STARS Team took part in 6th ENCLE Conference “Clinical Legal Education: Innovating Legal Education In Europe” (Turin 20-21 September 2018)
In September the STARS Team gathered in Torino (Italy) for the 6th ENCLE Annual Conference to debate with a diverse and expert audience, learn from each other and share best practices on how to enhance Clinical Legal Education in the European Union.
The European Network for Clinical Legal Education (ENCLE) with the Department of Law of the University of Turin and the International University College of Turin and under patronage of the University of Turin, held the 6th ENCLE Conference entitled “Clinical Legal Education: Innovating Legal Education In Europe”. The event took place at the University of Turin on 20th and 21st September 2018.
Following previous annual conferences in Newcastle - UK (2017), Valencia - Spain (2016), Budapest - Hungary (2015), Olomouc – Czech Republic (2014), Warsaw – Poland (2013), the 6th ENCLE Conference aimed to investigate the spread, the evolution and the quality of Clinical Legal Education in Europe, understanding common features, best practices and future challenges.
“The importance of Clinical Legal Education in Europe is steadily growing and the last ENCLE conference in Turin was an excellent sign for it. It brought together clinicians from across Europe and abroad to discuss and reflect upon all aspects of teaching and learning. We learnt from each other and shared best practice on how to improve legal education in Europe and to enhance access to justice for those most vulnerable in our societies. It is great to be part of such a dynamic international movement of dedicated people!” - commented Ulrich Stege, involved in the organisation of the conference and member of ENCLE Board.
The conference consisted of a variety of sessions including workshops, paper presentations, plenaries and panel discussions. Particularly interesting was the plenary session on “Standards in Clinical Legal Education”, which encouraged a structured debate on the establishment of European standards on CLE and on how they can be a facilitator for the CLE practice and the CLE movement in more general. The plenary session was moderated by Maxim Tomoszek, Erasmus+ STARS Local Coordinator for Palacký University in Olomouc, ENCLE President and Vice-Dean for Education at the Palacký University Law Faculty in Olomouc, Czech Republic. The panelists who spoke about their experience with setting up standards of clinical legal education were: Lisa Radtke Bliss (U.S.), Anna Cody (Australia), Flip Czernicki (Poland) and Paul McKeown (UK). The panelists concluded that standards shall be backed by a professional institution or organization and in order to be applied they must be accepted and based on a wide consensus of the European law clinics community. Standards shall be rather inclusive than exclusive, they should be aspirational and shall leave space for innovation. Among other objective the STARS project aims to prepare draft European standards for live-client clinics.
The concurrent panels of the 6th ENCLE conference were organized into six pervasive streams:
- Towards a Common European Path to Clinical Legal Education;
- Improving access to justice for marginalized, excluded or vulnerable clients (communities);
- The role of clinics in Higher Education;
- Teaching methodologies and/or technologies used in the frame of Clinical Legal Education;
- Pro Bono and Clinical Legal Education;
- Actors and institutions involved in CLE.
The sessions were designed to encourage participation, provide opportunities to debate with a diverse and expert audience, stimulate discussion and expression of a wide range of views, share best practices and enhance the clinical movement across Europe.
The conference attracted a large international audience including academics, clinical legal educators, legal practitioners and students, from many European jurisdictions, as well as from outside Europe. In particular, 139 participants from 22 countries were present to discuss all aspects of teaching and learning, learn from each other and share best practices on how to improve legal education and access to justice through clinical legal education.