Delhi: National Law University Delhi (NLU Delhi), Delhi, is likely to introduce a clinical course on legal services and paralegal advocacy, from the ensuing academic session commencing in August 2012. As per sources, the course will be incepted in the 9th semester of BA LLB (Honours) programme, as a compulsory subject.
Explaining about the decision of the University, Srikrishna Deva Rao, Professor of Law and Registrar, NLUD, said that legal education in India is presently experiencing challenges about the goals, mission and its social relevance. As a result, clinical legal education has evolved as a new method of learning to introduce concerns on social justice to students and to prepare them as public interest lawyers, he said.
He further added that this to-be introduced course will attempt to develop upbeat role in educating the public about law and strategize legal empowerment using legal services and paralegal education. In addition, the course will also try to critically scan the contribution of legal education to bring the law closer to people and reach out to communities.
Sources informed that the course will examine the various efforts in India in strengthening legal aid and institutionalizing paralegal education. Describing about the subject’s concept, Rao said that legal aid is a basic human right and integral to right to life and personal liberty as mentioned in the Indian constitution, and there are not enough lawyers to provide legal aid services to people. Legal literacy is the first step in the legal aid movement to bring law closer to the communities, he further added.
While explaining about the advantages of the course, Rao explained that the course will facilitate the community-based initiatives, combining participation and legal empowerment through the student support-groups. In addition, as part of the clinical course, students will also be made to visit the NLUD project site of Legal Empowerment of Construction Workers in Noida and Dwarka and engage in two clinical tasks, he concluded.
For more information, candidates are advised to visit the University’s official website: http://www.nludelhi.ac.in/
