Clinical Legal Education Placements

 

Larry Donnelly, a Boston native, is Lecturer & Director of Clinical Legal Education in the School of Law.  In this capacity, he teaches courses in legal analysis, research and writing to all undergraduate and postgraduate students studying law in Galway, serves as Editor to the Galway Student Law Review and coaches moot court teams that compete at national and international levels.  Moreover, in partnership with the CKI, he has developed a system whereby students receive academic credit for their legal work in the wider community.  He has strong interests in legal education and in comparative law and has published law review articles in both areas.  He is also a frequent contributor to Irish print and broadcast media on a variety of issues.  An attorney with extensive litigation experience in the United States, Mr. Donnelly is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross (Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, 1996), where he majored in Classical Latin and Greek, and of Suffolk University Law School (Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, 1999), where he was elected a Chief Editor of the Suffolk Transnational Law Review.

Community Partners: Partners have included: Equality; Rape Crisis Network Ireland; National Federation of Voluntary bodies; Various national and international non-governmental organisations and Legal practitioners throughout Ireland.

Lawrence Donnelly, Lecturer and Director of Clinical Legal Education, has devised a system by which some final year Bachelor of Civil Law students receive academic credit for working in ‘real world’ law and law-related work placements.  To date, law students have made contributions to the work of the Equality Authority, the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies, the Rape Crisis Network, various national and international non-governmental organisations and legal practitioners throughout Ireland.  In so doing, they have acquired valuable practical skills and professional contacts.  Mr. Donnelly comments that “those of us involved in the development of clinical legal education here in Ireland must remember that we are, to an extent unprecedented in the history of Irish university legal training, equipping students with practical know-how and a cognisance that law can be used to achieve the greater good.  We look forward to expanding clinical offerings for students in future and enhancing NUI Galway’s already strong reputation as a provider of innovative legal education.

 

J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics

Christine Domegan, having completed a B.Comm. in NUI Galway and an MBS at UCD, worked initially with Nestle’s on their Kit Kat, Rolo, Toffee Crisp and Walnut Whip products and then with ICL and Digital. The Information Technology dimension was reflected in her Ph.D. “The Adoption of IT in Customer Service”. It was also the focus of an EU Comett Programme that included training courses for SME’s in Ireland, UK and France. A key component of her current research and teaching, through Centre for Innovation & Structural Change (CISC), involving ForFas, SFI and international research partners in New Zealand, the USA, Sweden and UK centers around Social Marketing; its application to Science in Society and Contemporary Marketing Practices.

This module encourages the student to consider the scope for marketing ideas and techniques to effect social change. It provides practical hands-on civic engagement, in collaboration with the Alzheimer Society of Ireland and shows that Marketing is a means of influencing behaviour.  Marketing’s insights and technologies can be applied equally well outside the market place to tackle such behaviourally driven social problems as HIV/AIDS, traffic safety and global warming.

Sandra Nestor, a previous 3rd year Bachelor of Commerce student commented that she found her service learning hours both a worthwhile and enjoyable experience. It was so different to any of my other lectures. The class was more of a conversation than a lecture with our views considered just as important as that of the lecturer. The continuous assessment for the class consisted of writing a professional Social Marketing report for a local charity. Coming up with an idea that I knew could actually be used by this service provider, which could help and make a difference in society made this experience so different than usual coursework. This wasn’t merely a report on a hypothetical situation that we were required to do for our lecturer for marks; it was so much more than that. We worked closely with the Society and could appreciate how much our effort meant to them. It gave me a sense of empowerment and importance, something I cannot say I have felt from any other type of learning experience. I cannot overemphasise how much I would encourage anyone who has the opportunity to engage in Service Learning to do it!