Book Review: The Global Clinical Movement: Educating Lawyers for Social Justice. Edited by Frank S. Bloch
| DOI | 10.1177/2322005814530334 |
| Published date | 01 July 2014 |
| Date | 01 July 2014 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Military-Madrasa-Mullah Complex 153
India Quarterly, 66, 2 (2010): 133–149
A Global Threat 153
Book Reviews
The Global Clinical Movement: Educating Lawyers for Social Justice. Edited by Frank S. Bloch, First
Edition, Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, 2011, 400 Pp., $80 (Hard Bound)
Abstract
This book, edited by clinical scholar Frank S. Bloch, is an important and ambitious dialogue about the
spread of clinical legal education worldwide. With contributions from clinicians spanning six continents,
this book gives a skilful insight into the programmatic expansion and transformation of clinical ‘legal
education into justice education’. We argue how this volume causes us to question the much disputed
import and purposes underlying clinical legal education at law schools worldwide. By exploring the
different aspects of the social justice component of clinical legal education and the manner in which such
social justice is achieved by incorporating certain concepts and techniques in imparting legal education,
the authors seek to bridge the gap between legal education, legal profession, experiential learning
and the civil society.
Introduction
The Global Clinical Movement is one of the first books focused exclusively on the spread of clinical
legal education worldwide. Frank S. Bloch and his co-authors skilfully capture and document a movement
to ‘transform legal education into justice education’. They set out to examine the central theories, aims
and approaches of clinical legal education from a global standpoint, with specific stress on the social
justice mission. Bloch has brought together an impressive and diverse group of committed legal
educators, drawn largely from the organization Global Alliance for Justice Education (GAJE), interested
in promoting legal education reform around the world. This book scripts the global movement that was
first flagged off at the inaugural conference held in India in 1999 and its continuing struggles to renovate
legal education into justice education by training lawyers for social justice.
The chapters are co-authored by clinicians with roots in several continents and over 40 law schools,
which creates opportunities for comparative analysis both within and across the chapters. The first eight
chapters of the document deal with the global reach of clinical legal education. They have a descriptive
undertone while surveying clinical programmes in selected countries. The ninth chapter critically reviews
the question whether clinical legal education can be viewed as a form of ‘legal imperialism’. The book
Asian Journal of Legal Education
1(2) 153–165
© 2014 The West Bengal National
University of Juridical Sciences
SAGE Publications
Los Angeles, London,
New Delhi, Singapore,
Washington DC
DOI: 10.1177/2322005814530334
http://ale.sagepub.com
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