Role of Clinical Legal Education in Social Justice in Nigeria

Abstract

Very few faculties of law in Nigerian universities that offer law programme have established law clinics that offer live-client services to the public as part of their legal education training. Across the border, clinical legal education is gaining more popularity by the day as a tool to imbibe the necessary skills in students to become sound legal practitioners. This article assesses the impact of law clinics on the skills of law students to enable them handle effectively the demands of the legal profession. The article analyses the correlation between law clinics that provide services to live clients and the skills acquired vis-à-vis the performance of student clinicians. The article recommends the need to integrate live-client law clinics into the mainstream legal education system in Nigeria.