The Law Clinic is an organizational unit of Faculty of Law in which students provide legal aid to the poor and socially disadvantaged citizens. As a part of the Faculty of Law, the Law Clinic is authorized to provide only so-called primary legal aid, i. e. the students are not entitled to represent clients before the court. Instead, they can provide legal advice and general legal information, as well as assist in the drafting of documents for use in administrative proceedings. Participation of students is on voluntary basis exclusively. Cases in the Law Clinic are handled both independently and collectively by students, after being given guidance and case approval by academic mentors – practitioners, teaching and research assistants, as well as professors of the Faculty of Law, which mitigates the danger of potential malpractice. All students are organized into groups specializing in particular areas of law, which are recognized to be of the greatest importance for the clients. There are currently eight groups in the Law Clinic assisting asylum seekers and aliens, victims of discrimination, minorities, children, crime victims and witnesses, workers, patients, and citizens involved in enforcement proceedings. There is also a special group dealing with public relations and the official journal Pro Bono. Erasmus students are invited to join the Law Clinic in one or two semesters. They will get the opportunity to be acquainted with the methods of legal aid providing and specific fields of law dealt with by individual groups.
The objectives of this course are:
1. To enable students to define and distinguish different types of legal aid in Croatia.
2. To help students in acquiring the knowledge in various areas of law and to enable them to compare Croatian laws
to the solutions in the country of their origin.
3. To provide students with basic skills necessary for client interviewing and legal advising.
Overview
The students will participate in the work of all groups. Before starting their volunteering, they will be introduced to Croatian legal aid system and the role the Law Clinic. Afterwards, each group will introduce their work and the field of law which they specialize in, resulting in discussion about the differences between Croatian and their own home legal systems. The students familiar with Croatian language will be given opportunity to assist Croatian colleagues in client interviewing and legal opinion drafting. Motivated students will assist in country reporting for the purposes of asylum seekers’ administrative proceedings (in English). All students will be given opportunity to write an article for the official journal Pro bono (in Croatian or English). Best papers will be published in one of its editions.
Agenda
Week 1: Introduction. Croatian legal aid system.
Week 2: Group for the protection of patients’ rights.
Week 3: Group for asylum seekers and aliens.
Week 4: Group for the elimination of discrimination and the rights of minorities.
Week 5: Group for the protection of citizens in enforcement proceedings.
Week 6: Group for the rights of children and family maintenance.
Week 7: Group for the protection of and assistance to crime victims.
Week 8: Group for the protection of workers’ rights.
All meetings take place at the premises of the Law Clinic at Palmotićeva 30 (ground floor), starting from 10th October 2022. No meeting is held in the exam week (14 th – 18th November). Meetings last for two hours, except for the introductory meeting. Course Evaluation Students are expected to regularly attend the meetings and to participate in the discussions. Evaluation of students consists of continuing active monitoring of students’ participation in the meetings and discussions. Students are expected to write a short essay (1000 – 1500 words) containing the remarks about their clinical experience which should be based on a diary of activities. Additionally, at the final meeting, the students will be provided with an anonymous questionnaire which will be used for further improvements of the program.
Summary
To receive the certificate of participation granting 10 ECTS points, students are supposed to:
– attend at least 6 meetings (first meeting is mandatory)
– participate in the discussions
– write at least 5 weekly homework
– write a diary of their activities
– attend one group meeting in the premises of Law clinic (not obligatory to students who are
not currently in Croatia)
– write a short essay based on diary and submit it to erasmus.clinic@pravo.hr until 8th January
2022 (1000 – 1500 words).
Generally, students are entitled to apply for a grade. It will depend on the extent of participation in the activities of the Law Clinic. Higher grades will be given to the students who show greater ambition for the volunteering work in the Law Clinic and carry out special tasks assigned by the groups. The quality of the written essay is also an important criterion
