Reinventing Clinical Legal Education: Taiwanese Adaptation of an American Model

The clinical legal education movement began in earnest in the United States in the 1960s in response to student demands that their legal education serve marginalized communities. As clinical legal education became a mainstream element of American legal education, the focus moved from its service-based roots to an emphasis on education, particularly practical lawyering skills and professional values for lawyers. Law clinics in the United States have developed a standard model that works to achieve these objectives within the framework of the American legal system. The global spread of clinical legal education originated in the United States and has led to clinical programs around the world. The most successful exports are tailored to the local context. It is the concept of clinical legal education that travels best, not any particular model. Taiwan’s legal educators have resisted clinical education for a very long time, and there are several practical obstacles to implementing an American-style clinic. However, some existing models that have been created within the existing system would require only slight modification to be viable options for clinical education in Taiwan. The inchoate clinical movement in Taiwan will continue moving forward by developing models that, while reflecting the core objectives and concepts of the global clinical legal education movement, are absolutely Taiwanese.