The Question of the Establishment of a Scientific Legal Clinics in Russia
The problem of improvement of the Russian legal education is one of the topical issues facing the Russian legal science. One of the most important directions of the improvement of the Russian legal education is the development of a network of legal clinics under higher educational institutions of legal profile. The present article contains the analysis of the legal regulation peculiarities of the public relations in the field of establishing and activities of legal clinics. Gaps and lacks of legal regulation of work of legal clinics were identified, in particular statutory conflict which on the one hand aimed at the development of legal skills of students, as well as counselling skills, on the other hand — the voluntary participation of the students in the work of the clinic. The author shows the ways to resolve this conflict, including arranging of the students’ practice at the legal clinic, shows the possibility and the need to strengthen the scientific component of legal clinics work, including establishment of so-called scientific legal clinics which will provide legal assistance not only to the general public but also to the legislative, executive and judicial authorities in the sphere of improvement of legislation and practice of its implementation.