Clinical legal education in the state university system of Sri Lanka: Challenges and insights

Abstract

Clinical Legal Education (CLE) integrates theoretical legal education with practical training throughsupervised client interactions to strengthen law students’ readiness for professional practice. Despiteglobal recognition of its value in fostering competencies such as reflective practice, ethical reasoning, critical thinking, and employability, CLE remains marginal in Sri Lanka. The main objective of thisresearch is to examine the institutional barriers that have hindered the systematic integration of CLE into state university law curricula in Sri Lanka. Therefore, the research aims to identify existing curricular gaps, analyse the challenges that sustain them, and propose strategies informed by the SouthAfrican model of clinical education. South Africa is selected as the comparative jurisdiction because they have incorporated CLE within their public university system, facing resource constraints similar to those in Sri Lanka. Their experience demonstrates how reflective practice, community engagement, and professional ethics can be integrated despite institutional limitations. The study adopts a qualitative method based on primary and secondary resources. A quantitative approach is reserved for futureresearch, once the basic institutional map of CLE in Sri Lanka is available. It is discovered that institutional barriers such as limited supervision capacity and insufficient funding continue to obstruct CLE’s institutionalisation. To address these challenges, it proposes building partnerships with the legalprofession, adopting technology-assisted clinical education, and developing targeted resource-allocation strategies. The research concludes that adapting educational frameworks inspired by South Africa’s successful practices offers a credible pathway for Sri Lankan universities to strengthenprofessional training and align graduates with contemporary legal and societal demands.