Canadian Clinical Legal Education:  Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Association of Canadian Clinical Legal Education (ACCLE)

Guest Editors: Sarah Buhler, Lisa Cirillo, Martha Simmons, and Mirja Trilsch

The Journal of Law and Social Policy in collaboration with the Association of Canadian Clinic Legal Education, will publish a special issue on clinical legal education in Canada to mark the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Association.  The collection will seek to describe, assess, interrogate, and reflect on clinical legal education in Canada and to contextualize clinical legal education within ongoing and critical debates about legal education and access to justice in this country.

We welcome contributions addressing clinical legal education in Canada from any angle, including:

  • How has ACCLE impacted clinical legal education in Canada?
  • Is there a uniquely “Canadian” approach to clinical legal education?
  • How do regional differences impact clinical legal education across the country?  How do place, population, language, and local political and economic realities affect clinical legal education across the country?
  • How has Canadian clinical legal education been influenced by and how does it influence approaches to clinical legal education in other parts of the world?
  • How does clinical legal education connect to or advance access to justice in Canada?
  • How is clinical legal education located in larger debates about Canadian legal education including debates about experiential education, “competencies”, and lawyer regulation?
  • What is the place of clinical legal education in law schools?
  • What is the impact of clinical legal education on local communities, clients, students, and law schools?
  • What issues will influence clinical legal education in the next ten years?

We are seeking contributions of academic papers and reflection pieces from a wide range of contributors including clinicians, students, faculty, clients, and community members.  There are two options for submissions.  First, contributors can submit academic papers which will be subject to blind peer review pursuant to the JLSP’s policies.  Alternatively, we also welcome contributions for the “Voices and Perspectives” section: these can include reflections, photography, art, or other creative works capable of publication in an online journal exploring the theme of the special issue.

The JLSP, now housed at Osgoode Hall Law School, was originally published by Legal Aid Ontario.  The mandate remains an excellent fit with the goals of ACCLE and the work of ACCLEs members:

The Journal of Law and Social Policy (JLSP) seeks to encourage debate and dialogue on important issues at the intersection of law and society, particularly as they impact low income individuals and disadvantaged communities. In addition to issues relating to housing and shelter, income maintenance, social assistance, human rights, health, employment, education, immigration and refugee law, mental health law, criminal and family law, the Journal is also interested in a range of questions about lawyering and social change, including the exploration of non-traditional legal strategies such as community organizing. Access to justice is a recurrent theme, as is the role of legal education in developing professional norms and practices in which social justice is an organizing aspiration.

In the past, the Journal (which is completely open access) has published many articles related to clinical legal education.  Volume 23, for instance, contains papers from a 2011 Symposium celebrating 40 years of clinical legal education at Osgoode Hall Law School (you can find those papers here).  Other papers from the back issues of the Journal may be of interest to ACCLE members – all are accessible here.

Please be sure to consult the JLSP information for Contributors here (there is a link on this page to the Style Guide for Contributors).

Deadline for submissions is:  October 31, 2018 but if you are planning to submit something, please contact Sarah Buhler at sarah.buhler@usask.ca as soon as possible – this will assist us for planning purposes.

To submit your work or to ask any questions, please contact Sarah Buhler at sarah.buhler@usask.ca.

Veuillez noter que la revue publie uniquement en anglais. Nous regrettons que seulement les soumissions en anglais seront acceptées.

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