Centre for Clinical Legal Education

The UP Faculty of Law provides high-quality legal education as well as practical experience. Students will experience what it is like to be “in a lawyer’s shoes” already during their studies. Such a legal clinic, as the most intense way of acquiring practical experience, is ensured by the Centre for Clinical Legal Education.

Bridge between theory and practice

Clinical legal education has been in operation for dozens of years all over the world (in the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, Nigeria, Poland, etc.). Students, under thorough supervision by an academic supervisor, provide pro bono legal support and advice to socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. This is how Law students experience the principle of “learning by doing”. Working on real cases allows them to link together knowledge from separate legal disciplines.

Law students to aid

The Student Legal Aid Office offers advice to anyone who comes through the front door. The client is welcome at the reception by a student who is in charge. The student will interview the client about their legal problem, copy all pertinent documentation, and prepare a document file. The academic supervisor will assign the file to a pair of students to solve the legal issues under his or her supervision. The students have to look up regulations and jurisprudence, communicate with the client, consult their supervisor, and prepare various legal remedies of the problem.

Clinical paragraphs in Olomouc

There are eleven clinical courses taught at the faculty: some of them are based on providing legal aid to clients (the Student Legal Aid Office, Consumer Law Clinic, Administrative Law Clinic, Social Security Law Clinic), whereas other clinics, instead of working with “live clients”, choose to use model simulations of authentic situations in legal practice or to provide internships in NGOs and institutions (such as the Human Rights Clinic, Student Human Rights Clinic, Anti-Discrimination Clinic, Refugee Law Clinic, Law Clinic for Legal Aliens, etc.).

The Centre for Clinical Legal Education also ensures training in practical courses based on other than clinical teaching methods. For instance, this involves Everyday Law, using the “street-law” method, when the UP Law students teach Law at secondary and elementary schools. Other courses focus on the acquisition of legal skills, for example Juristic Skills Workshop and Legal Information Search. These courses are taught by the Faculty experts as well as experienced external experts.