Doctoral Thesis
Legal Clinic Under The Lens of Paulo Freire: A Theoretical Interpretation of Clinical Legal Education at Australian University Law Schools
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Murdoch University
2024
Abstract
The social justice mission of clinical legal education (CLE) is a dominant global narrative. Empirical evidence, that this practice based pedagogy sensitises law students to the broader context of the law, and promotes an engagement with social justice, is limited. This research approaches the search, for the jurisprudential fit of the pedagogy, through the work of philosopher, critical pedagogist and social justice advocate, Paulo Freire. As a large scale qualitative study, using a cross-case analysis methodology, the research situates CLE as a social phenomenon in legal education. The core concepts of Freire’s work ground a critical interpretation, generated through thematic analysis, of the real world learning outcomes from 151 CLE programs offered by Australian law schools in the study period. Articulated as a theoretical framework, the interpretation advanced is built on the concept of social responsibility, as an expression of the interrelationship between the ethics and social justice. The praxis of the framework is a critical legal consciousness, that is fostered by interpersonal growth skills developed in CLE, and supported by three pillars of critical learnings in adequacy of the law, public interest lawyering and advancement of social justice outcomes. This social justice promise is directed to equitable access to the law and justice system, characterised, conceptually in the framework, as the promotion of civic rights protection and the endeavour to democratise legal services. The theoretical framework explains and supports CLE’s contribution to the advancement, through legal education, of the social justice goal of a universal entitlement to access to justice. Analogous with Freire’s conscientização, the praxis of legal clinic ideal crystallises professional identity formation inhered with a community service obligation.
Details
- Title
- Legal Clinic Under The Lens of Paulo Freire: A Theoretical Interpretation of Clinical Legal Education at Australian University Law Schools
- Authors/Creators
- Sue Kee
- Contributors
- Jürgen Bröhmer (Supervisor) - Murdoch University, School of Law and CriminologyChris Dent (Supervisor) - Murdoch University, School of Law and CriminologyMichelle Picard (Supervisor) - Flinders University
- Awarding Institution
- Murdoch University; Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Identifiers
- 991005765133107891
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Law and Criminology
- Resource Type
- Doctoral Thesis
Metrics
42 File views/ downloads
58 Record Views