Attitude of Students to Clinical Legal Education: A Case Study of Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan

DOI10.1177/2322005815607142
Date01 January 2016
Published date01 January 2016
Subject MatterEssays
Essay
Attitude of Students to Clinical Legal
Education: A Case Study of Faculty
of Law, University of Ibadan
Afolasade A. Adewumi1
Oluyemisi A. Bamgbose2
Abstract
The students of the Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan were introduced to the clinical way of
legal education in the year 2008. This is a new teaching method different from the traditional
method of teaching law. A specialized Women’s Law Clinic was also inaugurated to complement the
clinical work in the faculty.
This article reflects on the attitude of the students to this development, using the results of an
unstructured interview of some third- and fifth-year law students, some law graduates and some non-
law students and graduates who were exposed to the clinical legal education (CLE) method of instruction.
The article discusses the new teaching method and the effects on legal and advocacy skills, teamwork
and students’ interest in the teaching of law courses. Results show that the attitude of students
particularly is very positive towards CLE and it is preferred to the traditional method of teaching.
Introduction
Education is a process that is not confined within the four walls of a classroom. Every human activity
and the environment in its totality serve the purpose of education.3 As Onyechere Anyiam-Osigwe
succinctly puts it:
Education is a process that is existent in everything we see, all we hear, all we say, all we do, either
in commencing an action, concluding an action or just by being a conscious part of the natural
environment.4
1 Lecturer in the Department of Jurisprudence and International Law and Staff Clinician in the Women’s Law Clinic, Faculty of
Law, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
2 Professor of Criminal Law & Criminology and Director, Women’s Law Clinic, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
3 A.B. Ekanola, A Critical Exposition of the Views of Emmanuel Onyechere Anyiam-Osigwe on Youths, Education and Social
Development, in The DevelopmenT philosophy of emmanuel onyechere osigwe anyiam-osigwe 139 (O. Oladipo & A.B. Ekanola
eds, 2009).
4 youTh anD eDucaTion: africas 21sT cenTury youTh; everyone a fisherman 52–53 (C.O. Anyiam-Osigwe, Peace Anyiam-
Fiberesima & R. Olayemi eds, Lagos: Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation 2002).
Asian Journal of Legal Education
3(1) 106–116
© 2016 The West Bengal National
University of Juridical Sciences
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/2322005815607142
http://ale.sagepub.com
Corresponding author:
Oluyemisi A. Bamgbose, Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
E-mail: oluyemisibamgbose@hotmail.com

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