Applied Legal Studies
ACADEMIC THEORETICAL COMPONENT: APPLIED LEGAL STUDIES
The Law Clinic and its theoretical component resort under the Department of Criminal and Procedural Law. The clinical component is amplified and supported by the theoretical academic course Applied Legal Studies. This compulsory one-year course is presented in the final-year of LLB and consists of six modules, namely: communication, ethics, divorces, drafting of pleadings, small claims courts and certain aspects of litigation techniques. While the Director is responsible for the lectures, the Principals and attorneys who are involved in day-to-day litigation furnishes continuous input and updates from daily practice to be assimilated into the course.
Up to the end of 2007 the subject was a fully fledged one-year module, but during 2008 it was adapted into a compulsory semester module and certain aspects of the subject were changed in order to add value to the experience of the students. From January 2009 it was changed back to a one-year module but for practical reasons lectures were only presented every second week. The course carries the credits of a semester module. Due to the intense nature of the training of students in a clinical environment, as well as the extensive array of skills that need to be imparted to our final year LLB’s in order to equip them with the basic skills needed in the Law Clinic, the theoretical component were changed back to a full year module from 2013, carrying the credits of a year module and with lectures every week.