Abstract
This chapter begins by analyzing the persistent gap between theoretical teaching and practice training in the Taiwanese legal education. Although many other countries have experienced similar problems, the unique political and economic factors in the evolution of legal education in Taiwan make change difficult. Proposals to change curricula have been periodically raised by reformers, but few law schools have been successful in building up clinical courses. The reform from 2005 to 2007 carried the idea of clinical education, but the reform ultimately failed for the immaturity of its considerations. In the second part, this chapter discusses the current types of courses that contain practical elements, particularly legal aid clinics, moot courts, courses on legal ethics, and judicial court externships. In the final part, the chapter discusses the current obstacles to promoting clinical education, including financial difficulties in higher education, the shortage of professional visions and values among legal educators, and students’ unwillingness to take clinical courses because of the pressure of low pass rates on the bar exam and the lawyer bubble.
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Notes
Chang-fa Lo, “Driving an Ox Cart to Catch Up with the Space Shuttle: The Need for and Prospects of Legal Education Reform in Taiwan”(2006) 24 Wis. Int’l L.J. 41, 64;
Joseph L. Pratt, “The Two Gates of National Taiwan University School of Law”(2001) 19 UCLA Pac. Basin L.J. 131, 153–156.
Tomas Chih-hsiung Chen, “Legal Education Reform in Taiwan: Are Japan and Korea the Models?” (2012) 62 J. Legal Educ. 32, 39–40.
For a more detailed description of the development of legal education in Taiwan, please see Tomas Chih-hsiung Chen, “Legal Education in Taiwan: A Plural System in Transition,” in Shuvro P. Sarker (ed.) Legal Education in Asia (Eleven International Publishing, 2014) 155–173.
Tay-sheng Wang, “The Development of Legal Education in Taiwan: An Analysis of the History of Law and Society,” in Stacey Steele and Kathryn Taylor (eds.) Legal Education in Asia: Globalization, Change and Contexts (Routledge, 2011) 142.
Regarding the legal education reforms in Japan and Korea, see Mayumi Saegusa, “Why the Japanese Law School System was Established: Co-optation as a Defensive Tactic in the Face of Global Pressures” (2009) 34 Law & Soc. Inquiry 365, 382–384;
Annelise Riles and Takashi Uchida, “Reforming Knowledge? A Socio-legal Critique of the Legal Education Reforms in Japan” (2009) 1 Drexel L. Rev. 3, 11–20;
Matthew J. Wilson, “U.S. Legal Education Methods and Ideas: Application to the Japanese and Korean Systems” (2010) 18 Cardozo J. Int’l & Comp. L. 295, 318–322 & 338–339.
Saegusa (n 34) 167–168; Jasper Kim, “Socrates v. Confucius: An Analysis of South Korea’s Implementation of the American Law School Model” (2009) 10 Asian-Pac. L. & Pol’y 322, 332; It appears that the new Korean law schools are still underfunded.
See Kyong-Whan Ahn, “International Conference on Legal Education Reform: Law Reform in Korea and the Agenda of Graduate Law Schools” (2006) 24 Wis. Int’l L.J. 223, 233–234.
Cui-Ping Weng, “An Innovation in Legal Education: NCTU Law Students Attend Judicial Court Externship” (Dajiyuan, April 26, 2006) http://www.epochtimes.com/b5/6/4/26/n1299510.htm, accessed July 25, 2014.
Chih-hsiung Chen, Ruo-ting Fu, and Yun-rong Huang, “The Theory and Practice of the Judicial Court Externship: The Experience of Chiao Tung University Institute of Technology Law” (2010) 12 Mag. Judges Ass’n Repub. China 187–212.
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© 2015 Shuvro Prosun Sarker
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Chen, T.Ch. (2015). Clinical Education in Taiwanese Law Schools. In: Sarker, S.P. (eds) Clinical Legal Education in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137517531_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137517531_5
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