Aren't clinics too expensive?

Undoubtedly clinical work is more expensive than traditional law teaching, and there is, at present at least, no possibility of increasing per capita core funding to take account of a clinical element. But it is worth doing the sums as the costs may not as great as you assume.

The most obvious cost is staffing. Even simulation work tends to function best with a lower staff-student ratio (SSR) than is common now in our law schools (for simulation an SSR in the region of 12-14:1 is often recommended; I suggest it should be lower if possible for live client work, where even around 8:1 can be a reasonable workload). Start-up and running costs for a live client clinic can also be significant (see the set-up checklist).

Consider how some of these costs may be defrayed/avoided, for example by:

• developing an externship model or linking to the resources of an external network, such as the projects run by the the Solicitors Pro Bono Group (now LawWorks) and the Bar Pro Bono Unit
• seeking external sponsorship of facilities and resources
• obtaining a Legal Services Commission contract, which can create income to be set off against staffing and running costs

Ultimately, however, the real issue needs to be not simply ‘how much does it cost’, but whether the educational and other benefits (student employability, publicity, relations with the profession, community links) justify the expenditure – see for example the discussion in Brayne, Duncan & Grimes (1998: 259-60).

Last Modified: 2 August 2010