Keywords

1 Introduction

Clinical Legal Education is a kind of legal science education model originated from the law schools in the United States since the 1960s. The “legal clinic” was established, meaning any private, nonprofit law practice serving the public interest. In the academic context, these law school clinics provide hands-on experience to law school students and services to various clients. Academic Clinics are usually directed by clinical professors. Many legal clinics offer pro bono work in one or more particular areas, providing free legal services to clients. The remainder of this article will discuss clinical legal education. Students typically provide assistance with research, drafting legal arguments, and meeting with clients. In many cases, one of the clinic’s professors will show up for oral argument before the Court. However, many jurisdictions have student practice rules that allow law-clinic students to appear and argue in court. There have been 118 legal departments in universities in our country becoming the members of the Clinical Legal Education professional committee in China from September 2009 to 6th September 2011. The Clinical Legal Education is implemented [1]. Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people otherwise unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to counsel and the right to a fair trial. A number of delivery models for legal aid have emerged, including duty lawyers, community legal clinics and the payment of lawyers to deal with cases for individuals who are entitled to legal aid. It was generated in Britain in the 15th century. Legal aid has a close relationship with the welfare state and the provision of legal aid by a state is influenced by attitudes towards welfare. Legal aid is a welfare provision by the state to people who could otherwise not afford access to the legal system. Legal aid also helps to ensure that welfare provisions are enforced by providing people entitled to welfare provisions, such as social housing, with access to legal advice and the courts. Historically legal aid has played a strong role in ensuring respect for economic, social and cultural rights which are engaged in relation to social security, housing, social care, health and education service provision, which may be provided publicly or privately, as well as employment law and anti-discrimination legislation. According to estimates, our country needs to provide more than 740 thousand cases of legal aid. However, the actual cases that have been handled are merely 170 thousand [2]. As for the students majoring the legal profession in universities and colleges, they do not have strong abilities to connect theories with practices. It terms of the clinical legal education, there are usually too few university teachers, who are qualified to practice, and very few of these had actually worked as lawyers for any period of time. The students must be individually supervised, making the clinical education much more expensive compared to the traditional classes of large groups. Extra resources must therefore be allocated to the teaching and running of the clinic. On the other hand, clinics are usually very popular among students, therefore the issue arises, how to choose those who can attend them. In May, 2008, School of Politics and Law in Chongqing Three Gorges University have carried out the “legal clinic” coordinately with the Chongqing Layers’ Association. Their objective is to explore the model of “Clinical Legal Education–legal aid” through the connection between universities and public welfare legal aid associations. It has organically connected the legal aid and the law education, trying to enlarge the legal aid teams as well as providing the opportunity for the students to improve their abilities of relating theories to practice. Our school has implemented the courses of Clinical Legal Education, and made active explorations and practices on the interaction with public welfare legal aid organizations. It has made arranged the existing problems in the interaction model of “Clinical Legal Education–legal aid” and put forward corresponding countermeasures.

2 Our Practices on Model of “Clinical Legal Education—Legal Aid”

Our school has implemented the courses of Clinical Legal Education, and made active explorations and practices on the interaction with public welfare legal aid organizations. The implementation process has included such content as the theoretical knowledge learning and actual cases implementation as well as the implementation of other legal aid volunteer services and so on.

2.1 Implement Theoretical Courses for “Clinical Legal Education—Legal Aid” and Improve Students’ Theoretical Levels of Legal Aid

The theoretical courses of “Clinical Legal Education–legal aid” have included the prerequisite courses and the legal aid courses. Prerequisite courses have included the substantive law. Substantive law is the statutory or written law that defines rights and duties, such as crimes and punishments, civil rights and responsibilities in civil law. It is codified in legislated statutes or can be enacted through the initiative process. The prerequisite have also included the procedure law. Procedural law or adjective law comprises the rules by which a court hears and determines what happens in civil lawsuit, criminal or administrative proceedings. The rules are designed to ensure a fair and consistent application of due process or fundamental justice to all cases that come before a court. The substantive law, which refers to the actual claims and defenses whose validity is tested through the procedures of procedural law, is different than procedural law. Through the theoretical education, the students are able to learn systematically the basic theoretical knowledge of legal science, the language expression, and debate and communication abilities. The relevant courses of legal aid have included the systematical learning of the relevant laws and regulations of the legal aid in our country. They should have relevant professional morality and rules on legal aid cases treatment.

