Law clinics have established an innovative academic approach. They enable students to move beyond traditional law curricula and address forward-looking legal issues related to new technologies. These clinics adopt a practical methodology designed to raise students’ awareness of the multidisciplinarity of the professional world in which they will be required to exercise their skills and competencies. They give students very direct exposure to the realities of the professional world through the support they receive from professional lawyers and from scientists. The legal field rarely looks to the future, and yet the rapid development of digital technologies no longer allows for the creation of purely reactive legal systems. Future needs must be anticipated. Today’s students need to be made aware of this dimension. The legal clinic immerses them in the world of justice. By asking students to work on a type of law that does not yet exist, they understand that the law is creative and constantly under construction.
Experimenting to understand, understanding to learn
Students need to develop legal expertise in relatively uncharted areas (new technologies) that are not covered by the academic curriculum. They thus discover the world of justice in its entirety, in all its complexity and its humanity. They experience it from within to better gain a better insight into the different issues.
Law students are also associated with legal research. This experience of legal research is in itself a factor in the consolidation of learning and knowledge of legal reasoning. Students work in the same way as professionals, which makes their studies more meaningful and gives them practical insights into their professional future. They learn how to communicate with non-lawyers in order to contribute to the societal debates raised by these technologies. This professionalisation corresponds to the needs of their future employers.
Competencies
- Acquisition of competencies in digital law and new technologies
- Acquisition of learning skills: understanding and clarifying legal procedure; making sense of justice through its application and transmission; formulating legal criticism
- Acquisition of legal know-how: developing a capacity for legal criticism that will be indispensable in their future careers
- Acquisition of technical expertise: drafting of legal instruments and performance of research projects
- Acquisition of a legal research methodology: writing of research articles capable of generating legal reflection, arising from practical cases dealt with in moot courts; proposing innovative solutions to the social and legal questions raised by the use of new technologies
- Improvement of collaborative skills: multi-disciplinary and international teamwork in technical fields
- Accountability in decision-making; development of an awareness of the legal specialist’s social responsibility
- Acquisition of multidisciplinary skills and ability to work in a transdisciplinary manner
- Professionalisation. Students benefit by gaining professional experience: supervision and validation by practitioners. Discussions and communication with professionals
- Personal development: improvement of public speaking skills, from analysis to presentation of arguments, trust, responsibility, autonomy, adaptability, respect, listening skills, responsiveness, rigour