Essential or supportive? Legal education, legal aid and the Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

This study addresses the role played by legal clinics in developing the skills of law students by integrating them with the practical side of the law. This study also explains the responsibility of legal clinics in supporting weak and marginalized groups that cannot bear the costs and burdens of layers and promoting principles of human rights and the rule of law. In addition, this study addresses the efforts of the legal clinic at An-Najah National University in Palestine as a case study. This study shows the important role of legal clinics in both participating in the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals and community services and enhancing students’ skills. The researcher use a mixed approach to collect the needed data through interviews and content analysis in a desk research method. The researcher highlights the importance of legal clinics in providing students with practical skills and improving their awareness of their rights, especially those who come from unprivileged communities.

Keywords:

• legal education
• practical education
• legal aid
• justice
• goals of sustainable development
• legal clinic

1. Introduction

The teaching of law has adopted new strategies to practice law using real problems and contexts from daily life to help create professional skills for future lawyers and legal practitioners (Mimoso et al., 2018). These strategies interact to engage students in learning activities. Clinical legal education is one of the interactive strategies that supports students in learning about their strengths and weaknesses as lawyers (Bloch, 1982) and about the institutions with which lawyers and their clients interact (Farley et al., 2008).

The idea of legal education in legal clinics began at the beginning of the twentieth century with the development of the teaching process in law schools from the traditional theoretical method to the desire to introduce more practical learning strategies. It was expected that this approach would enhance the involvement of law students on the practical side upon their graduation (Uyumaz & Erdoğan, 2015), as well as integrate them with the practical legal market by examining real-life practical cases, interviewing parties of cases, and searching for legal solutions under the supervision of practising attorneys working in the legal clinic (Imam, 2016) Moreover, this method promotes the values of social responsibility for law students by providing free legal services to poor and marginalized groups (Mohamed, 2011).

Clinical legal education is a programme of study that integrates learning experiences with representations and discussions by students about clients through real cases or projects while under the supervision of faculty members who have strong knowledge, skills and law practice experience (Du Plessis, 2011; Steenhuisen, 2006).

Legal clinics first started in the United States, and due to their success, they have spread throughout all areas of the country (Wilson, 2018). The legal clinic education system has also spread throughout various countries of the world and has proven successful and interesting to both law students and law schools.

The existence of legal clinics at law schools has become an indicator of the quality of the legal education provided because education in a legal clinic constitutes a real opportunity for law students during their studies to not only gain experience and practice before their graduation (Fuchs, 1934) but also acquire the professional skills that they will need in their future professional life while practising the profession of law (Cahn & Schneider, 1986); engagement in such a programme deepens and enhances their sense of responsibility towards community issues by volunteering to serve these issues and providing free legal services to needy groups (Imam, 2016).

Accordingly, the foundations of establishing a legal clinic are based on two essential factors; the first is to achieve justice for marginalized groups in the local community through free legal services, while the second is to provide law students with practical skills that help them smoothly transition to the practical legal market and providing them with a set of technical assets and various legal skills (Meghdadi & Nasab, 2011; Sobh, 2021; Uyumaz & Erdoğan, 2015).

In his study of the legal clinic and its role in the development of legal education, Bentalha (2020) points out that the legal clinic is a link between theoretical legal study and practical law because it aims to enhance legal education through practical knowledge of law and to train law students in legal skills such as interviewing, defending, oral pleading before the courts, legal writing, drafting memoranda and knowing legal research and analysis methods. All of these are exercises based on international standards and advanced applied methods for the benefit of law students.

Saabneh and Sobh (2019) refer to the role of legal clinics and indicate that legal clinics are one of the most prominent forms of an applied legal education. In fact, there is a close connection between the terms “legal clinic” and “applied legal education.” Specifically, the goal of clinical legal education is either the pursuit of skill training so that one can make a contribution to the field of social justice or for the purposes of education and providing legal services for either research or practising law.

For these purposes, An-Najah National University (ANNU) in Palestine established its legal clinic in 2010 within the Faculty of Law; this clinic provides a range of services to the local community. In addition, it provides students with “hands-on” experience in legal practice and judicial systems (Meghdadi & Nasab, 2011). The overall aim of the legal clinic is to provide free legal advice for poor and disadvantaged groups, as well as to train third- and fourth-year law students. The training of students consists of practical skills in managing a case, which range from taking the assignment and following up the process all the way to the final decision made by the court (López, 2008). In addition, the clinic has a number of other objectives, namely, to provide legal and human rights education to the general public, with a special emphasis on strengthening the Palestinian legal capacity, as well as emphasizing best practices within the region. A legal clinic aims to bridge an epistemological knowledge gap in legal education, specifically in areas that need further training (Rosenbaum, 2012).

