The Benefits of Multidisciplinary Learning in Clinical Practice for Law, Finance, and Social Work Students: An Australian Experience

Abstract

In July 2010, the faculties of Law, Business and Economics, and Medicine at Monash University, Australia commenced placing law, finance, and social work students in a multidisciplinary clinic at a community legal service operated by the University. Students from the three disciplines began seeing legal service clients at the same time as a team. Clients who agreed to participate were interviewed by the team of students made up of the three disciplines in order to address client issues holistically. This article canvasses some of the perceived learning benefits of this project for students and their supervisors. It investigates how and why supervision within this clinic is a unique experience for students and supervisors alike. It raises the issues of dealing with the different ethical and professional guidelines of the three disciplines. Ultimately, we conclude that multidisciplinary training may have a wide range of advantages for all parties.

Notes

¹The authors use the term multidisciplinary rather than interdisciplinary throughout this paper because it deals with a blending of three separate disciplines (law, social work, and finance) rather than simply a cooperative project involving two disciplines.

²NB: The supervision team does not interview clients. This process is conducted by the student teams only.