My recently published article in one of the Howard law journals describes an innovative idea, namely using law students to help provide legal services to indigent criminal defendants in Sub-Saharan Africa, which would help integrate more practical aspects of legal education in traditionally over-doctrinal African law schools and help close the legal aid gap for criminal defendants. The article will appear next summer. I think--especially in South Africa--the idea has much promise, but the article is intended to be of wide applicability throughout common law Africa.
"Globalization of the Law Student Practitioner: Toward a Student Practice Rule for Indigent Criminal Defense in Sub-Saharan Africa," 3 Howard University Human Rights and Globalization Law Review __ (forthcoming summer 2010).
Abstract: Due to resource constraints and a developing legal profession, Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from a legal aid shortage, particularly for indigent criminal representation. A number of African countries, led by the example of South Africa, have experimented with training non-lawyers to provide some degree of legal services as a means of filling the legal aid gap. Law school legal clinics are a major provider of legal services throughout common law Africa, but law students are prevented from practicing law without a law license. In many common law countries, most notably the United States, Canada, and Australia, law students are allowed to provide limited legal services when under the supervision of a lawyer. Law students are an untapped resource for providing legal aid to indigent criminal defendants and to others who cannot afford a lawyer. This article will look at the promise and constraints of a student practice rule in common law Sub-Saharan Africa.
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