Project work of the legal clinic as part of the Service-Learning Program

This study is motivated by the current requirements to incorporate a practice-oriented approach into the Service-Learning Program of higher educational institutions. The social and educational missions of legal clinics based on key service-learning principles were explored. The role of project work in service-learning was analyzed. The social projects carried out by the legal clinic at the Law Institute of South Ural State University (National Research University) in accordance with the training/specialty areas of students and for solving certain social problems were described. The innovative project “Free Legal Aid to Students” offers free online legal counseling to students of all levels and forms of education. Another initiative, the project “Law for You – You for the Law” (legal education of schoolchildren) is aimed at fostering legal literacy among students of general education institutions. The strengths and limitations of embedding legal clinics in the Service-Learning Program were outlined. Recommendations for overcoming existing organizational challenges were provided.