About the Unit
First: – about the legal clinic program
What are legal clinics, what its role in societies and to whom do they provide services?
Although the term legal clinic is a recent use in the legal field, it is considered important in the field of promoting the right to access justice , which was contributed to the establishment of international organizations that care about human rights , especially the poor and destitute segments of society , as well as developing students ‘ capacity building and training in line with the needs of society and the requirements of legal work , and this term has been included in the courses of study of law students at Iraqi universities through partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development, justice accessible to all (USAID) since a year 2006, After that , the scope of cooperation with the Francophone university agency (AUF) expanded through a partnership and cooperation agreement with Iraqi universities in September for a year 2022 and some universities of the Arab world (Egypt , Palestine , Jordan, Lebanon) with the aim of establishing a project to enhance the access of vulnerable groups in the Middle East to law and law through the establishment of a network of legal clinics .
The program aims to achieve two goals: first, the contribution of law colleges to supporting society by providing free legal assistance to disadvantaged classes (widows ,orphans , those covered by the social welfare system, the elderly), and the second goal is to provide an opportunity for practical training for college students, especially End-stage students through their participation in lawsuits in which the college’s lawyer team pleads, and thus practical and applied benefit is achieved in various fields of law .
Second: – about the restorative justice program
The term (restorative justice program) means any program that uses restorative processes in which the victim and the perpetrator participate and , where appropriate, any of the individuals or members of the local community affected by the crime, actively participate together to resolve issues arising from the crime, with the help of a person called a facilitator , The restorative process can include mediation, reconciliation and negotiation between lawyers and judges to consult on sentencing in order to achieve restorative results, which means the latter responses and programs such as compensation, restitution of rights and community service in order to meet the individual and community needs and responsibilities of all parties in conflict or affected by their rights from the occurrence of the criminal act or the cause of the conflict and the reintegration of the perpetrator and victim into society, and this all happens without resorting to the means of the criminal justice system .
Third: introducing the legal clinic unit at the college of Law / University of Baghdad
The college of law has started implementing its Legal Clinic program directly Previously, it was the first in Iraq in cooperation with the American affordable justice program, and an administrative unit of its own was established within the college formations, based on the University order issued on 3/7/2012, according to which it became an administrative unit associated with the dean of the college, and then followed by a partnership agreement between the University of Baghdad and the Agence francophone universities with the aim of establishing a network of legal clinics aimed at enhancing the access of vulnerable groups in the Middle East to law and right in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon.
The program aims to enhance students ‘ contact with practical life and provide them with the opportunity to come into contact with the Applied side of law and develop their practical skills, in order to benefit from international experiences in the management of legal clinics . Although the college of law has several previous experiences in which it has embraced the Moot Court-which serves as another model for practical legal education, the new program seeks to make the practice more regular and accumulated experience, more competitive in terms of students involved in it, more diverse in terms of contemporary topics addressed, and more involved in the legal environment.
The topics of the legal clinic are not defined exclusively, and are not fixed over time, but are determined by the priorities and interests of society, and deal with human rights and freedoms, whether social, economic or political. In this regard, the role of clinical legal education is to smoothly and conveniently blend the basic principles of law with the developments of its branches and directions. Hence, the legal clinic had a vital role and a societal turning point, hence the rule of law and its justice.
During their work at the legal clinic, students ‘ tasks are distributed around deriving the legal problem facing them in the real case, identifying the law-or set of laws-that regulates its aspects (whether objective or procedural aspects), and then formulating their strategy. Legal . And in their strategy, students are responsible for providing a detailed description of the applicable laws, comparing them with the actual case in question, preparing a set of evidence that supports their arguments, and drafting a legal memorandum that mixes all of the above.
Laws-regulating their aspects (whether substantive or procedural), and then formulating their strategy. Legal. And in their strategy. Students are responsible for providing a preferred description of the applicable laws, comparing them with the actual case in question, preparing a set of evidence that supports their arguments, and drafting a legal memorandum that mixes all of the above.
Fourth: the objectives of the legal clinic:
The legal clinic in the educational system has two goals:
It is part of the Legal Studies Program to train the student on skills related to practicing the legal profession . Therefore, the teaching of the Legal Clinic Program at the college is included in the curriculum of the fourth stage in the first semester, and then the student’s study is not limited to reading only the cases, but becomes an actual part of them, which is the essence of practical study, so the legal clinic is an effective method of teaching and a curriculum of educational curricula.
The second is community-based: it aims to achieve social justice by providing legal services to non-community members related to the legal publication and commissioning lawsuits for free . In this regard, the legal clinic focuses on marginalized groups in society, the vulnerable, whether they are abused women, widows, divorcees, children, victims of human trafficking, detainees and prisoners, the vulnerable on Earth so the topics that are generally included in the legal clinic are the topics of divorce, family violence, human trafficking and legal awareness.
Based on the foregoing, the legal clinic differs from community organizations and Centers for providing legal services and consultations that do not connect students with law schools. The legal clinic connects the law college with the whole community, especially non-governmental organizations that are busy defending the rights of individuals for free.
Sixth: the most important activities that the legal clinic has started to undertake:
Cooperating with the fourth stage students who volunteer to the clinic at the college to promote its idea and about its program in providing legal assistance by providing legal consultations and proxy for free in court cases.
Allocate an official Facebook page for the legal clinic and another page on the LinkedIn website.
Launching the legal awareness program, a program aimed at involving law students in spreading legal awareness to civil society and activating their contribution to civil society service by introducing the most important laws affecting life and the public interest, such as municipal, traffic, environmental and human rights laws as part of plans to develop a culture of voluntary work.
Cooperation was held with the International Republican Institute organization to hold workshops on communication skills for students of the legal clinic, and legal workshops and virtual courts were held in the college of Law Building / University of Baghdad / model courtroom.
Conducting field visits to widows and orphans in slums in Baghdad by a group of students at the college of law from various stages to identify their financial and legal needs, provide social services, and introduce them to the clinic’s services.