Book review: Thinking about Clinical Legal Education: Philosophical and Theoretical Perspectives. Edited by Omar Madhloom and Hugh McFaul

This journal has recently published an article written by one of the editors of this collection, the title of which is ‘Does Clinical Legal Education Need Theory?’ ¹ McFaul argues that an increased interest in Clinical Legal Education (CLE) has prompted the production of a body of literature on the application of clinical principles to a variety of areas of legal practice across a wide range of jurisdictions. However, there appears to be scant attention paid to the theoretical dimensions of this approach. In this edited collection the editors address the question posed by McFaul by bringing together academics and practitioners, from various jurisdictions, to explore the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of their clinical practice. As such it is not simply a book about normative ethics, but rather a collection of essays aimed at developing reflection in legal education, CLE, and professional practice.

The book is divided into fifteen chapters, and while these are not arranged into specific topics, all the chapters share a common theme throughout the book which is the development of reflective legal practitioners (e.g., Chapters 1, 2 and 12). The editors bring together authors from different jurisdictions such as Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, Israel, Spain, the UK and the US. I was heartened to see that the list of contributors included not only eminent academics such Sarah Buhler and Scott L. Cummings, but also a chapter by a Ph.D. student (Chapter 11). This review will not provide a summary of all the chapters. Instead, it will outline the overall theme of the book and the relevance to CLE.

While not strictly anti-legal positivism (Chapters 5, 9 and 10), the book promotes a holistic approach to legal education and practice by incorporating a variety of approaches such as place-based education (Chapter 1), therapeutic jurisprudence (Chapter 2), a capabilities approach (Chapter 7) and human rights education (Chapters 11 and 12). As such, this collection achieves three aims. First, it demonstrates the value of philosophy and theory in CLE. Second, it makes a strong case for the role of CLE in bridging the conceptual theory-practice divide. Third, it demonstrates that CLE does not seem to be wedded to a single theory but is a vehicle for developing reflective lawyers through a variety of approaches.

Although CLE tends to be synonymous with social justice education, not all academics and clinic supervisors subscribe to the idea that CLE’s main objective is social justice. However, there is an interesting chapter exploring the value of Rawls’ theory of justice and how this can develop reflection on the distribution of resources to fund law clinics and legal aid in the Republic of Croatia (Chapter 6). Those who supervise business clinics will be interested to read Tobore Okah-Avae’s chapter which analyses the role of CLE values in promoting a more progressive form of corporate governance. This chapter will benefit company law teachers, business clinic supervisors and practicing lawyers. Okah-Avae’s chapter is followed by a chapter by Richard Owen entitled ‘Rebellious lawyering theory, sustainability and Clinical Legal Education’ (Chapter 14). This chapter examines human rights litigation and activism in the commercial sphere through the lens of rebellious lawyering. It is likely to be of interest to those supervising live-client clinics and clinics involved in Street Law programmes and public legal education. In general terms, rebellious lawyers work with community leaders, community groups, agencies and allies. A type of cause-lawyering, rebellious lawyering tends to promote a heightened awareness of the community dimension to the lawyer’s practice. Rebellious lawyering also contains a cosmopolitan dimension because it views the community as the client as opposed to companies, individuals or groups of individuals. An example of rebellious lawyering can be seen in the recent litigation conducted by Client Earth (https://www.clientearth.org/latest/latest-updates/news/clientearth-are-suing-the-uk-government-over-its-net-zero-strategy/).

Although this edited collection is a welcome addition to CLE and the global clinical movement, there are other excellent edited collections such as The Global Clinical Movement: Educating Lawyers for Social Justice ² , Clinical Legal Education in Asia: Accessing Justice for the Underprivileged ³ , The Global Evolution of Clinical Legal Education: More Than a Method ⁴ , and Reimagining Clinical Legal Education ⁵ . The question, therefore, is ‘to what extent is this collection different?’ Unlike other books on CLE, this collection is primarily focused on enhancing students’ reflection by equipping them with conceptual tools to examine, critique and reform the law. The value of this book is best illustrated by a quote from Scott L. Cummings’ chapter entitled ‘Teaching movements’ (p. 251):

[T]here is never one route to transformative social change, particularly on behalf of those who lack power, but that multidimensional advocacy to shift law and politics must proceed on interrelated tracks–and be committed to sustained struggle over multiple cycles of contention.

This leads me to my next question, ‘who would benefit from this edited collection?’ This book is clearly aimed at clinic supervisors who wish to implement theoretical approaches to their clinical programmes, academics and researchers and lawyers who wish to become reflective practitioners.

In terms of the strengths of this book, I found the chapters accessible and I very much appreciated the fact that the editors had encouraged each author to write in their own ‘voice’. However, I must confess that as a pracademic whose education and training was mainly doctrinal, I was a little daunted by the prospect of reading a book on theory and philosophy. As it turns out, my fears were misplaced. Each chapter is written in an accessible manner and each author takes time to explain the theory or philosophy that underpins their chapter before proceeding to contextualize it. As such, I would also recommend this book to those teaching jurisprudence because one of the criticisms levelled at this module by students is that it lacks practical application. In terms of weaknesses, I would have liked to have seen a chapter or two exploring religious normative ethical theories, such as tzedakah. This, however, is a very minor complaint.

In sum, this collection promotes reflection through a variety of approaches. Paulo Freire in his seminal work Pedagogy of the Oppressed ⁶ writes that human activity, which consists of action and reflection, can transform the world, but in order to do so ‘it requires theory to illuminate it’ (p. 89). In this book, the editors have provided an array of theories to equip students with the conceptual tools to be able to change the world around them.