Moral and Ethical Issues Confronting Students’ Legal Aid Clinics in the Outreach of Legal Services to the Resources-Less and the Poor

DOI10.1177/2277401720130103
Published date01 June 2013
Date01 June 2013
Subject MatterArticle
MORAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES
CONFRONTING STUDENTS' LEGAL AID
CLINICS IN THE OUTREACH OF LEGAL
SERVICES TO THE RESOURCES-LESS
AND THE POOR
B.B. Pande*
Right of access to justice and legal aid is a constitutionally
recognized right in India. However, this right remains woefully
under-enforced. Various impediments have marred the successful
implementation of this right for the benefit of resource-less access-
seeking sections of the society. How can the legal academia
respond to this challenge? Legal Aid Clinics located in law
schools and law faculties offer one solution. This article explores
concerns, challenges and opportunities in setting up and
delivering legal aid services though law school legal aid clinics.
The article offers insights on these issues by drawing upon the
personal experiences of the author at the Delhi University Law
Faculty Legal Aid Clinic.
INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 34
I. TWO IDEAS UNDERLYING THE CREATION OF LEGAL AID CLINICS ..... 35
II. DIVERSITY IN THE MODELS OF LEGAL AID CLINICS ............................ 36
III. UNIQUE ROLE OF LEGAL AID CLINICS IN THE DELIVERY
OF LEGAL SERVICES ................................................................................ 40
IV. SHARING THE DELHI LAW FACULTY LEGAL AID CLINIC
EXPERIENCES ........................................................................................... 43
A. Legal Services in the Beggars Court ................................................ 44
B. Legal Services in the Prison ............................................................. 46
V. INTEGRATING THE CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION AND
LEGAL AID COMPONENT INTO LEGAL EDUCATION ............................. 47
* Visiting Professor of Law, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow.
INTRODUCTION
Though the Indian legal system formally recognizes a right to access to
justice, legal aid to all, and a special deal for access seekers who are poor, in
reality such a well-meaning 'right' means very little to the large bulk of the
resource-less and poor population. This is because of diverse reasons: first,
the inadequate and inappropriately organized government legal service
delivery regime at the National, State, District and Taluka levels is hardly
geared to cope with the challenges of the vast legal service need; second,
even where some kind of organizational set-up is in place, the manipulative
design of the large army of 'access blockers' and lack of initiative on the part
of access seekers keeps many out of the legal access net; third, there is a lack
of genuine NGO/CSO support for the cause of legal services delivery; and
fourth, despite a much better appreciation of the theoretical basis of the right
of access to justice amongst law teachers and students, the structuring of
legal education is hardly conducive to a meaningful deliberation on the
actual delivery of this 'right.' Furthermore, legal academicians still remain
insufficiently motivated to be partners in the delivery of justice to the
resource-less and the poor.
These reasons pose irreconcilable riddles especially for academicians -
law teachers and students - who read, teach and learn in the classroom about
the nuances of the right to legal access, while remaining constantly unaware
of 'right less' reality prevailing 'outside.' What are the moral and ethical
justifications for theorizing about a 'right' that scarcely exists at the level of
reality? How do those responsible for the delivery of this 'right' actually
respond to this disjuncture? Should law teachers and students remain
neutral and detached from this crisis within the system? Can the idealism
and energies of law teachers and students be utilized to strengthen the
existing legal service delivery system? How would the law teacher and
student justice delivery initiatives impact the overall legal system? How can
the law teacher and student initiatives be best integrated in the legal
1
education structure? In the following pages, an effort is made to address the
1 See Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 § 4(k) (This section has given the responsibility of
guiding and supervising the establishment and working of legal services clinics in
Universities, law colleges and other institutions to the Central Legal Services Authority);
National Legal Services Authority (Legal Aid Clinics) Regulations, 2011 (The Regulation
envisages the integration of law schools into the legal services mainstream. But it is not clear
whether the model of integration proposed by the Regulation would be able to achieve the
required breakthrough).
34 Journal of National Law University, Delhi [Vol. 1

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