The integrated legal clinic module consists of the following six areas: legal clinic training, i.e., effective means for improving students’ knowledge and capacity; research; awareness campaigns and workshops; free legal assistance; advocacy activities; and media (Sandefur & Selbin, 2009; Uyumaz & Erdoğan, 2015).

This study aims to discuss the role of legal clinics in promoting practical skills for students and achieving Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, 2015).

The researcher addresses this study through descriptive analytical approaches, where the role and services of legal clinics will be described, in particular the ANNU legal clinic. In addition, the researcher discusses the services provided by such clinics by connecting them with the relevant Sustainable Development Goals. Moreover, the data, forms, and information available at the ANNU legal clinic will also be discussed.

This study focuses on data collected during the first semester of the 2021/2022 academic year because the activities of the ANNU legal clinic returned to their normal situation during this period after the exceptional circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic; before this period, the study was placed on hold due to e-learning and the lockdown situations occurring in the country (Affouneh et al., 2021).

2. Legal obstacles towards an effective role of the legal clinic

Although there have been many attempts to pass a law that regulates legal aid, thus far, there is no legal regulation for such aid in Palestine; thus, the related tools provision are not organized. The Ministry of Justice organized a Palestinian conference on legal assistance in 2012 with the participation of various relevant parties; however, the law was not approved, and the efforts made by the Ministry of Justice at the time did not succeed in institutionalizing the legal assistance system and ensuring its funding due to the rejection of some parties.

In 2016, the National Legal Aid Committee was launched to formulate a national strategy to provide legal assistance to all citizens who need it to enable all eligible citizens to access justice. The main role of this committee is to develop a national strategy for legal aid through the contributions of the members of the committee, which expresses the will, seriousness, and ability of all parties to participate in reality and closely cooperate to develop an effective and sustainable regulatory framework to provide legal assistance to all Palestinians who can prove financially that they are unable to hire an attorney (Palestinian Ministry of Justice, 2016).

The National Legal Aid Strategy was issued in 2019. According to this strategy, there are many objectives for establishing a sustainable legal aid system in Palestine, including facilitating and ensuring the access of needy citizens to justice (Lima & Gomez, 2019), providing them with legal empowerment, organizing and coordinating the legal assistance process among all legal assistance providers, creating a national consensus on all matters related to necessity and quality control standards, and ensuring that the State of Palestine performs its duties to the fullest extent to guarantee the implementation of international agreements and domestic laws with the aim of ensuring access to justice and fair trial guarantees (Palestinian Prime Minister’s Office, 2021).

However, a clear legislative shortcoming emerges in the domestic laws regulating the litigation process, as there is no code that regulates legal assistance in Palestine; rather, the provisions of legal assistance are scattered among numerous codes such as: the Palestinian Basic Law, The Regulation of the Legal Profession Code of 1999, the Criminal Procedures Code No. 3 of 2001, the Juvenile Protection Code of 2016

In this context, researcher believe that the current situation of legal aid in Palestine is weak because of the weak role of the government in providing legal aid and the lack of clarity in some cases due to the lack of a special law regulating this role, despite the presence of some legal provisions in some codes that indicate the role of government in legal assistance.

According to the current legal provisions that govern legal aid, the process of legal aid is carried out by different parties and institutions working in various legal fields and jurisdictions without the availability of regulation and coordination between these parties (Qafisheh, 2012). At the domestic level, national policy frameworks have been adopted to enhance the commitment to legal aid; for example, the National Policy Agenda 2017–2022 stipulated the improvement of access to justice as a main priority, of which access to legal aid is an essential part (Palestinian Prime Minister’s Office, 2016), while the Justice Sector Strategy 2017–2022 and the Sectoral Justice Strategy 2021–2023 included a commitment to activating legal assistance (Palestinian Prime Minister’s Office, 2021).

These and other legal challenges faced by the legal clinic in Palestine make its work often unstable in regard to providing legal aid to needy groups. However researcher believe that there are clear policies on adopting legal assistance based on achieving Sustainable Development Goals, the national policy agenda, justice sector strategies, and the National Strategy for Legal Aid; thus, it is necessary to open an effective discussion with the various relevant sectors to work on the adoption of a law for legal aid and to unify the efforts made to provide it to needy groups.

