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8 Clinical L. Rev. 515 (2001-2002)
Three Law School Clinics in Chile, 1970-2000: Innovation, Resistance and Conformity in the Global South

handle is hein.journals/clinic8 and id is 521 raw text is: THREE LAW SCHOOL CLINICS IN CHILE, 1970-2000: INNOVATION, RESISTANCE AND CONFORMITY IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH RICHARD J. WILSON* This article examines the history and development of three law school clinical programs in Chile, from the time of their founding through 2000. The three programs - the University of Chile Law School, the Catholic University of Chile Law School and the Diego Portales Uni- versity Law School - also are examined in the broader legal and political cultures of Chile and the structures of university education there. The structures and operation of the three clinics are examined in significant detail in part to provide a model for other clinical pro- grams in the South. Some broader questions about clinical legal edu- cation in Chile are addressed, such as whether clinics there meet legitimate educational objectives and whether clinic students are trained for what lawyers do in Chile. The article also concludes that adult experiential learning is culturally transcendent. Finally, it ex- plores the tensions in the justice mission of clinics, particularly during times of great political repression. * Professor of Law, Director of the Clinical Program, and Director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic at the American University's Washington College of Law. I have taught at law schools in Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia, Chile, Peru, and Japan, and have visited or consulted with law school faculties in Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Argentina and Panama, as well as China and several countries in Eastern and Western Europe. This article grew from contacts made during visits to law schools in Chile begin- ning in 1990, as well as extended visits in 1995 and 1996, during which I served as director of the Washington College of Law's summer study program in Chile. After beginning re- search that year, I returned or sent research assistants back to Chile periodically through the summer of 2000. For their assistance in the research, I wish to thank Sharvari Dalal, Ivy Lange, Geor- gette Pinillos and Carlos Calderin, students at the Washington College of Law, as well as the many directors, faculty and staff of Chile's law school clinical and legal aid programs who gave selflessly of their time to discuss their work. This paper has benefitted from review by my clinic colleagues at the Washington College of Law as well as from critique of a shorter version presented at the October, 1996 International Bar Association meeting in Berlin, under the title Clinical Legal Education As a Means to Improve Access to Justice in Developing and Newly Democratic Countries. I also wish to offer my profound thanks to Dean Claudio Grossman, a native Chilean, for his friendship and financial support through generous summer research grants and travel funds for this project. All of the Spanish translations are my own, and are, of course, unofficial. Official translations of Spanish originals will be identified as such.

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