Book Review: Towards Innovation in Legal Education. Edited by Pasaquale Policastro
| Published date | 01 July 2016 |
| Date | 01 July 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/2322005816642557 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
218 Book Reviews
While all of the countries in the region have drawn on the experiences of more fully developed
clinical programmes elsewhere in the world, some have had more focused support than others. In many
instances, support has come from the USA, for example, Ford Foundation provided funding for the
CCCLE in China and long-standing collaborations between US clinicians and law schools in Israel.
Major support and ongoing training for clinics in Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries has come
from the international NGO Bridges across Borders Southeast Asia Community Legal Education Initiate
(BABSEA CLE). And, just as importantly, the exchange now goes in the other direction with many
clinicians in the region reaching out and engaging with prominent international clinical institutions such
as the Global Alliance for Justice Education (GAJE) and the International Journal of Clinical Legal
Education. Indeed, four of GAJE’s eight worldwide conferences have been held in Asia (India in 1999
and 2013, the Philippines in 2008 and, most recently, Turkey in 2015). International engagement
has been a major focus of the clinics in Palestine.
Clinical Legal Education in Asia is an informative and inspirational read for legal education reform-
ers around the world. As an added bonus, a number of the chapters include detailed descriptions of exist-
ing clinical programmes that may be very helpful on a practical level to clinicians in the region and
elsewhere seeking to establish or further develop clinical programmes.
Frank S. Bloch
Professor of Law Emeritus
Vanderbilt University Law School, USA
Towards Innovation in Legal Education. Edited by Pasaquale Policastro, Eleven International Publishing,
The Hague, 2013, Pp. 128, 30 Euro, ISBN 978-94-6236-057-0
DOI: 10.1177/2322005816642557
The paradigms of legal education are undergoing many changes throughout the world. Legal education
being a process of social engineering cannot remain in a static phase and has to evolve constantly.
The book Towards Innovation in Legal Education provides the readers with innovative thought process
and new dimensions of legal education in the European continent. As an edited book by Pasaquale
Policastro, the collection of articles on legal education in European context provides great insight for any
serious observer and researcher having interest in this subject.
In the editorial note of the book, it is pointed out how the identity that a European university upholds
through its brand of reasoning is significant for the innovation in the legal education. The European
universities have ‘[A] reasoning able to guard an equilibrium between moral understanding and
understanding by means of reason, and which permitted the development of the modern understanding
of law in close relation with constitutionalism.’ This particular brand of reasoning is also evident in the
articles included in the book.
The significant aspect, which the book portrays, is ‘to present proposals and suggestions related to
how legal training may support the development of adequate knowledge, professional skills and compe-
tence of the lawyer to deal with the present transformation and challenges’. It is important to highlight
that this book helps the reader to perceive a road map for legal education in countries like India from the
perspective of issues that are pertinent to concentrate upon for improving the current scenario. This book
could act as an excellent reference material for comparative literature study on legal education.
This book is divided into four parts: (a) Legal Transformations and Innovation, (b) New Approaches
and New Doubts, (c) Court Administration and Legal Profession and (d) Towards a Space of Experimen-
tation for Legal Training.
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