3. Problem statement and study gap

Even though there is extensive research on law education, no recent research has investigated clinical legal education as a method of teaching and learning, especially in the MENA area (Meghdadi & Nasab, 2011). Legal clinics could also enable law colleges, teachers, lawyers and social workers to gain more experience and skills while practising law.

Thus, the current study examines students’ skills and the improvement of practical education among practitioners. Specifically, the current study was designed to answer the following question: What is the role of legal clinics in developing the skills of law students and enhancing Sustainable Development Goals in the Palestinian context?

4. Methods and data collection

The researcher used a mixed-method approach to collect the needed data. The descriptive analytical methodology was conducted through interviews and disk research, during which document analysis was conducted. The combination of methods was of great value to ensure the trustworthiness of the results.

Interviews with male and female students were conducted, and all legal clinic reports and documents were analysed. The collected data were transcribed and then analysed through thematic analysis.

4.1. Participants

Participants of this study were: First, (40) law students at An-Najah National University, whose age ranged between (21–22) years, with regard to gender distribution, the number of participants was (15) males and (25) females. Students were selected using a snowballing techniques from those who received training at An- Najah legal clinic of law. The study’s inclusion required participants to be: 1) Palestinian, 2) a registered law student, and 3) native Arabic speakers. Second, (3) staff member working at An-Najah legal clinic. Third, (10) beneficiaries were selected from those who received consultations at An- Najah legal clinic. The total number of study sample was (53) participants.

4.2. Instruments and procedures

The data were obtained via semi-structured interviews, and all interviews were administered by local research assistants. The field research staff had received qualitative research method training and conducted the interviews following the research purposes. All participants were native Arabic speakers. The sample was recruited as follows; first, I contacted the representative of the legal clinic at An- Najah National University explaining the study’s aims, the planned research procedure, the number of participants we intended to interview, and the selection procedure. Then, the contact person referred the researchers to the first key informant. Subsequently, a snowball sampling technique was used to identify other participants interested in the research and being interviewed until data saturation. Participation was voluntary, and interviewees could withdraw from the study at any time.

4.3. Data analysis

All interviews were transcribed in Arabic by a mother-tongue researcher. Thematic analysis (TCA) was applied to the written transcripts to identify the key themes emerging from the transcripts. In addition, a bottom-up, data-driven textual analysis was used to extract categories from the raw data. Each interview was closely examined to pinpoint concepts, not just statements containing similar words. The analytical process comprised the following steps: (a) The researchers conducted an open-ended analysis of the participants’ narratives to identify the major research themes; (b) the themes were coded and organized into structured categories.

5. Results

The results of thematic content analysis of transcripts yielded four major themes: Implementation of legal awareness campaigns for the community, providing legal and personal skills training for students, providing legal aid before the judiciary to the poor and the providing free legal advice to poor and marginalized groups.

5.1. Implementation of legal awareness campaigns for the community

Public awareness of the availability of legal aid services is critical to the provision of such services, particularly for marginalized and vulnerable citizens (Jennings, 2018). Hence, legal education must be an important part of work programmes; thus, legal clinics have launched various legal awareness campaigns, with the aim of providing community awareness of important legal issues (Murillo et al., 2021), enhancing the rule of law and access to justice (Jelinic, 2018), resolving conflicts by law instead of violence and societal conflict and enhancing protection for groups who are weak and poor (Blazer, 1991).

The topics of the awareness campaigns held during the study period, which comprise seven field campaigns held in the villages and camps of the northern West Bank regions (Nablus, Qalqilya, and Jenin), are summarized in the field of family law, drug dangers, electronic extortion, achieving gender equality, children’s rights and the right to education, human rights and the rule of law, and domestic violence and women’s rights; there was one campaign for each topic.

These campaigns were presented by students at the legal clinic and conducted under the supervision of practising attorneys and professors from the Faculty of Law who are also practising attorneys (Qafisheh, 2012). There were 168 male and 234 female participants and beneficiaries of the field awareness campaigns (An-Najah National University, 2022).

According to one of the males who participated in a campaign for gender equality, “I have become acquainted with this topic and its importance, and my view on this topic has changed and become more supportive of promoting equality and women’s rights.”

Gender equality is the fifth Sustainable Development Goal (Vaughan, 2016), and the legal clinic has held many community awareness campaigns focusing on women’s rights (Richter-Devroe, 2008), with the aim of combating violence against women and achieving equality and non-discrimination (Harries & Bird, 2005). It has focused on this goal in its various activities, especially within a 16-day campaign to combat gender-based violence (Richardson & Speedy, 2019).

