The Necessity of Transitioning from Generic Legal Clinics to Specialized Environmental Law Clinics in MENA Region with Focus on Iran
| Date | 01 July 2018 |
| DOI | 10.1177/2322005818774653 |
| Published date | 01 July 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Essay |
Essay
The Necessity of Transitioning from
Generic Legal Clinics to Specialized
Environmental Law Clinics in MENA
Region with Focus on Iran
Maryam Torabi1
Seyed Masoud Noori2
Abstract
Legal clinics in the MENA region countries—like in other developing parts of the world—might be in
a position, especially in their first years of activity, where they are obliged to provide legal assistance
in various areas to the vulnerable groups of the society due to two factors. First, there is a lack of
specialized and professional activists and volunteers, alongside the need for other resources like funds
and supporting organizations. Second, the basic civil needs in the society that have not been met by
other juridical organizations are diverse, and, therefore, they are passed on to legal clinics trying to
meet the basic legal information and needs of the society, let alone concentrating on specialized matters
such as environmental subjects. The main outline of this article is to indicate that for having a more
effective performance by legal clinics in the legal structure of their countries, it is necessary that they
transition from offering legal aid and teaching laws in every area to much more specialized fields like
environmental law due to the local needs of where they are situated and referring to their professional
human resources. If clinics specialize in special areas of law such as environmental law, they would
gain at least two achievements—first, being able to protect the vulnerable ecology of their local rich
environment and to enrich their own knowledge on their rights and laws they should be aware, and
second, these specialized clinics would have the opportunity to play a creative and significant role in the
legal and juridical system of the country, for example, through comparative studies, exposing the new
point of view to the jurists and judges, drafting new legal bills and altering the existing impractical laws
that do not answer the local needs.
1 Environmental Law, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
2 Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ), NYU Law School, New York, NY, USA.
Asian Journal of Legal Education
5(2) 169–181
© 2018 The West Bengal National
University of Juridical Sciences
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/2322005818774653
http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ale
Corresponding author:
Seyed Masoud Noori, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ), NYU Law School, 139 Macdougal St,
New York, NY 10011, USA.
E-mail: smn5@nyu.edu
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