An Option for the Thai Legal Education Reform?: Learning from CLE in China Panarairat Srichaiyarat Legal Consultation Center Faculty of Law Chiang Mai University, Thailand

I. Public dissatisfaction with lawyers: professional responsibility, competence II. Short of professional ethic and skill courses IV. CLE is barely known. III. Teaching method: lecture (of course!)

Public dissatisfaction Short of professional ethic and skill courses CLE is barely known. Teaching method: lecture (of course!)

academic proof/support for CLE is needed Can CLE be a solution?

Rationale & Background: The public dissatisfaction with the quality of lawyers and law graduates. - professional responsibilities - competency

Legal ethic and skill courses hardly have their places in the law curriculum. Teaching method mainly used is lecture.

The concept of clinical legal education as an academic education and a part of law curriculum is barely known. Almost all of Thai law schools have a legal aid center. However, the main purpose of these centers is to provide legal aid service to community.

To promote CLE in Thailand, an academic proof/support is needed.

Research Methodology Part I: Documentary research - to gain and provide more understanding about CLE Part II: Field research - to gain and provide more understanding about the effectiveness of CLE in a civil law country.

Selected Field: China Why China? - Legal system: civil law - Legal education system: first law degree - undergraduate - Asian country - CLE experience: 9 years - accessibility: connection research grant language assistant

Sample group: 13 clinic students, 5 clinic professors, and 3 other law professors at Peking, Tsinghua, and Renmin law schools.

Field research questions: Motivation Teaching methods Satisfaction Outcomes Problems

Chinese students’ motivation for CLE

Tsinghua University

Jessica Yang (Tsinghua U.) “I took this course because I’d like to have lawyering skills. Law is for implementing, not just know it.”

Renmin University

Gui Lin (Renmin) “(1)This course does not provide only knowledge, but also how we acquire the knowledge (2) When we study other courses, the laws are set apart. But CLE combined all kinds of law together. It demanded all knowledge. 

(3) This course has a small number of students. That make us have interaction. My classmates are so great. They are very smart. Thus, I have an opportunity to learn from them.

Hu Jia Yi (Renmin) I joined the clinic because I’d like to try out working as a lawyer while I still have somebody assist me. I picked here because the relationship between professors and students differs from that of employers and employees. If I practice at a law firm, the relationship is other kind, unlike teacher-student relationship.”

Peking University

Zhaq Qing (Peking U.) “It’s my opportunity to use what I learned, and I’m impressed when my professor said that, if the client come to you, that means they don’t have a choice. If they have, they won’t come to you. Thus, when clients come to you, you should have really high responsibility. When I heard that, I was impressed so I took this course.

In conclusion: To gain lawyering skills To experiment legal profession To make what they learned useful

Outcomes of CLE in China

Renmin University

Hu Jia Yi (Renmin U.) “When we firstly talked about social responsibility, I felt it was so empty, so ambiguous. But when I started working with the clinic, I gradually experienced the poor. People who come to clinic are poor. They are grass root people. 

University students have no contact with these people… Before working with the clinic, social responsibility is nothing, so vacant. But after working with the clinic, I know that it’s real. It is true. ”

Gui Lin (Renmin U) “Before I joined the clinic, I had some thoughts with my study: (1) my knowledge was so limited, almost nothing and (2) it’s useless. 

But after I worked with the clinic, even though I didn’t have any case and someone just stopped by to ask for advices… When I could help, I did not feel that my knowledge is too few or limited anymore because it can help somebody. It’s useful, it can help people.

Fu Sini (Renmin U.) “It gave me an opportunity to talk with the poor, which in general I don’t. When I could help those people, I got the feeling of success. That makes me gain more confidence, and sensitivity with those people.”

Gao Yuan (Renmin U.) “I’d never thought about these people because I never met them. When I met them, especially the one who were in troubles or got into troubles by the government or who really had problem but had no one to help, 

I realized that they exist. I think lawyers are not just a big-money job, but there must be someone who works for these people in our society.”

Gui Lin (Renmin U) “When we study other courses, it does not matter even we do not understand the lectures. We could hold it as long as it does not affect our exam. If we pass the exam, that’s still fine. 

But when you study the clinic course, you got to help people. You can’t say that you don’t understand and you will hold on your doubtfulness and not clarify it. If we do not understand, we must try to understand.”

Peking University

Prof. Yu Rong (Peking U.) “Students who took this course learn that our society has many problems. At first they thought everything was so good. Everything was so beautiful. 

However, after taking this course and having a chance of meeting real people who have problems, they realized that our country has so many problems. Then they thought that they could solve those problems by using legal knowledge.”

Dr. Gong Wendong (Peking U.) The students actually receive skills. They can practice with the actual case. When they apply for a job in a law firm after graduation, the firm is happy to recruit our students because they know that our graduates have necessary skills.

Having a CLE course thus helped us able to develop the program for students.

Analysis: Professional responsibility: social responsibility responsibility for clients motivation to work for the disadvantaged people

Competence: Developing lawyering skills Increasing and integrating legal knowledge Understanding the difference between written law and law in real life

Etc. Understanding the working condition of lawyers. Good attitude toward studying and practicing law