Additionally, one of the students who presented this campaign said, “We worked for long hours to prepare a presentation on this subject in a way that reflects our understanding and mastery of the subject; we referred to the texts of international laws and charters. It was a wonderful experience; we provided information to the community, and we noticed their actions towards us, especially since we are still students. We provided the presentation in an interesting and understandable way and answered many question, and the idea of social responsibility was reinforced. I encourage my colleagues to engage in the activities of the legal clinic.”

One of the people who listened to one of the radio episodes related to human rights awareness stated, “It was a wonderful radio episode from which I was able to learn about the most important provisions of the law that protects this right, and I was able to learn about international conventions related to human rights.”

In addition, one of the women who listened to an anti-violence announcement reported, “I have become more familiar with the mechanisms of providing legal and psychological protection for battered women, and I will share this information in my social environment.”

According to the data of the legal clinic, it was able to reach more than 14,741 people who benefitted from the electronic awareness that the clinic launched through social media campaigns and other media platforms (An-Najah National University, 2022); in addition, 13 radio episodes were broadcast on various legal and human rights topics such as human rights, labour law, children’s rights (Qafisheh, 2012), and legal awareness during the 16-day campaign to combat gender-based violence (Harries & Bird, 2005), in addition to legal activities that aimed to empower both women and other vulnerable and marginalized groups (An-Najah National University, 2022).

Additionally, fifteen advertisements were broadcast daily on radio stations related to legal awareness on topics of interest to society, such as human rights, personal status law, labour law, commercial law and contractual obligations, cybercrime, drug dangers, combating violence and conflict, preventing discrimination, and achieving equality (An-Najah National University Legal Clinic, 2022).

Thus, through legal awareness campaigns for the community, the legal clinic, from my point of view, has achieved a connection with specific Sustainable Development Goals as follows. First, good health and well-being, which comprise the third Sustainable Development Goal (Fernandez, 2020), are achieved through the legal awareness of the community, in which there is a focus on raising awareness of the dangers of drugs that threaten human life and society, spreading societal awareness of the dangers of drugs to human health (Saabneh & Sobh, 2019), providing information about sanctions imposed on drug dealing activities, and explaining rehabilitation and treatment institutions that can be accessed if needed.

5.2. Providing legal and personal skills training for students

The ANNU legal clinic aims mainly to empower law students and make then able to analyse and elicit information. Additionally, it aims to shift from an education system that depends on giving information to an education system that is based on comprehension and life skills (Bentalha, 2020; Uyumaz & Erdoğan, 2015).

Accordingly, the practical training for students adopted by the legal clinic aims to develop students’ skills in human rights, rule of law (Meghdadi & Nasab, 2011; Sandefur & Selbin, 2009) and various legal issues to enhance their personal capabilities and help them to provide legal assistance to marginalized groups (Foley et al., 2012; Mohamed, 2011). These legal training approaches also aim to link legal education with the practical legal market (Fuchs, 1934; Wizner, 2001), enhance students’ practical experience (Blazer, 1991), and develop students’ self-learning skills, awareness, problem-solving and decision-making skills (López, 2008). In addition, such trainings aim to enhance students’ legal writing skills and to help them develop the mechanisms of preparing the necessary legal documents, memos, and their oral pleadings drafts, in which students present their pleadings and memos in legal training sessions held by the legal clinic and discuss them in front of the public (Blanc, 2014; Howells, 2020).

These training approaches focus on the mechanisms of providing legal advice, drafting memos, precedents, and offering free legal assistance for poor and marginalized groups (Gorach et al., 2019). Such legal assistance was been given to 61 males and 100 females during the study period.

One of the female students who participated in these training sessions said,

These were useful exercises that reflected on our legal and personal skills. We participated in practical training, and we felt that we were in a courtroom. We have more confidence in our legal abilities and greater courage to enter the law profession and help marginalized groups.

5.3. Providing legal aid before the judiciary to the poor and marginalized groups

The legal clinic receives a number of cases that need free legal representation, and these cases are evaluated by the legal clinic according to the criteria for providing the free legal representation service necessitated by each case (United Nations, 2013).

Accordingly, the following criteria have been developed to provide free legal assistance; these criteria are recommended by the 2019–2022 National Legal Aid Strategy, which is based on a list of vulnerability criteria developed through a network of legal assistance providers (United Nations principles, 2013).

