Edinburgh hosts joint clinical legal education conference
Thu 2 July 2026
Edinburgh Law School hosted the 12th European Network for Clinical Legal Education (ENCLE) and the 23rd International Journal of Clinical Legal Education (IJCLE) conference from 15-16 June 2026.
The joint conference brought together almost 240 participants from across the world, fostering collaboration and the exchange of ideas, knowledge and best practice.
The theme for this year's conference was 'Invading the Curriculum: Clinical and Experiential Legal Education in an Era of Sustainability and Impact', which explored how insights and approaches developed within clinical and experiential legal education can be more deeply integrated across legal education.
The conference examined how insights and approaches developed within clinical and experiential legal education can be more deeply integrated across legal education during a period of significant transformation, challenge and opportunity for universities, the legal profession, and society. Amongst other topics, the conference addressed skills development, legal ethics, professional identity formation, social justice, artificial intelligence, curriculum design and models for creating sustainable impact, with particular emphasis on the ways in which practice-oriented and experiential approaches to education can enrich legal education more broadly by helping students integrate knowledge, skills, judgment and professional capability in ways that prepare them to contribute in a complex and rapidly changing world.
The conference was designed to facilitate as much participation and engagement as possible, and consisted mostly of interactive sessions and workshops, paper presentations, and lightning talks to allow many opportunities for delegates to share ideas, experiences, teaching methods and materials.
Lourens Grové, Senior Lecturer in Clinical and Experiential Legal Education, said: “The conference brought together colleagues from around the world to explore some of the most important opportunities and challenges facing legal education today. Clinical and experiential legal education has long focused on helping students move beyond knowing the law to exercising professional judgment, ethical responsibility and effective action in complex real-world contexts. As information and answers become ever more accessible, these capabilities are increasingly recognised as central across legal education and professional practice. That makes this an exciting moment to think creatively about how the strengths of clinical and experiential learning can be more deeply woven through legal education."
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