TOOLS FOR PROTECTING THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN LATIN AMERICA: THE DESIGN OF HIGH IMPACT LITIGATION FROM THE CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION

Abstract

Clinical legal education is a pedagogical model of legal education that for many years was implemented in Law Schools in the United States and more recently, in Latin America, becoming increasingly important, because it raises a twofold objective: to teach students, from the actual practice of law, the application of the knowledge acquired throughout his career and provide legal services to vulnerable communities, defending the public interest and human rights and projecting the social character of the profession. To do this, clinics should make use of a number of tools to materialize its objectives, such as high impact litigation, strategic alliances and other instruments that pursue similar objectives. This model implies a change in the concept of law, in its teaching, learning and in the practice, as the basis of pedagogical and social elements, so the challenges are many; however, the balance is very positive, revealing that it is a movement that tends to advance in the region, in different areas of law, with a common goal: the social transformation.