Raffles University Legal Training Methods
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| Raffles University Legal Training Methods |
Law education being a professional education in addition to imparting knowledge on existing as well as emerging areas, the Law School focuses on appropriate training methods to achieve its stated objectives. The training is carried out by various methods:
1.Clinical Method of Teaching:
A student of law needs to understand law not just as it exists in the books but in its socio- economic political & scientific context. Therefore, the study of these social sciences concurrently with study of law is an imperative in understanding and analyzing law in its various aspects. In addition to exposing the students to various allied & connected areas of law, the student needs to be equipped to understand and react to real life situation i.e. "law inaction".
The School of law believes in developing competence with integrity, application of knowledge, skill & values. The idea of profession competence is the competence that/s required in their client centered behavior. Competence therefore depends upon the habits of mind that allow the practitioner to be attentive, curious, self aware and willing to recognize & correct errors. Competence is the ability to do ability to do a task within the legal framework and is the process to uphold justice. The methods of teaching in the classroom as well as outside are oriented towards developing such skills in the students.
2.Legal Clinics:
Clinics are an established method of teaching law. At Raffles School of law the clinic includes
· Simulation clinics: Where the students will learn a variety of simulation as to what happens in the legal practice. The includes detail discussion on an identified case, fictional problems wherein the students identify plausible solution to a legal issue. These exercises will be related to the subjects & topics of their study.
· In House clinic: The students are involved in discussion on a live case with fact situations. The case situation is often enacted in a classroom, this is following by discussion on identification of legal issues plausible remedies.
· Out House clinic: The students are encourages undertaking legal work outside the university. These clinics operate through various agencies beyond the campus of the University. The most preferred for collaboration for outside clinics are the NGOs and Legal Service Authorities. Through these organizations, the students get opportunities to experience live problems & draw their own conclusions and find remedies based on the legal knowledge they have acquired.
· Moot Courts: Moot court is an accepted method of teaching law. Though there being mandatory requirements of moot courts as per the Bar Council directives, the moot courts at the Law School goes beyond these mandatory requirements. The system of moot court is three tier. At the first level all the students are exposed compulsorily to undertake subjects. At the second level the students are asked to compete amongst on certain specified case to prove & establish their capabilities in research and presentation of arguments. Those who participate in these competitions are graded depending upon their performance. The third stage is participation in national and international level competitions. Students who are identified having certain capabilities of advocacy are short-lists and then sent to different moot court competitions. Their performance at these competitive moot courts are assessed & graded for their further consideration in moot court competitions.
· Negotiation: On the world of economics & business it is often not that important to ascertain who is wrong & who is not, for continuity of commercial transaction and of business as such, it is always a matter of adjustment of rights, it may not be the appropriate remedy to hold one person wholly liable for a consequence, thus ruining his business and phasing people out of business. For the sustenance and continuity of business, there is need to adjust rights of each other. This can be effectively achieved not adjustment but by negotiation & mediation. There is huge dearth of talented professionals who can mediate & negotiate disputes. Some of the western countries even adopt negotiation & mediation as the sole method of dispute resolution. The talents & skills required for effective negotiation are not same as that of an advocate but are superior capabilities which requires not only in understanding one's own view but that of the other as well. The school of Law stresses on development of such capabilities so that the students can be effective future negotiators & mediators not just at the nation level but even at the international arena.
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