Exploring the transformative potential of international study tours in clinical legal education

Clinical legal education (CLE) is rooted in social justice. Since the 1970s, in Australia, supervised experience of serving disadvantaged clients, involving disruptive and transformative dimensions, has provided law students important opportunities to critically reflect on the role of law and lawyers in society. Overall, the social justice CLE experience, its disorientating aspects, and setting resonate with the elements of transformative learning. However, a recent emphasis on “job ready” graduates in Australian tertiary education and an increasingly competitive employment market have fostered a shift in CLE towards transactional law. Against this background, this article explores the extent to which international study tours (ISTs) can revive the transformative learning dimensions of CLE, drawing on our recent experience leading a clinical IST to Vietnam. The IST was undertaken in partnership with a non-governmental organisation whose mission focused on wildlife law and protection. We conclude that ISTs can provide a key opportunity for law students to develop an understanding of the law that goes beyond stereotypical lawyer–client relationships and to nurture skills and perspective transformations that will be increasingly drawn upon to meet the challenges of our era.