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Editorial  

“HOW DO THE STUDENTS’ THINK?”: DESIGNING CLINICAL 

LEGAL EDUCATION FOR STUDENT DEVELOPMENT  

Professor Elaine Hall 

elaine.hall@northumbria.ac.uk  

In this Issue authors have been using student perspectives to think critically about 

how best to design Clinical Legal Education (CLE) to shape students’ development 

and engagement with both the clinic and the legal world beyond. We have a collection 

of insights from Australia, Hong Kong and the UK which pinpoint crucial areas for 

student development, from communication skills to self-reflection, that can be 

nurtured through experiential learning in clinic.  

Firstly, Alexandra Grey presents student perspectives on CLE in a non-university 

context. She addresses the lack of insider perspectives and investigation into non-

western examples of CLE in her case study of a novel English-Mandarin bilingual 

clinical legal education program in China. Using student voice data to conduct an 

“indigenous” study she disrupts the dominant model of clinic in the Global North – 

as something conducted within the institution. The students’ perspectives shed light 

on new more flexible models of CLE which bridge the gap between the institution and 

the community.  

mailto:elaine.hall@northumbria.ac.uk


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Rachel Dunn, Lyndsey Bengtsson and Siobhan McConnell explore the ways that clinic 

can offer a way for students to engage with law policy and reform alongside of client 

work through creating a hybrid model of CLE. Their pilot Policy Clinic gave students 

the opportunity to conduct empirical legal research with the goal of influencing policy 

and law reform. Working with external organisations and academic staff students 

were encouraged to cultivate a different kind of understanding of the law as well as 

pursuing their own research. Recognising that not all law students will proceed to 

practice informs an innovative way to present other career opportunities and paths 

within research whilst developing students’ insight and skills.  

Furthermore, Lyndsey Bengtsson’s analysis of client newsletter writing modules 

integrated into CLE indicates the benefit of students expanding their perspectives of 

the law beyond the walls of the clinic. Using data gathered through focus groups with 

students she demonstrates the way that letter writing develops students’ 

understanding of how law firms maintain relationships with clients as well as 

fostering responsibility and teamwork between participating students.  

On the other hand, Lucy Blackburn’s calls for us to look to the benefits of ephebagogy 

focusses on the law student’s learning experience. She argues that adopting 

ephebagogy, instead of pedagogy or andragogy, presents a way to tailor CLE to the needs 

of undergraduate students as learners. She illustrates how the facets of CLE lend 

themselves well to teaching undergraduate students in a way which compliments 

their stage in life. As part of developing a creative curriculum, legal educational 



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practitioners can look to ephebagogy, as a philosophy of learning, and design their 

courses in ways which nurture students and effectively respond to their position as 

neither child nor adult learners.  

The importance of student reflection for effective learning and development as 

practitioners within the clinic is explored by Matthew Atkinson and Margaret Castle. 

Their study gathers and analyses their students’ perspectives on the reflective 

assignments and practices as part of CLE at the University of South Australia and the 

University of Adelaide. Acknowledging that their students have diverse learning 

styles and their lived experiences as younger people Atkinson and Castle use the 

student responses to compare journaling and blogging as reflective activities. The 

results illuminate the force of online community spaces for the students as they 

develop through Clinic.   

Finally Doris Bozin DB, Allison Ballard, Vicki de Prazer guide us through the benefits 

of developing psychological resilience in clinic students to combat the high levels of 

mental distress amongst law students and legal professionals in the field. Their pilot 

programme integrating psychological support and awareness into the Health Law 

Clinic at the University of Canberra had extremely promising results with students 

feeling more supported and confident working with psychological issues within the 

law and in their personal lives.  



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I would like to acknowledge that this is a scary and uncertain time for many of us. I 

hope that everyone is keeping well, and I am looking forward to future times where 

we may all come together again.