JUSTICE FOR ALL? Law Clinics in South Africa. And in Sweden?

Abstract

This thesis explores the concept of clinical legal education and access to justice in South Africa through an in-depth study of the Campus Law Clinic of the University of Natal, Durban.

Chapter 1 and 2 outline the object, purpose and definitions of concepts and describes the method used.

Chapter 3 presents the background to clinical legal education and access to justice. The chapter begins with a brief overview of the history of clinical legal education and continues with a short description of the two dimensions of clinical legal education.

Chapter 4 deals with clinical legal education and access to justice in South Africa during the apartheid days and currently. It describes the evolution of state strategies and non-governmental initiatives during this broad time period. It attempts to present a balanced picture reflecting advantages and disadvantages of clinical legal education and ends with a discussion of the role of paralegals and a brief discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of this system.

This lays the foundation for Chapter 5, which contains an in-depth discussion of the Campus Law Clinic. It is examined how and why it was established, how it operated during the apartheid years and how it evolved during the post apartheid period. Its current goals and strategies, its role in promoting access to justice and clinical legal education and its impact in these two areas is thereafter discussed.

Chapter 6 examines the current initiatives and future plans for clinical legal education and access to justice in South Africa as a whole. It looks at transformation initiatives that the South African government is currently involved in and also at policy issues related to it.

Chapter 7 is aimed at the Swedish context. This chapter examines potential effects of clinical legal education and paralegals in Sweden. It begins with a brief background discussion of access to justice and legal education in Sweden and thereafter develops to include highlights of areas where clinical legal education and paralegals could affect the system of access to justice and legal education in Sweden.

Finally, Chapter 8 presents some conclusions where the overriding suggestion is to re-examine and evaluate systems to ensure that they evolve as society changes.