PREREQUISITES

The Legal Clinic course is founded on the premise that students should have the opportunity, even during their studies, to engage with the law in its practical application, as a ‘living’ subject embedded within its social context.

The course is open to all students. However, participation in the Clinic requires a good knowledge of the English language and a basic understanding of International Law and European Union Law.

 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE DERIVED FROM THE CURRICULUM

1) Knowledge and Understanding

The Legal Clinic offers an educational programme aimed at enhancing students’ knowledge of migration, international protection, and social justice issues from legal, social, philosophical, sociological, and anthropological perspectives. In addition to acquiring a thorough understanding of the legal principles relevant to addressing the matters presented to them, students will gain foundational knowledge in legal ethics and will learn to use essential tools for legal research.

 2) Applied Knowledge and Understanding 

Skills

Students will acquire essential skills required for the legal profession, particularly in the following areas:

• framing specific cases within the relevant legal principles;
• conducting targeted and comprehensive research on legislation and case law;
• engaging with the client to identify the most suitable procedural strategy or, where possible, suggest alternative solutions;
• discussing and resolving real cases (such as those concerning applications for international protection, family reunification, or renewal or conversion of residence permits), working alongside the client’s solicitor;
• identifying creative solutions to the case at hand;
• drafting investigative reports and preliminary legal documents;
• preparing, depending on the case, reports or opinions at the request of international organisations, public authorities, or civil society on legal issues, or drafting judicial documents, amicus curiae briefs, etc.;
• utilising key tools for legal research.

 Attitudes

Students will develop cross-disciplinary skills indispensable for the legal profession and, more generally, for professional activity in a broad sense, particularly in the following areas:

1. developing ethical awareness and sensitivity;
2. capacity to work in accordance with ethical codes of conduct;
3. ability to work in teams;
4. fostering communication in multi-professional settings;
5. acquisition of critical thinking and capacity for real-world assessment.

3) Autonomy of judgment

The course aims to provide students with the ability to

• carry out legislative and case-law research independently;
• Identify creative solutions to frequent cases and problems in immigration law;
• acquire critical thinking about reality.

4) Communication skills

Dialogue with professional and institutional figures aims to develop students’ communication skills in various professional contexts. In addition, the course will provide students with the opportunity to learn legal writing and procedural drafting techniques.

5) Learning skills

At the end of the course, students will acquire

• in-depth knowledge of immigration law concepts and institutions;
• the skills indispensable for the exercise of the legal professions;
• the ability to solve concrete cases;
• the skills necessary for writing legal documents and drafting legal opinions.

 

PROGRAMME 

The Clinic aims to enable students to learn immigration law through the practical application of relevant legal principles and the study of real issues and cases. The course’s ultimate goal is to provide students with essential skills for legal practice, specifically in the areas of migration and international protection, with particular focus on the workings of the Common European Asylum System and the regulations on international protection.

The Clinic’s activities will target individuals, organisations, and local communities which need qualified legal assistance in socially significant areas, such as the protection of fundamental rights (with a special focus on the rights of migrants, especially those in vulnerable situations or deprived of personal liberty), the right to defence, the right to housing, the right to education, and access to social services and benefits, particularly for those experiencing hardship or social need. Specifically, students will:

– participate in activities relating to the defence of real clients;

– draft opinions or reports upon request from national or international organisations, public bodies, or private entities;

– contribute to ongoing proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and the Constitutional Court through the preparation of amicus curiae briefs.

The educational programme comprises lectures and seminars on the clinical legal method and interdisciplinary classes on migration and asylum. This will be followed by specialist meetings, simulations, roundtables, and workshops. The course concludes with the handling of real cases, the drafting of legal documents, and an assessment of participants.

Throughout the Clinic, students will be supported by lecturers, tutors, and experts in immigration law.

The course will include a limited number of common lectures and specific sessions, conducted by responsible lecturers, lawyers, and professionals collaborating with the Clinic, dedicated to analysing and resolving selected cases.

Common Lectures (4 hours): Fundamentals of legal ethics, client-lawyer relationships, use of legal databases, procedural basics of national/European/international courts, drafting techniques for legal documents, opinions, and amicus curiae briefs.

Case Analysis and Resolution (15 hours): Presentation of the case(s) by lecturers; identification and presentation of relevant legal principles; determination and discussion of procedural or extrajudicial strategies; research of pertinent legislation and case law; analysis and discussion of possible case resolutions, potentially involving the client; drafting of judicial documents, opinions, or reports.

Presentation of Results (1 hour): Presentation of completed work.

 

EVALUATION METHODS

The evaluation will consider:

 

a) the individual contribution to the group’s analytical and research efforts;

b) the opinion, report, or legal document produced by the group, evaluated based on:

1. Depth of structure and critical analysis;
2. Completeness of sources;
3. Quality of presentation.

c) the oral presentation, assessed according to:

1. Methodology and argumentative structure;
2. Quality of delivery.

 

REQUIRED READINGS

M.R. Marella, E. Rigo, Cliniche legali, Commons e giustizia sociale, in Parolechiave, 1/2015, p. 181 ss;

Carnelutti, Clinica del diritto, in Riv. dir. proc. civ., 1935, p. 169 ss.

 

NON-TRADITIONAL TEACHING METHODS

The teaching method employed is based on the so-called “learning by doing” approach, originally developed in certain U.S. universities and now increasingly widespread in Italy and other European countries. Under the guidance of lecturers and the lawyers and professionals collaborating with the Clinic, students will be tasked with addressing and resolving real cases through a combination of lectures, workshops, practical exercises, seminars, field activities, working groups, and the drafting of legal documents.

Clinic activities will be conducted, as appropriate, at the Department, in the lawyer’s or professional’s office, at court offices, in reception centres for asylum seekers, or in immigration detention centres.

 

ATTENDANCE

 Attendance at Clinic activities is mandatory. During the introductory session, students will be divided into working groups, with each group assigned a specific aspect of the case under study for in-depth analysis.