Peace and Conflict Transformation Through the Clinical Legal Education Programme

Abstract

Clinical Legal Education came to Nigeria, first, as a solution to remedy the effects of epileptic access to justice and, further, to develop law students’ professional skills through rendering free legal services to indigent members of society. It was not received into the Nigerian legal pedagogy without some level of resistance, however with consistent lobbying it was eventually incorporated. The Clinical Legal Education program began with just five pilot university law clinics to implement the components of Clinical Legal Education. Despite this relatively small number, the program was able to satisfy its immediate objectives, pending other universities that could not resist the need to benefit from the program inculcated it into their legal pedagogy. Consequently, Nigeria now has 21 active university law clinics rendering free legal services to indigent persons and teaching community members about their legal rights. Offering free legal services and educating community members about their legal rights are not the end of the benefits of Clinical Legal Education. There are many other benefits that are derived from the Clinical Legal Education program and in this paper, as way of just one example, I examine the ways in which clinical legal education is helping to curb communal violence.