James MarsonJ.Marson@shu.ac.ukThis is our first edition of 2022 and the first since the removal of the remaining domestic covid-based restrictions in England. Law clinics have, like so many of us, had to adapt to new ways of working whilst ensuring the invaluable service offered continued. Similarly, new skills, new connections, valuable lessons learned and a reinvigorated approach to pedagogy have emerged. These themes are represented in this edition, a collection of articles which provide fascinating examples of the range of clinical activities taking place in respect of the development of students and their understanding of what a lawyer should be; the nature of legal pedagogy when forced into remote teaching methods during the pandemic; and returning to the theme of professional identity and the place of students in legal practise.We begin this edition with Lawton, Saban and Whittam’s contribution on the developing of empathy through clinical legal education. This is a timely and significant exploration of a soft skill in lawyering, but one which is the subject of increasing study given the trajectory of lawyers’ understanding of the importance of developing and building relationships with their clients. Here the authors use the Basic Empathy Scale to determine a cohort of students’ self-reported empathy levels following participation in law clinics in the UK, and offer a useful addition through a gender analysis of this reporting. In an interesting conclusion, the authors explain how operating in a clinical setting can both improve and diminish empathy levels amongst students. However, a statistically significant level of students report increased empathy from their pro bono clinical work, with female respondents more likely to self-report higher empathy scores. Further, the authors provide a valuable recommendation of how to incorporate empathy into the learning outcomes of clinic-based modules, demonstrating its value to the students’ development and reflecting the Bar Standards Board’s Professional Statement for Barristers.The edition continues with Jenni Whelan’s paper where an Inside/Out pedagogy is presented, seeking to develop students’ awareness of personal and interpersonal attributes (the inside of the approach) alongside a framework for purposive engagement grounded in improving access to justice (the out) in a legal clinic setting in Australia. This work builds upon Brooks’ ‘wholehearted lawyering’ teaching principles by adding vulnerability theory and therapeutic jurisprudence as mechanisms for the purposeful engagement with legal systems and facilitating of greater access to justice, of legal actors. The study concludes that wholehearted lawyering is a teachable core competency that extends beyond the remit of a law clinic and that each of the students who engaged with the clinic work further developed the personal, interpersonal, and relational dimensions of their professional identities. They moved out of their comfort zones to challenge themselves when they need not have taken this course of action, demonstrating the impact the approach had on their personal, and professional development. We then move to a practice report from Michal Urban with an implementation and assessment of a flipped classroom pedagogic approach, a consequence of the remote learning protocols many in academia faced during the national lockdown measures from 2020. Here, the forced distance between the students, their colleagues in the virtual classrooms and the tutor often resulted in a ‘trap of silence’ – all too often filled by increased talking by the tutor leading that session. Michal, using personal experiences and those from others across disciplines in academia, explains the advantages and disadvantages of adopting a flipped classroom, whilst providing a series of questions for personal reflection of any academic wishing to embark on this mode of study. Ultimately, face-to-face sessions enable easier collaboration and the fostering of more immersive discourse, yet the e-learning support provided to students during virtual teaching programmes is a feature which Michal intends to maintain even when returning to more standard forms of teaching. Michal concludes with reference to Warren Binford who summarizes her essay, How to Be the World’s Best Law Professor, by asserting that we as educationalists need to ‘rethink our teaching methods, our students’ study methods, even our law school’s curriculum.’ In the practice of critical reflection, these are sage words.Our final contribution is from Lucy Blackburn who, as part of a working group from CLEO, has created a draft guide to law clinics which may be subject to a claim for qualifying work experience due to a student’s time at a qualifying law clinic. In our From the Field section, guidance, commentary and instruction are offered to clinics and this resource will make an invaluable contribution to senior management and those organising law clinic work, not only as to their obligations, but also as to advice on claiming these hours for students who participated in live-client work in university law clinics. This is a new and developing area, fraught with potential difficulties for all parties, hence the information provided in this submission is of particular importance.Lastly, we would like to draw to your attention the latest episode of the Clinical Legal Education Podcast (https://clinicallegaleducationpodcast.wordpress.com) where our hosts Elaine Gregersen and Molly Doyle interview Professor Amy Lyn Wallace of New York Law. The topics discussed include Street Law clinics, the impact of the pandemic and Amy’s clinic research. If there is anything that our guests cover that resonates with you, or if you wish to discuss the podcasts further, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Elaine or Molly via the twitter account @IJCLE.Editorial PAGE PAGE 2Microsoft Office UserAndrew Grogan22022-04-25T13:48:00Z2022-04-25T13:48:00Z039085064Microsoft Office Word0849falseTitle1false5963falsefalse16.0000