As the world expands, young markets boom and emerge, new technologies are shared; the urbanisation of our cities and towns peak, which creates a need of innovative legal solutions, for our new age legal problems.
The concept of lifelong learning, in-conjunction with new developments in technology and the movement of people presents an opportunity for growth in all the markets. This is also the case for the legal profession. A few decades ago, Intellectual Property (IPOs) for instance, and corporate compliance (see ‘what is the importance of compliance’: ) were not a peak in the profession, however, excitedly as the country develops, so too does the profession and the need for legal skills expansion.
Enter Continuing Legal Education (CLE); several law faculties in South Africa have already introduced CLE as a mode of learning/module. Its purpose, to help law students grasp the concept of continuity in their acquisition of legal skills, for example If you obtained your LLB or applicable equivalent, a decade ago, with the fast shift in technologies and new legislative reforms, there may be a myriad of requisite legal skills you will need to acquire and sharpen today.
We’ve introduced CLE, as part of our educational programmes for this reason, it is also a programme that ties in with the core purpose of the Legal Education Centre which inter alia is, to demystify the law and advance its accessibility.
Our CLE is: is aimed at primarily building capacity – which speaks to the above core purpose (see our mission statement: ), enhancing the skills of lawyers and making law accessible to all black and historically disadvantaged legal practitioners in South Africa.
