LAW CLINIC’S CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION (CLE) PROGRAMME AWARDED PRESTIGIOUS RESEARCH GRANT

The Law Clinic recently received a research grant from the Stellenbosch University Fund for Innovation and Research into Learning and Teaching (FIRLT). This grant is used to fund research into the Clinic’s CLE module, Practical Legal Training 471 (PLT), which is presented as a final year elective to students of the Faculty of law. The aim of this project is to provide insight and then engage in situational analysis to develop a framework to facilitate the possible expansion of the PLT module, which will have further implications for the role of CLE in a wider context. PLT is the only CLE module currently offered by the Faculty of Law at the University of Stellenbosch. It has an important function in that it offers to final year law students the opportunity to acquire and develop generic and profession-specific skills in a clinical setting by providing legal services to the indigent community in and around Stellenbosch. Alumni and current students of the Clinic were asked by independent researchers to participate in a voluntary, anonymous online questionnaire containing a combination of questions covering their expectations of and experiences in the PLT module. The number of replies received from participants who wanted to contribute to the research exceeded all expectations, and we are in the process of analysing the data to compile the relevant report.