20 years of clinical moovement in Poland, 15 years of Legal Clinics Foundation, 10 years of Pro Bono Center

29 March 2018. A conference celebrating the three anniversaries related to the clinical movement was held today in Staszic Palace in Warsaw.

It's important to be able to enjoy one's successes. For over 20 years, law students have been providing legal advice to citizens under the supervision of the university staff. In many countries of the region, 20 years ago, the effort to build a clinical movement was also made, but after years, after the withdrawal of foreign donors, many clinics disappeared. In Poland, at every law faculty, in public and private law schools, clinics are a stable element of the curriculum.

More than 23,000 students have passed through the clinics, they have given over 150,000 advice on various legal issues.

The Legal Clinics Foundation (FUPP) has introduced the standards of the clinics work and has published 17 books related to clinical teaching. The Klinika law journal has been published for years, with contributions from academics and students. FUPP promotes lawyers' pro bono activities and organizes a competition for the Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year title.

Thanks to clearing house Centrum Pro Bono, dozens of law firms, attorneys and legal advisers solve legal problems of many Civil Society Organizations. 

Polish University Law Clinics are a great showcase of Poland. Our experiences are studied and appreciated in the world. 

Today's conference gave an opportunity for memories, summaries, exchange of views on what's next, and finally for saying thank you. We thanked the donors and supporters, including the Stefan Batory Foundation, the Polish-American Freedom Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Institute, The Pilnet and CH Beck Publishing House for years supporting the clinical movement. We thanked the Bars of advocates and legal advisors, law firms and law offices, clinicians and students.

It is also a special day for INPRIS, because from the beginning, 20 years ago, we were involved in the development of a clinical movement. Grzegorz Wiaderek  as the director of the legal program of the Batory Foundation, helped support the clinics financially; Filip Wejman was one of the founders of the clinic at the Jagiellonian University and creators of FUPP, he wrote the FUPP statute and for many years served as a member of the executive board; Łukasz Bojarski in the first year of the operation of Warsaw clinic tutored students who provided legal advice at the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, he is one of FUPP founders and for over 15 years chairman of the Foundation's Board, he was also author of the idea of the Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year competition.

On this occasion let us congratulate  and thank all those involved in the clinical movement.