Clinical scholarship across contexts and borders

Elaine Hall
2018 International Journal of Clinical Legal Education  
Our summer edition reinforces the idea of clinic as a liminal activity -one that takes place in Schön's 'swampy lowlands' of real world problems, complexities of practice and the development of services and solutions in response to immediate need. We often lament the liminal status of clinic, comparing it unfavourably with the established legal disciplinary camps. Certainly, the performative and scholarly standards are clear for doctrinal lawyers but you only have to glance at the papers in
more » ... issue to realise that we are having a lot more fun. Ben Waters and Jeanette Ashton write in the shadow of legal aid cuts in England and Wales but rather than simply critiquing the 'justice gap', they report on the implementation of the CLOCK Community Legal Companion scheme. In their paper, they look both at the social benefits of this project and also the educational potential for the students in terms of skills, employability and confidence. Emma Jones' paper is also on the theme of innovation, drawing on the work of The Open University's Open Justice Centre in the UK to provide online pro-bono opportunities for distance learning students. The creativity and ingenuity that has
doi:10.19164/ijcle.v25i2.720 fatcat:7y5map3kubbihdokavepefzcwu