Why No Clinic Is an Island: The Merits and Challenges of Integrating Clinical Insights Across the Law Curriculum

Abstract

This article reflects on the prospects for integrating insights from clinical teaching across the law curriculum. It addresses the importance of such efforts, the likelihood of their success in enhancing legal education as well as their role in fostering the sustainability of clinical programs. Classroom-based courses can benefit from the expertise of clinic supervisors whose continuing exposure to legal practice has sharpened their appreciation of client-focussed and problem-solving aspects of lawyering. A range of collaborations involving clinic-fluent academics can usefully foster teaching that broadens and deepens law student learning. Simulations have an important contribution to make in the process of integrating active learning opportunities. This article also examines how such clinical integration can be embedded in a law program with a view to promoting its sustainability.