The first criterion is social status, as the marital status of the applicant for the legal aid is taken into consideration, as well as whether he or she is a dependent or head of household. The second criterion is gender; since women’s rights are more at risk as they are the weakest gender in society (UN Women, 2023), women are given priority in obtaining services, as are children (Sika, 2011). The third criterion is geographical location, as the population groups in marginalized places in villages and camps are taken into consideration (Houseman, 1994).

The fourth criterion consists of age and health status; priority is given to needy groups of children and women, as well as those who suffer from chronic diseases and disabilities. The fifth criterion is economic situation to ensure that free legal assistance is provided to groups whose economic situation is bad and who are unable to pay attorney fees (Houseman, 1994); as the nature of the work, both the monthly income and the amount of property owned by the applicant are taken into consideration when determining whether free services will be provided by the legal clinic. The final criterion is the nature of the cases in which representation and pleadings are needed, as priority is given to family and criminal cases related to women and children.

During this study period, eight cases were accepted; six of them were cases to be represented before the family court, and two were cases of legal representation before the criminal court, and the clients were all women who had been subjected to violence (An-Najah National University Legal Clinic, 2022).

In fact, the legal assistance service provided by the legal clinic, i.e., representing clients before the courts, faces great challenges. One such challenge is the period of adjudication of each case before the courts, which takes a relatively long time until a judgement is reached; furthermore, the financial cost of legal representation before the courts is high (Tidmarsh, 2015), which constitutes a particular challenge, especially because of the lack of funding and the unsustainability of the source of legal clinic funding (George, 2006; Holness, 2013). The Director of the Legal Clinic at ANNU said, “This makes the legal clinic unable to adopt all the cases referred to it, as the attorneys’ fees paid by the legal clinic for legal representation in family law cases can reach up to $1,000, while those represented in criminal cases can reach up to $2000.”

Additionally, the refusal of the Palestinian Bar Association (PBA) to acknowledge the legal aid provided by the legal clinic places the legal clinic in a possible conflict with the PBA (DOOZ News, 2019). Thus, there is a reluctance of the part of some practising attorneys to work with the legal clinic on certain types of cases, which is reflection of the legal restrictions in Palestine that prevent law students from representing others before the courts until they obtain a licence from the PBA, as they are still in the study stage (Qafisheh, 2012). This issue constitutes a large financial burden on the legal clinic by relying only on hiring practising attorneys in the absence of volunteer practising attorneys (Kay & Granfield, 2022). Although there are lawyers who work with the legal clinic, they do not work voluntarily (Heinz et al., 2001).

These issues are in addition to the fact that the prevailing societal culture in Palestinian society and the community structure both pose a great challenge in legal representation, especially in family law cases (Hattab & Abualrob, 2023), where sometimes after a case is submitted to the legal clinic or before the courts, there may be reconciliation between the parties due to family and community intervention. Therefore, the legal clinic has to stop its process while still incurring the financial cost of the utilized attorneys. For instance, The Director of the Legal Clinic at ANNU said, “In one of the cases that was submitted to the An-Najah National University Legal Clinic by a needy female in the form of a lawsuit filed before the family court in regard to a divorce and alimony settlement, the parties reconciled after a short period of time, and the legal clinic was asked to stop the follow-up procedures; this meant that the legal clinic incurred the financial costs.”

In addition, the services provided by the legal clinic are connected with the sixteenth Sustainable Development Goal, namely, promoting peace, justice and strong institutions. Moreover, the legal aid that is provided is done so in partnership with various institutions; thus, this aspect is connected with the seventeenth Sustainable Development Goal, namely, the establishment of partnerships for the goals.

During an interview with one of the women who received free legal representation from the legal clinic, she said, “I was subjected to violence of all kinds; I did not know my legal rights, but I heard about the legal clinic at An-Najah National University through the radio. I went to the legal clinic and was interviewed by the legal clinic team. Then, they listened to my case. I felt that they were so concerned about my case, and I was very happy when I was informed that my case was accepted, as I am poor and do not have money to hire an attorney. I give thanks to the legal clinic that helped me and enabled me to access justice.”

5.4. Providing free legal advice to poor and marginalized groups

The legal clinic received a number of requests by various means for legal advice that met the criteria of providing free legal service during the study period. I was allowed to view the content of the counselling requests within the general framework without looking at the personal details of those requesting counsel to preserve the confidentiality and privacy used in the work of the ANNU Legal Clinic. The issues presented by these counselling requests and their numbers are summarized as follows:

First, there were 34 consultations related to labour law, including consultation requests related to minimum wages, labour rights, maternity leave and actual working hours, women’s rights during childbirth, cases related to the difference in wages between men and women, cases related to unfair dismissal, and cases related to women’s and children’s employment in hazardous work.

