discussion points for participants, including:

• Is the dichotomy between doctrine and practice a real one, and if so, is this a problem?
• Is the traditional curriculum broken so that it needs a clinical/experiential fix?
• What is clinical/experiential learning?
• Is a grounding in substantive legal rules an essential prerequisite for effective clinical learning?
• What are the risks of trying to synthesise the doctrinal study of law with exposure to its practical realities?
• Do clinical and experiential learning methods have anything to offer non practising academics?
• How could clinical/experiential learning help develop general intellectual skills?
• How could clinical/experiential learning help develop substantive legal knowledge?
• Would there be a tension between breadth and depth of coverage?

About the presenters

---

Kevin Kerrigan is Associate Dean for Undergraduate and Clinical Programmes at Northumbria Law School. His teaching and research interests are in the fields of criminal litigation, human rights and legal education. He is the editor of the International Journal of Clinical Legal Education (IJCLE) and organises an annual international clinical conference.
 
Jonny Hall is a principal lecturer in law at Northumbria and programme leader for the M Law (Exempting) degree. He is a practising solicitor specialising in civil procedure and teaches in the school’s award winning Student Law Office. He has delivered numerous papers on legal education and is deputy editor of the IJCLE.
 
Adam Jackson is a senior lecturer in law at Northumbria and director of studies for year 1 of the M Law (Exempting) degree, where he is responsible for implementing clinical and experiential learning activities into the teaching programme. He was called to the Bar in 2003 and specialises in criminal law, procedure and evidence.

---

Last Modified: 9 July 2010