Stellenbosch Law Clinic Developing its International Footprint

Stellenbosch Law Clinic developing its international footprint

The Clinic’s Stephan van der Merwe has been awarded funding grants from the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime (UNODC) and the University of Stellenbosch Faculty of Law’s Research Committee to visit Melbourne, Australia, from 27 November to 9 December 2018.

Stephan will attend the International Journal of Clinical Legal Education (IJCLE) Conference on 28 to 30 November to present a paper entitled  “Intentional about impact: Changing lives and laws through the work of University Law Clinics”. From the abstract: “As a consequence of their typical interventions, clinics have occasionally been able to contribute to effecting more substantial legal advances. One example of this has been the work done by the University of Stellenbosch Law Clinic in changing the South African legal landscape with regard to emoluments attachment orders (EAOs). Prior to this, deficiencies in the South African legal system allowed unscrupulous creditors to severely abuse EAOs. The presentation aims to highlight what law clinics can do to advance the influence of their work, ultimately arguing that clinics have to be more intentional about making an impact in their societies.” https://www.monash.edu/law/home/cle/clinical-legal-education-conference#tabs__1384278-03

He has also been awarded a fellowship from the National Institute for Teaching Ethics & Professionalism (NIFTEP) to participate in their Fall 2018 Workshop from 4 to 6 December, where he will present a teaching demonstration entitled “What are Legal Ethics, and why do they matter?”. During the Workshop he will also receive hands-on training in the use of the world’s most comprehensive web-based resource for teaching legal ethics: www.teachinglegalethics.com, and the United Nations’ E4J University modules on Integrity and Ethics. In addition, Stephan has been invited to serve on the Workshop’s panel discussing ‘Teaching Professionalism and Ethics as they relate to Human Rights and Social Justice’. http://niftep.org/workshops/fall-2018-workshop

The visit will conclude with Stephan attending the International Legal Ethics Conference (ILEC) from 6 to 8 December.

Through engagements like these, the Clinic remains committed in its purposes of both contributing to, and learning from, the growing international society of Clinical Legal Education and Professional Skills development experts.