One of the women who received free legal advice on labour law said, “I work in a small factory, and during the birth of my child and my absence from work due to childbirth, my friend in the factory informed me that the owner of the factory had terminated my work. Immediately after the end of my maternity leave, I went to the factory, but they refused to let me return to work. At this moment, I went to the legal clinic to request legal advice and to learn my legal rights; I was interviewed and provided with all the legal information I need to know about my case.”

Second, there were 30 consultations related to cybercrimes against women that were provided to women who were subjected to electronic blackmail through social media or by phone and cases related to mechanisms for seeking legal protection during cybercrime events.

Third, there were 35 consultations related to family law: consultations were provided to a number of women who were subjected to domestic violence; these consultations were related to the mechanisms of obtaining marital rights from alimony and dowry, cases related to arbitrary divorce from the husband, and cases related to child custody.

Fourth, there were 14 consultations related to contractual obligations; these consultations were provided regarding rental contracts for residence purposes, as well as cases related to sales agreements and the signing of checks, bonds, etc.

The Director of the Legal Clinic at ANNU said, “In all of these cases, free legal advice was provided to the individuals by the legal clinic through practising attorneys and with the participation of students from the legal clinic; it is noteworthy that the legal clinic bore the financial costs of the attorneys who provided the legal advice, which ranged from $100 to $200 on average, depending on the nature and complexities of the advice given.”

Generally, the consultations focused on labour law, cybercrimes and family law cases, which stems from the fact that the groups requesting the advice generally have great challenges with these issues, especially women; this is because their employment in the Palestinian labour market still faces great challenges in light of the discrimination against women (Al Kafri & Nasir, 2011), the denial of women’s rights, and the failure of the Palestinian Labour Code to meet international labour standards. In addition, issues related to cybercrimes against women and the electronic extortion of women have become new topics in the interventions and work of the legal clinic, as these are some of the modern issues in Palestinian society in light of the spread of technology and the implementation of the Palestinian Cybercrimes Code of 2018 and its 2020 amendments. Thus, there is criminal accountability for perpetrators of electronic crimes.

Regarding the issue of family law, the family law code is one of the most important codes that affects families in general and women in particular, as it regulates all matters related to marriage, divorce, custody, alimony and other issues that women face constantly, especially in light of family disputes.

On the other hand, the weakness of consultations in the field of contractual obligations highlights to the fact that such issues are generally handled by attorneys and corporations’ legal advisors; therefore, in the event of a dispute, the parties resort to litigation through their attorneys or resolve their disputes amicably.

6. Discussion

The current study aimed to test the role of legal clinics in developing the skills of law students. The findings revealed that legal clinics were beneficial to the students by enabling them to prepare and search for campaign topics, present this information to the community and answer people’s inquiries; thus, the goals and objectives of education in the legal clinic were achieved by enhancing students’ skills and their involvement in community issues (Isaenkova, 2020).

The An-Najah National University Legal Clinic provided much legal aid and conducted field community awareness campaigns in marginalized and poor areas (Safadi et al., 2015) during this study period; it also carried out legal awareness campaigns on local radio stations under the supervision of external practising lawyers and law professors, as it aimed to involve the students at the clinic in such activities. In addition, the legal clinic aimed to make a connection between its activities and the Sustainable Development Goals; the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was adopted by the presidents and governments present at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit held in September 2015, includes 17 goals (United Nations, 2015).

The simultaneous launch of the 2030 Sustainable Development Plan with that of the seventeenth Palestinian government’s process of preparing the 2017–2022 national policy agenda was an opportunity to work on integrating the Sustainable Development Goals and other priority goals into the national policy agenda (Palestinian Prime Minister’s Office, 2016). As a result, through the legal services provided by the An-Najah National University Legal Clinic, the clinic seeks to achieve a sustainable improvement in the criteria for evaluating the quality of academic performance and ensure that the services and activities that are implemented to achieve Sustainable Development Goals are consistent with the nature of its own activities and services (An-Najah National University, 2022).

The results of thematic content analysis of transcripts yielded four major themes: Implementation of legal awareness campaigns for the community, providing legal and personal skills training for students, providing legal aid before the judiciary to the poor and them four: providing free legal advice to poor and marginalized groups.

