Clinical Legal Education in Belarus: Practice-Oriented Pedagogy for Socially Engaged Law Students

Abstract

The paper analyzes the evolution and changes involving clinical legal education (CLE) in Belarus. The author tends to create a historical overview of the 22 years' experience of clinical legal education in Belarus. It will be possible to answer some questions mostly based on the inside view and 12 years of clinical experience with goals to bring some inspiration in a global context and to leave a mark on history. It focused on the new role embraced by legal clinics in Belarus and contribution to the creation of a new formation of legal practitioners. Additionally, the author shares the technological insights about clinical legal education. Thinking about the future it is important to make an overview of achievements and opportunities of going forwards. There is a great number of opportunities to implement clinical methodology to both academic studies and professional training. The research problem addressed in this paper is to substantiate the most effective forms and methods of teaching law disciplines both in Russian and in English in a law school in the context of introduction of digital forms of learning into traditional educational environment of a law school. The author carries out an analytical review of law clinics in historical perspective and how the work of law clinics is implemented in both academic curricula and professional training in Belarus.