ABA/CEELI’s clinical legal education programme in Serbia

Abstract

The goal of the CEELI Legal Education Reform Program in Serbia has been to assist Serbian law faculties in reforming the curriculum so that law students become lawyers who can contribute to the development of the rule of law and the transition to a market economy. As a country in transition, Serbia must prepare future lawyers who are capable of absorbing and implementing the breadth of changes underway in the legal system. Unfortunately, in both its pedagogical methodology and its resources, the education predominantly provided to law students in Serbia is woefully inadequate. Education is typically based on memorisation of code provisions, with little opportunity for practice-based learning or creative thinking, and many of the textbooks used by law students date back to the socialist era.