Actually, a number of these campaigns have been implemented to target young groups because it is important to strengthen these concepts for individuals in this age group. These activities are in line with the third Sustainable Development Goal. Third, the reduction of inequalities, which is the tenth Sustainable Development Goal (Chancel et al., 2018), is achieved when the legal clinic provides awareness campaigns that focus on women’s rights in various fields and encourages non-discrimination on the basis of sex, as well as focuses on not only equality in access to jobs and equal wages but also the prevention of discrimination between individuals when they practice this right, whether on the basis of gender, race, or religion (Jennings, 2018).

These activities stem not only from human rights agreements but also from the text of Article 9 of the Palestinian Basic Law (Constitution), which states that “Palestinians are equal before the law and the judiciary, and there is no discrimination between them on the grounds of race, gender, colour, religion, political opinion or disability”, as well as from the text of Article 100 of the Palestinian Labour Code, which states that “In accordance with the provisions of this law and the regulations issued pursuant to it, discrimination between men and women is prohibited.”

Fourth, the promotion of peace, justice and strong institutions, which is the sixteenth Sustainable Development Goal (Gill et al., 2021), is achieved when the legal clinic spreads legal culture knowledge and awareness of various human rights and legal fields to all members of society and discusses the important legal aspects that citizens need to know and understand to be able to obtain a society in which security and peace and the principle of the rule of law prevail and different members of society to able to obtain their rights (McKay, 2015).

Fifth, the establishment of partnerships to achieve the goals, which is the seventeenth Sustainable Development Goal (Ma et al., 2022), is achieved when the legal clinic implements its community awareness campaigns in coordination with relevant institutions such as civil society institutions, the UNDP/Sawasya2 Programme Palestine and the UN Women Palestine, with the aim of building and strengthening existing partnerships (Open Society Foundations, 2010).

The findings indicated that legal clinics enhanced students’ personal skills, one possible explanation of this result that training focuses on extracurricular activities; this indicates that students want to change the traditional pattern of the legal education process. Legal clinic training largely focuses on enhancing students’ personal skills, and students enjoy having an opportunity to engage in them because they are not available through studying traditional courses. Additionally, such activities allow students to communicate with the community while they still in law school and gives them a space to engage in self-expression (Gorach et al., 2019).

Through this training that focuses on the legal and personal skills of the students (Isaenkova, 2020), the legal clinic achieves a link with the fourth Sustainable Development Goal, namely, quality education. In fact, such trainings focus on personal skills with the aim of consolidating the concept of quality in education; furthermore, they focus on engaging the legal clinic in activities related to the quality of education, in addition to integrating students into society (Wizner, 2001), with the overall aim of developing both legal education and practical training (McKay, 2015).

Our participants reported that legal clinics provided legal aid to the poor and marginalized groups, this approved that legal clinic has achieved a connection with the first Sustainable Development Goal (United Nations, 2015), namely, no poverty; the provision of free legal assistance, including legal representation in the field of criminal cases and family law cases for marginalized, poor and low-income groups, makes it clear that the legal clinic at An-Najah National University seeks to contribute to the eradication of poverty based on the concept that poverty should not prevent these groups from claiming their legal rights (Blazer, 1991). Additionally, free legal aid that is focused on women in need is an example of the pursuit of both the fifth Sustainable Development Goal, namely, gender equality, and the tenth Sustainable Development Goal, namely, reduced inequalities.

The findings showed that legal clinics played a crucial role in providing free legal advices to poor and marginalized groups. Hence, through free legal consultations for marginalized and poor groups (Houseman, 1994), the legal clinic has achieved a connection with the first Sustainable Development Goal, namely, no poverty, as the free legal advice for marginalized, poor and low-income groups provided by the clinic seeks to eradicate poverty and promote the achievement of justice (Jennings, 2018). In addition, these consultations target a number of women in pursuit of both the fifth Sustainable Development Goal, namely, gender equality, and the tenth Sustainable Development Goal, namely, reduced inequalities. Additionally, this free service is connected with the sixteenth Sustainable Development Goal, namely, the promotion of peace, justice and strong institutions, while the legal advice that is provided is carried out in partnership with various institutions, which provides a connection with Sustainable Development Goal seventeen, namely, the establishment of partnerships for the goals.

7. Limitations

Before concluding, some limitations of the present work must be recognized and acknowledged. The sample selection is made of students considered a privileged group, well-educated and specialized in Palestinian law. Accordingly, our results cannot represent the general populations. Future research will focus on more disadvantaged portions of the population, their perspective, concerns and challenges facing the legal clinics. Our study used a qualitative design to investigate the role of clinics the legal clinics of law in developing the skills of law students, a deeper understanding of the role of legal clinics must be investigated using mixed methods, ethnographic approaches, and experimental designs.

