About Us

The Law Clinic forms part of the Faculty of Law of the North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus. The Law Clinic is involved in a number of projects concerning free legal services, community outreach, and capacity building programmes, as well as advisory services. The Law Clinic operates in the provinces of North-West and Mpumalanga where these activities take place.

The Law Clinic was officially opened on 05 August 1981 and is a Centre of the Faculty of Law of the North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus. The Law Clinic is involved in several projects which include training, provision of free legal services, community outreach, capacity building programmes and advisory services. The Law Clinic operates in the provinces of North West and Mpumalanga where these activities take place.

The above activities are aimed at.

Training
Practical legal training within the LLB programme of the NWU. Short courses for lawyers and paralegals. Training to members of the communities in the areas where the Law Clinic operates.

Legal Aid Services
The Law Clinic provides free legal services to poor and vulnerable people in the aforementioned provinces.

Capacity building
These programmes assist paralegals and members of the community to, inter alia, develop legal skills and capacity to enable them to practice these skills in the communities in which they work.

Advisory Services
The Law Clinic further provides advisory services to members of the community to promote a "rights -based" society, and to, instead of taking the law into their own hands, use the law to enforce their rights.

Within these activities, the Law Clinic cooperates with various organisations such as Legal Aid South Africa, government departments, provincial paralegal organisations, and other NGOs and CBOs to be successful and achieve its objectives.

In addition, the Law Clinic receives funding from international and national donors, as referred to herein, to be able to be involved in these activities. Without such funding, this would have been impossible.

The Law Clinic, through its activities, wishes to improve the quality of life of people in the North-West and Mpumalanga Provinces.

Chrisna Nicholson
Director: Law Clinic

Law Clinic - Annual Report

2021

2022

2023

Contact Us

Sponsors

The Law Clinic of the North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus wishes to acknowledge the contributions from the following donors, without whom the activities of the Law Clinic would not be possible:

The Attorneys Fidelity Fund

Legal Aid South Africa

The Atlantic Philanthropies

The Open Society Foundation for South Africa

The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation

Law Society of South Africa – Legal Education and Development

The Association of University Legal Aid Institutions Trust

Law School

The Faculty of Law of the North-West University host the School for Legal Practice for the North-West Province in association with the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) and other major role players in the legal profession. The Law Clinic acts as the secretariat and is responsible for the financial administration of the School for Legal Practice.

The School for Legal Practice is situated on the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University and caters mainly for law graduates of the North-West University. The medium of instruction is English in order to accommodate learners from other provinces.

Students who complete the school programme may apply to the High Court of South Africa for a one-year reduction from their practical vocational training and may write the Legal Practitioners' Admission Examination immediately after completion of the school programme.

The school is administered as prescribed by the Policy Statement of the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) and students are issued with the training material developed by the LSSA. Assessment is also in accordance with the Policy Statement. Instructors are appointed annually from legal practitioners with appropriate experience in a specific legal field.

The module programme includes the following subjects: