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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
04/18/23 2University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC)
In details...
04/18/23 3University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC)
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
04/18/23 4University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC)
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
04/18/23 5University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC)
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, …)
04/18/23 6University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC)
Background (Cont’d)
04/18/23 7University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC)
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
04/18/23 8University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC)
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
04/18/23 9University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC)
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
04/18/23 10University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC)
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).
04/18/23 11University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC)
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
04/18/23 12University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC)
A client discussing her case with students during the Legal Clinic session
04/18/23 13University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC)
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
04/18/23 14University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-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
04/18/23 15University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC)
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.
04/18/23 16University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC)
Legal Clinic ....legal aid services (cont’d)
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
04/18/23 17University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC)
Legal Clinic ....legal aid services (cont’d)
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
04/18/23 18University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC)
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
04/18/23 University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC) 20
Murakoze!
04/18/23 University of Rwanda- Legal Aid Clinic (UR-LAC) 21