2013 Regional Clinical Legal Education (CLE) Conference
Khon Kaen University Faculty of Law, Khon Kaen, Thailand
22-23 November 2013
A two-day conference will be held at Khon Kaen University in November 2013 where participants from universities throughout Thailand as well as participants from within and outside the Southeast and East Asia region are expected to attend.
Attendees will learn about clinical legal education, models of CLE programmes, how CLE programmes strengthen legal education and access to justice and how to develop an accredited CLE Programme into the legal curriculum. The conference sessions will also provide the opportunity for participants to engage in strategic planning for CLE academic programmes and incorporating CLE into a basic curriculum. All sessions will employ interactive, participatory and learner based methodology.
The event will be focusing on bringing in many of the deans and university policy makers from a large number of Thailand and other universities throughout the region. BABSEACLE and its partners, including those from the Chiang Mai University Legal Clinic, may be able to demonstrate to them the deep academic and social justice importance of clinical legal education. To do this BABSEACLE will be bringing in many of its regional partners to illustrate how far they have gone in other South East Asia countries (and beyond) in the proliferation of CLE.
The Conference will create an opportunity to promote and encourage the development of Clinical Legal Education (CLE) in Thailand and throughout the region. It will also serve to create a network of law lecturers in Thailand and regionally who are focused on the development of accredited CLE programmes at their universities. The conference aims to invite representatives from universities that have expressed interest in the CLE methodology and strengthening legal education and access to justice in Thailand and regionally. The event will utilize an interactive and exploratory model to introduce the CLE methodology as a way to: educate socially-aware lawyers, promote general legal awareness and accessibility of law and justice, and develop a long-term pro-bono culture in societies where access to lawyers is scarce. The proposed network of legal clinics will unite legal educators to achieve shared goals such as the expansion of CLE across the region.