2.2 Divide Students Into Case Handling Group and Deal with Actual Legal Aid Cases

After systematic learning on the clinical education theoretical course, 4–5 students are divided into a group and 1 or 2 instructors are assigned to help each group. Mechanisms emerged through which citizens could legally enforce their economic, social and cultural rights and welfare lawyers used legal aid to advice those on low income when dealing with state officials. Legal aid was extended from family law to a wide range of economic, social and cultural rights. From May 2008 to 2011, School of Politics and Law in Chongqing Three Gorges University have carried out the “legal clinic” coordinately with the Chongqing Layers’ Association. Their objective is to explore the model of “Clinical Legal Education–legal aid” through the connection between universities and public welfare legal aid associations. During this period, 12 cases have been undertaken and they have achieved good social effects.

2.3 Guide Students in Legal Consults and Propaganda

Where it was not possible to provide such a choice citizens were given the right to voice their dissatisfaction through administrative complaints processes. This resulted in tension, as legal aid was not designed to offer advice to those seeking redress through administrative complaints processes. Tensions also began to emerge as states which emphasized individual enforcement of economic, social and cultural rights, rather than collective enforcement through polices, reduced funding for legal aid as a welfare state provision. There have been 70 consultant cases. At the same time, from May 2008 to the present, the student volunteers have been organized to directly communicate with the local residents in the rural areas such as Wanzhou District, countries and districts that near Chengkou and Fengdu, making use of the 3.15 International Day for Consumers’ Rights and Interests and 12.4 Law Publicity Day as well as the opportunity of “Three into the Country”. They offer free services like legal consultants and drafting of legal instruments and so on.

3 Existing Problems and Countermeasures in “Clinical Legal Education–Legal Aid” Model Practice Process

School of Politics and Law in Chongqing Three Gorges University have carried out the “legal clinic” coordinately with the Chongqing Layers’ Association for four times. Their objective is to explore the model of “Clinical Legal Education—legal aid” through the connection between universities and public welfare legal aid associations. The clinical legal education contains important value to assist students in achieving judicatory by uplifting their operational ability, training the legal devoted spirit and strengthening the innovation consciousness. There are still many obstacles on the path of Humanization of clinical legal education, such as the backward teaching evaluation system, the qualities of the teachers and templar and the lack of the resource of finance, cases and regulations, etc. The clinical legal education is life in our country if we clean off these obstacles, adjust our legal education orientation and explore and make full use of our local resource. During this period, 219 students have been cultivated. Students have acquired cases treatment experiences and the techniques of treating cases have been improved. Their social responsibility has been strengthened and some of the students have already got the ability to handle cases independently. However, we have found some problems as well. In addition, solutions and countermeasures have been put forward.

3.1 Problems in Teaching Content

Legal assistance is a system of legal remedy adopted by many countries in the world. Under this system, the state, throughout the legal process and at all levels, provides legal assistance, through reduction or exemption of fees, to the underprivileged of society who have difficulty safeguarding their own rights through the normal legal means, because of economic problems or otherwise. Legal-aid centers have also been established in provinces to supervise and coordinate legal-aid work in their respective jurisdiction. Our school has implemented the courses of Clinical Legal Education, and made active explorations and practices on the interaction with public welfare legal aid organizations. It has made arranged the existing problems in the interaction model of “Clinical Legal Education—legal aid” and put forward corresponding countermeasures. Therefore, the teaching content stresses on the knowledge education of labor law.

3.2 Problems in Cases’ Connection for Students

In the “Clinical Legal Education—legal aid” held by our department, the students participating the activity are mainly from sophomore year or third year. Legal assistance is rendered by three groups of people; lawyers, public notaries and grassroots legal professionals. Lawyers provide procedural aid and non-procedural aid; public notaries provide notarization assistance; grassroots legal professionals provide legal counseling, document drafting and general non-procedural aid. In our country, legal aid is funded by three sources: government, social donations and volunteering. Though still in an embryonic stage, the legal-aid system as a major legal institution will surely play an important role in realizing the rule of law in China, safeguarding fundamental human rights and promoting social stability. Different semesters are suggested. If it is the one-class teaching, the teaching semester can be prolonged to one year, which is beneficial for the students from different grades to deal well with the cases’ connection work.

