Abstract:
Experiential legal education and clinical legal education has been interchange ably used in India. The first wave of clinical legal education was seen in north America, and it was related to exposing students to real – live clients for dispute resolution. While considering the history in US and Canada, we can notice how Legal aid clinics acted as a method of reaching to the public and also to have clinical method of teaching. In India, we under clinical legal education as experiential learning, where learning is primarily through simulation, internships and case study more than being exposed to real – live clients in Legal institutions. Legal aid clinics were mandatory in college under the Rules of Legal education, 2008, which was supposed to be run by the fifth-year students. Through survey’s conducted, one of the crucial information that was identified was that except for few handful of colleges, legal aid cells, conclude their activities with Legal awareness and it was also witnessed that the activities of NSS and legal aid was clubbed. In situations like these, where the four clinical papers have become of the regular theory papers, it is necessary to understand what the kind of legal education is that India is trying to provide. Clinical legal education, on one side focuses on exposing students to real live client-based learning. Though we have internship to this extend, India follows to limited extend what we understand as experiential learning through reflective learning.
It is therefore necessary to relook into how it is offered and must consider restructuring the curriculum to have experiential legal education integrated into the course, including the foundational papers that is offered. Integrating experiential learning with the subjects will ensure that non- law papers will be understood in the context necessary for a law-students and not in its exclusive form. This will also ensure inter-disciplinary learning. The paper intends to offer, certain best practice that was collected from colleges across the country as to how far they were able to integrate experiential learning into the five – year law course.
Some of the instance that will be discussed in the paper:
- Understanding Sociology and sociology of law through cooperative teaching
- Understanding contract law, through analysis of contract and exposure to different forms of contract, including a module on drafting contract.
- Understand criminal law – in a combination of IPC, CrPC and IEA, contrary to the traditional approach
Along with other proposals. A reconsideration at this point will be worth looking at , considering how Draft Rules of Legal education, 2019 fails to consider the same.
Speaker:
Prof. Rhea Roy Mammen, Assistant Professor (Law), Ramaiah college of Law and Research Scholar, NLSIU
Designation: IQAC Coordinator & Assistant Professor (Law) and Research Scholar
Affiliation: Ramaiah College of Law and National Law School of India University, Bengaluru
- Bachelors of Law from CUSAT with Gold medal for the five year course.
- Active mooter, debater, and extra curricular activities during college days.
- Master (LLM in Human rights law ) from National law school of India university(NLS, Bengaluru) on the topic “A Study of Experiential legal education In India”
- Worked in Commons cell, under Ministry of Urban poor in NLSIU. Pursuing PhD from NLS.
- Qualified national Eligibility test (NET) for teaching, Assistant Professor at Ramaiah College of law for five and half years. And the IQAC. Coordinator , RCL
- Also awardee of Linnaeus Palme Fellowship for land and water governance To Stockholm
- And Indo Canadian shastri fellowship for research to Canada.
- Presented and Papers at multiple avenues, as well was involved in consultation with projects by UNDP, NCW etc.