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Clinics

JSW Law offers its students a world-class legal education. Central to that education is a strong commitment to experiential education, “learning by doing.”

The centerpiece of JSW Law’s experiential education program is its “law clinic,” which students take during the fourth and fifth years of their studies. Working under the careful supervision of qualified clinical faculty-practitioners, students provide crucial real-world access to justice for clients and community partners.

There are three law clinics at JSW Law: the “Appropriate Dispute Resolution Clinic,” the “Social Enterprise Clinic,” and the “Human Dignity Clinic.” These three areas were identified as ones where JSW Law’s clinical faculty and students could make a tangible positive impact on the communities we serve. They also focus on crucial skills that students will need to practice as effective, ethical, and innovative professionals after graduating from JSW Law. JSW Law’s three clinics are specifically designed to maximize their positive impact on Bhutan’s collective pursuit of GNH.

Students are encouraged to choose a clinic-based not only on their substantive interests but also (and especially) on the kinds of lawyering skills they wish to develop before their graduation. By the time they are far enough in their studies to take the clinics, students will have already sat for three years of doctrinal courses. The clinics, therefore, touch only peripherally on the ‘black-letter’ law. Instead, they focus on skill-building and developing students’ capacity to think critically about the ethics and effectiveness of their attempts to promote their clients’ interests.

Clinics achieve this through a combination of project work. Students work in close partnership with JSW Law’s clinical faculty to make critical decisions regarding their client and project work, coupled with an intensive seminar where students learn to reflect and process those experiences. This rigorous combination of theory and practice encourages students to gain self-confidence in themselves as professionals and, at the same time, learn to appreciate the crucial role that humility plays in the ethical rule of law.

Appropriate Dispute Resolution Clinic (ADRC)

The Appropriate Dispute Resolution Clinic (ADRC) ensures that Bhutan’s centuries-old traditional dispute resolution practices continue to flourish and adapt as Bhutan develops and modernizes. It works collaboratively with Bhutan’s traditional and local dispute resolution practitioners as well as formal institutions that support them to strengthen traditional dispute resolution practices.

The Appropriate Dispute Resolution Clinic provides students the opportunity to expand their range of dispute resolution tools used when solving problems, they learn about alternatives to formal court proceedings and deepen their knowledge of traditional Bhutanese dispute resolution practice.

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Social Enterprise Clinic

The Social Enterprise Clinic (SEC) is designed for students who see themselves entering Bhutan’s emerging transactional and corporate practice. It is focused on cottage industries, small and medium-sized businesses, and cooperatives. 

Social Enterprise Clinic refuse to accept that ‘business is war,’ and invite our students to engage their legal skills and creativity towards helping idealistic and socially minded entrepreneurs build sustainable business models in communities across Bhutan.

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Human Dignity Clinic

The Human Dignity Clinic (HDC) of Jigme Singye Wangchuck School is one of the three clinics dedicated to a vision that the promotion, protection, and respect of Human Dignity must lie at the heart of the legal practice, indeed legal practice in a GNH society.

The Human Dignity Clinic works to protect and promote the human dignity of individuals with; the primary focus of the Human Dignity Clinic will be on four categories of vulnerable individuals in Bhutan, specifically 1) women, 2) children and young people, 3) the elderly, 4) persons living with a disability.

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