3.3 Identity Problems of Students’ Legal Aid Volunteers

Citizens who need legal assistance but cannot afford to pay for lawyers’ fees, may, in accordance with state regulations, seek legal assistance in matters such as supporting the elderly, workplace injuries, criminal lawsuits, state compensation, and the granting of pensions for the disabled or survivors of an accident. Lawyers should assume the responsibility of legal assistance and dutifully help those in need in accordance with State regulations. Specific rules for legal assistance will be worked out by the State Council judicial administration and submitted to the State Council for approval.” These provisions define the scope of legal assistance and require lawyers to provide legal assistance. In addition, they lay the foundation for future legislation on legal aid [3].

3.4 Problems of Activity Fees

Legal aid needs necessary fees for successful running. The legal aid activities carried out by the students in our school depends on the fees offered by the migrant workers safeguarding rights centre in Three Gorges area. Supervising students in the clinic is subject to pressures that pull in opposite directions. Arriving at the right balance can be difficult. The student learns best if left with as much control over a case as possible so that there is room to make mistakes, appreciate how things may be done differently and change practice or behavior accordingly. If learning by doing is to be the leitmotif, it is no good looking over the student’s shoulder all the time to correct what is being done. On the other hand, the obvious danger is that too much freedom will be given to the student and that this could result in a poor or even negligent service being provided to a client. The public could be used as guinea pigs for the inexperienced. It is therefore essential for a system of supervision to include checks on the quality of work being done e.g. the approval of all letters sent out, certain interviews recorded, file entries checked and diaries examined. It is also crucial that the supervisor be given sufficient knowledge of what the student has done in order to provide effective feedback and ensure that the clinical work forms part of the skills learning experience. In the end, also assessment of the work has to be done in some way; otherwise the student may treat the clinical work as less important [4]. At the same time, fees can be acquired by active strives from the department and relevant legal aid institutions, making the fee resources diversified.

3.5 Influence of Social Adverse Atmosphere and Frustrations

The study of ethics and the professional responsibility and conduct of lawyers has been markedly absent from law schools in contrast to medical schools. However, there has been a growth of interest in this area in recent years, and it is a subject that, arguably, is better dealt with in a clinical context where the often abstract notions can be given a practical context. The crucible of the clinic allows moral issues to be debated more openly than within the confines of the traditional curriculum. Although the idea of providing free legal advice is attractive to those who wish to see the university become more closely involved with the wider community where it is based, problems can develop if the public service aim takes precedence over that of providing a sound and well rounded legal education. Students who work in a legal clinic are enthusiastic about their experience. They are self-motivated and often highly committed to the work. They are more responsible for what they do and how they do it. In theory, the teacher’s role becomes more facilitative—helping students discover solutions for themselves. According to Lewis many students share disenchantment with the classical law school. To an extent involvement in clinical work can help reduce such feelings, and can invigorate future study. It can cause students to think again about what law school offers and what direction their future career could take.

3.6 Students’ Security Problem

The students must be individually supervised, making the clinical education much more expensive compared to the traditional classes of large groups. Extra resources must therefore be allocated to the teaching and running of the clinic. On the other hand, clinics are usually very popular among students, therefore the issue arises, how to choose those who can attend them. This is because it stimulates resort to the law, and the need for advice is increased out of proportion to the clinic’s ability to deal with it. A security system to local firms for certain types of advice or assistance is essential, and the number of people thus sent to lawyers far outweighs the work taken on by the clinic. Far from being a source, the clinic helps to foster a closer relationship with the local legal profession. Currently, the social security system and the legal aid system are progressing respectively. To further the study of the relationship between the two systems is becoming obviously urgent. Although legal aid is different from social security in the usual sense, it has the same function as social security in the process of building a harmonious society. To include the legal protection of vulnerable groups into legal aid programs is the inevitable requirement for developing a comprehensive social security system. In this case, the legal aid work can be carried out successfully.