8. Conclusion

Due to the great challenges facing legal education, the legal education system has to integrate students with the practical side of the law profession and help them easily engage in the practical legal market upon graduation (Rosenbaum, 2012). In addition, it becomes important to enhance the concepts of social responsibility among law students so that they will be active in society, serve the poor and marginalized groups (Gorach et al., 2019), and provide free legal assistance for these needy groups (Wizner, 2001), especially in light of the obstacles faced by those making an effort to engage in free legal assistance, which often stem from the PBA.

Additionally, there is an essential role played by the legal clinic in developing students’ skills to be leaders of future change in society by focusing on concepts related to human rights and the rule of law, as well as increasing their personal capabilities and practical legal skills, strengthening their understanding of the rule of law principle to be effective in providing free legal services to poor and marginalized groups, and enhancing their social responsibility (Cahn & Schneider, 1986).

Moreover, the activities and services that are provided to society in general focus on legal empowerment for the society itself (Marshall, 2021) through not only legal awareness of issues that are important in that society but also by enhancing the rule of law and rejecting conflict and violence in its various forms; all of this proves that the role of legal clinics has changed from a focus on legal education to a focus on society by bearing social responsibility, helping poor and marginalized groups reach justice and spreading knowledge of legal culture (Mohamed, 2011).

In addition, the activities and services provided by the legal clinic are related to the Sustainable Development Goals; the achievement of these Sustainable Development Goals is a recent effort and an important shift in the process of legal education and the legal clinic with regard to the focus of its activities; the various activities of the legal clinic focused on achieving gender equality and preventing discrimination based on gender teach law students to have a high level of legal education by integrating them into the practical side of the law profession and enhancing their social responsibility.

Additionally, the ANNU legal clinic contributes to the fight against poverty through free legal aid by allowing poor groups to access justice without bearing the financial burdens of doing so. Furthermore, it contributes through its activities to strengthening the principle of the rule of law by resolving disputes by legal means and avoiding violence, thus contributing to the strengthening of justice institutions. Finally, it carries out many activities related to building partnerships with relevant civil society institutions; all of these efforts aim to promote the deeper achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.

Thus, legal clinics play a fundamental role in the field of applied legal education, in the provision of legal assistance to vulnerable and needy groups, and in achieving Sustainable Development Goals; it is noteworthy that their role is more prominent in areas of community awareness and student training compared to legal representation obtained due to the challenges and obstacles dealt with when facing legal representation.

The ANNU legal clinic faces major challenges such as the lack of a Palestinian law regulating free legal aid and the PBA rejecting legal aid; the PBA published a position in 2019 that rejected the National Strategy for Legal Aid except what is stipulated in the Regulation of the Legal Profession Code of 1999 (DOOZ News, 2019). Additionally, the absence of government financial support for the activities engaged in by the legal clinic poses a great challenge, as the funding sources from the supporting bodies are limited and intermittent; this exposes the activities of the legal clinic to reduction, and the legal clinic remains in a constant search to obtain funding that covers its various activities. Therefore, the relevant government institutions, civil society institutions, and international institutions should provide more support for the continuity and sustainability of the activities of the legal clinic, expand the scope of its work to serve the community and law students and further enhance its role in achieving Sustainable Development Goals.

Establishing legal clinic in the Palestinian universities has its outstanding role in deploying interactive teaching methods, refining the student’s professional skills, and enhancing communication skills with the local community. The legal clinic also serves local community through the provision of education, legal awareness, and employment of different legal sciences to serve the fragile category in the community. The clinic represents the link between the theoretical and practical study to improve the quality of human rights, and to promote the rule of law, which in turn contributes to restore the confidence of the Palestinian legal and judicial system. Moreover, the legal clinic has an important role in improving access to the legal system through communication created by the legal clinic between members of the community and vulnerable groups.

Ethical approval

Compliance with Ethical Standards Ethical Approval All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of An- Najah NationalUniversity’s Research Ethics Board, and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Naeem Salameh

Naeem Salameh currently holds the position of Vice President Assistant for Academic Affairs overseeing the Humanities Faculties at An-Najah National University in Palestine from August 2023. He has also served as an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law since 2015. His professional journey includes a significant tenure as the Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University, spanning a four-year period from 2019 to August 2023, He was the general supervisor of the work of the legal clinic at the university. He was also the coordinator of the Master of Law programs from 2016 to 2022. In addition to teaching, he has worked as a legal consultant on a number of development projects regarding rule of law.