conference on legal education and public interest lawyering in east africa: the role of university...

Conference on Legal Education and Public Interest Lawyering in East Africa: The Role of University Based Law Clinics (5th – 6th FEBRUARY 2014 )

Richard KAYIBANDA (LLB & LLM)Assistant Lecturer,

Legal Aid Clinic of the School of LawCollege of Arts and Social Sciences-University of Rwanda

04/18/23 1University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC)

Practical Legal Training in Rwanda: The Butare Approach

Outline of the Presentation

Background of LCs & CLE in Rwanda

Legal Clinic as a subject of the Law Curriculum

Legal Clinic as a Community Service


In details...


1. Background of LCs in Rwanda

In Rwanda the history of Legal Clinics is of recent :• University of Rwanda Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC) in 2001• Kigali Independent University (ULK) Legal Clinic in 2006• Independent Institute of Lay Adventists of Kigali (INILAK)

Legal Clinic in 2007• Ruhengeri Institute of High Education (INES) Legal Clinic

after 2003• Institute of Legal Practice &Development (ILPD) Legal

Clinic in 2010


Background (Cont’d) UR-LAC was set up by the School of Law of the University of

Rwanda (former Faculty of Law, National University of Rwanda) with mainly a twofold objective: • Serving as a laboratory for law students• Contributing to access to justice by providing free legal aid

services to the community (mainly desperate, marginalized, poor rural villagers & vulnerable people)

The creation of LAC appears thus as a means to achieve the University’s mission to to deliver quality education and develop research meant to address community’s problems


Background (Cont’d) Education

• need to marry theory and practice for law students to benefit from adequate legal training

• LAC helps to mould future legal practitioners (legal advisers, attorneys, judges…) proficient enough and with hands-on experience to deal with the real challenges of the legal practice.

Research • Recurrence at LAC of some specific types of problems among

the cases received from clients (E.g. succession, sexual violence against women and children, property related claims…) prompting deep enquiry into their root causes

• Proactive programmes informed by research findings (e.g. trainings, awareness campaigns, publication of booklets, advocacy, …)


Background (Cont’d)


Background (Cont’d)

A service to the community • free legal service to vulnerable people,

marginalized poor villagersDo not know their rightsSome who might know their entitlements lack the

resources or confidence to take their cases forward low advocate-to-population ratio ( 1 advocate for 9,544

people) & few professional lawyers willing to offer their services in rural

A few professional lawyers operating in rural areas are often too expensive for the ordinary citizen


2. Legal Clinic: a Law Curriculum Subject

Legal Clinic is a 12.5 credit compulsory subject (course) in third year undergraduate

students attend the course in batches (intakes) throughout the academic year

Each batch is composed of an average of ten (10) groups of two people and their involvement lasts five weeks


Legal Clinic….(Cont’d) Legal Clinic takes basically two parts:

1) an introductory briefing sessionOrganized at the beginning of every academic year & all attended by

all third year law students It is on the organization & function of LAC and conduct of the courseStudents are introduced to interviewing techniques, drafting of some

legal documents, ethical issues (confidentiality of client’s information, behaviour towards the clients…)

2) Thursday sessionsThursday sessions constitute the key component of clinical

programmeUnder the supervision of assigned Law lecturers or LAC legal

assistants, students attend their Legal Clinic sessions every Thursday from 2 to 5 PM in groups of two and their respective batches as said above and this for five weeks


Legal Clinic….(Cont’d)

Clients come from mainly an area of 5,701 Km2.

In the early years the Legal Aid Clinic received an average of 8 clients per week, but this number has increased 2010 to an average of 18 people per week (actually per day).


Legal Clinic….(Cont’d)typically students welcome the client and get form

them a broad outline of their problem.

After the interview the client is excused and students (in pair) discuss the problem and explore possible solution(s).

Thereafter, supervisor (Law Lecturer/ Legal Assistant) intervenes to assess the students’ understanding of the legal problem and adequacy of the proposed solution and allow them to go ahead and advise the client on the way forward


A client discussing her case with students during the Legal Clinic session


Legal Clinic….(Cont’d)

Possible advice include:• referral of the client to an institution or organ

competent to handle their problem like the labour inspector, mediation committee (Abunzi), a public administration institution, the court, etc

• drafting a court submission for the client• drafting a legal opinion• advise to settle the dispute through mediation

under the auspices of the LAC


Legal Clinic as Community Service: what types of Legal Aid Services ?

Mediation• Most disputes are between related people (by blood

or marriage)• Justice is serve but also strong family ties are

maintained• mainly carried out by staff –than students

Court submission drafting• Where the only possible option for the case is to

proceed to court a court submission is drafted for the client by students and proofread by the supervisor

• In Rwanda, it is a must to submit court submissions while filing a claim to court


Legal Clinic ....legal aid services (cont’d)

Legal opinions (legal memos) • mostly drafted for local administrative authorities, employers,…

as direct advice of the Legal Aid Clinic to the addressee• drafted where their addressee has not abided by the law

thereby causing harm to the client (ex. Refusal or delay to enforce court decisions, unfair dismissal, etc).

• show out the facts of the case and the related legal provisions and the LAC position on what should be done and predictable legal consequences in case of failure.

• drafted by law students, reviewed by their supervisor and perused by the LAC’s coordinator under whose name they are signed, stamped and delivered to the concerned party

• LAC writes legal opinions not as a commanding institution, but reminding them what they are required to do by the law.



Administrative assistance• Legal Aid Clinic also approaches institutions (mainly

local administrative authorities) on clients’ cases when it thinks befitting to thrash out the case through face to face or phone discussions

Legal representation before courts• LAC provides qualified lawyers to represent before

courts of law indigent persons with complex legal problems

• Service dependent on availability of funds from donors



Outreach programme –for PLWHIV/AIDS• Since 2006 LAC has a Unit of Human Rights and

HIV/AIDS• LAC staff attached to the Unit meet PLWHIV/AIDS

at their particular places and provide them with legal aid services, legal training and discuss about possible discrimination against them, etc


Challenges

• Operational Budget constrainst• Infrastructure

04/18/23 University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC) 19

Conclusion

• CLE education core to legal training in bridging the gap between theory and practice

• LAC has not only contributed to producing law graduates with hands-on experience but also served as a means for University to achieve its mission as a service to the community


Murakoze!


conference on legal education and public interest lawyering in east africa: the role of university...

Documents

rwanda legal clinic

legal education

legal aid clinic ur

law curriculum legal

adequate legal training

free legal aid services

history of legal clinics

national university