Clinical legal education under contemporary challenges: a comparative analysis and the Ukrainian experience during war

Abstract

The article explores the role of legal clinics in the transformation of modern legal education amid systemic challenges, particularly armed conflict and the need to ensure effective access to justice for various population groups. The aim of the study is to determine the impact of clinical legal education on the formation of professional competencies of future lawyers, as well as to justify the expansion of its functional purpose in crisis and post-crisis conditions. Emphasis is also placed on the fact that legal clinics influence the formation of a lawyer’s professional identity. Through working with clients, students begin to realize that law is not merely a system of norms, but a tool for human protection. This is especially important in wartime conditions, when a significant part of requests concerns concrete life losses, risks, and needs rather than abstract legal constructs. Such experience fosters empathy, responsibility, and the ability to see the person behind the legal problem.
Particular attention is paid to the transformation of legal clinic activities during the period of martial law, when their functions transcend the traditional educational component and take on the characteristics of an important human rights and social mechanism at both local and national levels. Legal clinics provide free legal aid, support vulnerable categories of the population, participate in documenting violations, and contribute to the restoration of violated rights and the ensuring of justice. The study substantiates the need for the institutionalization of clinical legal education within the standards of higher education and the strengthening of its integration into educational programs through the use of interdisciplinary approaches and innovative teaching methods. It is concluded that legal clinics play a strategic role in forming a practice-oriented, socially responsible, and resilient system of legal education capable of effectively responding to modern challenges and ensuring the sustainable development of the legal profession and society as a whole.