"It is one thing to know that the law and quite another to practice it."

This remark by N.R. Madhava Menon definitely highlights the fundamental gap between legal theory today, and practice that continues to trouble the Indian legal education. Clinical Legal Education (hereinafter CLE) is basically an experiential method of teaching law and it addresses this divide by allowing the students to engage with real or experienced legal processes under supervision. CLE has a particular relevance in the context of understanding and practising Evidence Law, which is in itself procedural, technical, and central to any criminal or civil practice of law.

In India, the Evidence Law is often taught as a classroom subject focused on the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 or now the new version of the laws i.e. Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (BSA). However the real-world application especially in courts, various investigations, and legal proceedings definitely demands more than the rote and classroom theoretical understanding of the laws. CLE gives you a path way for exposing students to tasks such as evidence collection, drafting, cross-examination question formulation, simulations, and document authentication, which helps in transforming the theoretical knowledge into practical legal skills for the real world.

1. What is Clinical Legal Education?

It has the origins in early 20th century law schools, specifically from America and then it gained traction in India from the 1970s, particularly with the legal aid movement and pedagogical reforms led by legal academics like Madhav Menon. Eventually the Bar Council of India formalized CLE's role by including it in its Rules on Legal Education (as we know they love to have a control over what law schools are teaching or not teaching), which made clinical courses such as moot courts, internships, drafting and legal aid mandatory in the LL.B curriculum.

SIDEBAR:

CLE in India encompasses various formats:

Legal aid clinics in which students assist real clients under expert faculty member supervision.
Various simulations and mock trials, which replicate courtroom dynamics.
Moot court competitions, a formal way of honing argumentative and evidentiary skills.
Live-client clinics, which engage students in ongoing legal matters.
Internships with courts, NGOs, and legal services authorities.

The objectives of the Clinical Education in Law are threefold: skill-building, ethical development (if that is possible for lawyers), and social justice.² It teaches practical lawyering competencies, client interviewing, drafting, litigation strategy, while embedding professional responsibility and empathy for marginalized groups.³

2. Evidence Law and Challenges in India

Evidence Law is both foundational, substantive and to an extent procedural in its working, which makes it complex. Provisions related to electronic evidences or certain presumptions in sexual offences, and the exceptions of the hearsay rule usually require contextual understanding. Yet in most Indian law schools (majority), teaching such a law remains predominantly lecture based, and students never or seldom encounter the procedural realities and skill behind these rules.⁴

This disconnect between theory and the courtroom procedure is often exacerbated by lack of faculty training in clinical methods (at both the masters and the professional level) and restrictions on students participating in actual court proceedings.⁵ A study in 2015, the UNDP India report found that while 82% of surveyed law colleges had legal aid clinics, most of them did not offer course credit or even the formal integration into the pedagogy related to that of Evidence Laws.⁶ As a result, in abstract, the students may learn evidentiary provisions but they fail to understand how to apply them effectively in practice (internships and jobs).

3. Can CLE be a Bridge to the understanding Evidence Laws?

CLE provides a robust pedagogical strategy to address tsuch limitations. For example:

Mock trial simulations give students hands-on experience in admitting or objecting to evidence, examining witnesses, and managing documentary exhibits.⁷
Live-client clinics expose students to real affidavits, evidence submission, and procedural nuances under laws like the Domestic Violence Act or IPC offences.⁸
Legal aid programs allow students to prepare documents, authenticate records, and advise clients—skills that directly involve application of Evidence Law principles.⁹

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Why Clinical Legal Education in India Is Struggling — And What We Can Do About It

A good example comes from my alma mater, the Good Governance and Citizen Participation Clinic at Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) where students assisted in legal research and community litigation involving evidentiary issues such as land rights, drafting and public documents.¹⁰ These experiences definitely enhances student understanding of the technical rules while cultivating critical thinking and legal reasoning, few of the skills which CLE focuses on. Also, these type of Clinics strengthens the student familiarity with one of the most essential skills from Evidence Law i.e. cross examination techniques, question framing and evidentiary burdens (For example Shift of burden of proof), which are seldom grasped through textbooks alone.¹¹

4. CLE in Indian Universities – Current Landscape

Many of India's top law schools (NLUs and Private Law Schools) have embraced clinical education as part of their pedagogical models. All National Law Universities have operational legal aid clinics (how effective? Deeper research is required) and offer the courses which have the CLE integration. Several of such colleges also collaborate with District Legal Services Authorities, NGOs, activists, adopt nearby villages as well to provide the community legal services and the practical legal training.¹²

SIDE BAR:

Key initiatives:

The Access to Justice Project funded by UNDP and implemented by NLUs in Odisha, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh.¹³
The establishment of theme-based clinics (environmental, consumer, family law) at universities such as NLU Delhi and NALSAR Hyderabad.
Training workshops organized by the Menon Institute of Legal Advocacy and Training (MILAT), aimed at equipping faculty to implement CLE effectively.¹⁴

As usual, despite these gains, a lot of significant structural challenges still persist. Many law colleges outside the NLU network lack infrastructure, trained faculty, or the administrative support to implement CLE. Moreover, BCI rules currently bar students and teachers from appearing in court, limiting real-client exposure.¹⁵ A 2013 survey concluded that clinics were "underutilized" due to absence of academic credit and poor integration with core subjects like Evidence Law.

Conclusion

Clinical Legal Education offers a transformative approach to teaching Evidence Law not just in India but internationally . By integrating the experiential learning techniques into legal instruction, it ensures that students not only understand the abstract Evidence Laws but are also equipped to apply it ethically and effectively in real-world scenarios. As Menon argued, CLE is essential not just for professional readiness, but also for promoting access to justice.

Bibliography:

Bar Council of India, Rules on Legal Education (2008), r 9.
N.R. Madhava Menon, 'Clinical Legal Education: Concept and Concerns' (2005) 46(1) JILI 108.
Amita Dhanda and Aparna Chandra, 'Integrating Clinical Education in Legal Pedagogy in India' (2013) 6 NUJS L Rev 51.
S. Agrawal, 'Pedagogical Challenges in Teaching Evidence Law in India' (2017) Indian Law Review https://doi.org/10.1080/24730580.2017.1351852.
Madhav Khosla, 'Legal Education in India: Challenges and Prospects' (2012) Indian Journal of Legal Theory 23.
UNDP India, Access to Justice for Marginalized People: Legal Aid Clinics Report (2015).
Haripriya A, 'CLE Clinics and the Law of Evidence: A Functional Linkage' (2020) Journal of Clinical Legal Studies.
Sushant Kumar, 'The Role of CLE in Bridging Gaps in Criminal Law Practice' (2021) SSRN Paper https://ssrn.com/abstract=3883792.
Law Commission of India, 266th Report: Reforms in the Indian Evidence Act (2017).
Jindal Global Law School, Report on Clinical Programs 2018-2021 https://jgu.edu.in.
Indian Evidence Act 1872, ss 101-114.
UNDP India (n 6).
ibid.
MILAT, 'Training Law Teachers in CLE Pedagogy' (Report, 2015).
Bar Council of India, Rules on Professional Standards, r 49.

Theory and Practice: Clinical Legal Education and Evidence Law Training in India