“How do you feel about this client?” – A commentary on the clinical model as a vehicle for teaching ethics to law students

Abstract

This article explores why law clinics can be the most creative, exciting and productive way of inculcating knowledge and understanding of ethical issues and why sometimes they are not. I am concerned to understand what methods can be employed to successfully engage students with ethical questions in the context of their clinical case work. I am also concerned to avoid the complacent view that simply by exposing students to real or realistic cases we can ensure deep appreciation of ethical concerns. By ethics here I mean not only understanding of the relevant professional lawyer codes but also a broader and deeper engagement with what it means to be a lawyer and the moral attitudes, decisions and outcomes implicit in legal practice.