Message from the Director of the Law Clinic

 

The University of Pretoria Law Clinic forms part of the Faculty of Law and is a statutorily recognised legal aid clinic in terms of the Legal Practice Act, 28 of 2014 (as amended), duly certified and accredited as such by the Legal Practice Council (formerly the Law Society of the Northern Provinces). 

The University of Pretoria Law Clinic, which was established in 1980, provides free, quality legal services to the indigent and superior clinical legal education to final-year law students.

 

Message from the Director of the Law Clinic, Eddie Hanekom

In 2020 the University of Pretoria Law Clinic will celebrate its 40th anniversary.

The UP Law Clinic was founded in 1980 by thirteen student volunteers who rendered legal advice two nights per week to the indigent, disenfranchised people of Eersterust. From these humble beginnings the present day University of Pretoria Law Clinic evolved with Attorneys and Candidate Attorneys assisted by students providing pro bono legal services in both litigious and non-litigious matters to more than  three thousand clients per year from our offices in Hatfield and Hammanskraal. We also provide quality clinical legal education to final year law students and opportunities for graduates to serve as Candidate Attorneys.

The University of Pretoria Law Clinic is also increasingly involved in research and lobbying, influencing and informing government policy and private sector conduct.

At the end of 2018, the clinic had to say goodbye to the previous director, Mr. Franciscus Haupt, who for close on two decades developed the clinic to be the force that it is today. His visionary exploits to create a sustainable unit will remain the foundation to build on.

A new era lies ahead. The 4th Industrial revolution is key to growth and innovation and increasingly effective education methods. As the world becomes more electronically driven, it is the duty of Faculties and Schools of Law to adapt. University Law Clinics, being the laboratories of law, provide a perfect platform for clinical legal education innovation. The UP Law Clinic, while remaining committed to community service, will grow blended learning in order to eventually achieve the goal of clinically training all final year law students, developing their skills and equipping them with applied competencies.

Already one of the largest and most active University Law Clinics in South Africa, the UP Law Clinic is an integral part of the top Faculty of Law in Africa, and strives to become the undisputed leader in clinical legal education.

The motto of the student section in 2019 aptly summarises the type of final year UP law student that makes it through law clinic: “Fit for Practice”.

  • Eddie Hanekom

 



 

 

 

 

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