LEGAL EDUCATION – CHALLENGES AND VISIONS
THE FACULTY OF LAW AT COMENIUS UNIVERSITY IN BRATISLAVA ON THE OCCASION OF THE INTERNATIONAL TEACHERS DAY ORGANIZED A CONFERENCE "LEGAL EDUCATION - CHALLENGES AND VISIONS" ON 6 OCTOBER 2023. THE TOPIC OF THE CONFERENCE WAS FOCUSED ON TEACHING AT LAW FACULTIES AND THE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION.
More than 100 participants discussed the teaching methods and content of teaching at faculties of law, whether the students' sense of justice is being developed and whether they are sufficiently prepared for the high level of responsibility that the legal profession holds in society. The conference also hosted workshops focused on interactive and innovative teaching methods.
The main aim of the conference was to enhance the cooperation between higher legal education and the subsequent preparation for the practice of a specific legal profession. Therefore, it was significant that attorneys, judges, prosecutors, notaries, executors, mediators and the judicial academy were represented at the conference. Among the participants there were also lawyers working in the non-profit sector and in leading human rights organisations, including the Slovak National Centre for Human Rights, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Slovakia and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In addition to representatives from the Faculty of Law of Comenius University, experts from the faculties of law in Trnava, Banská Bystrica, Košice, Olomouc and Prague also joined the event.
The opening panel focused on the effective interconnection of theory and legal practice and featured speeches by Eduard Burda, Dean of the Faculty of Law of CU, Juraj Vačok, Judge of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic, Linda Wáclavová, Prosecutor of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Slovak Republic, Peter Stodola, a member of the Presidium of the Slovak Chamber of Enforcement Officers, Matej Marhavý from the Slovak Bar Association, Marek Ivančo from the Academy of Justice and Viktor Hatina from Charles University in Prague. During the panel discussion, the panellists addressed, for example, the question of whether it is necessary to introduce a compulsory internship for law students and how the internship influences the future career during their studies.
The conference ended with a panel discussion on the social responsibility of lawyers, their impact on society and the provision of Pro Bono legal services. Andrea Moravčíková, Deputy Chairwoman of the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic, Eva Braxatorisová, Director of the Pontis Foundation's Pro Bono Attorneys Programme, and Martin Krivák - an attorney-at-law whose law firm has won the Law Firm of the Year Award in the Pro Bono category for 4 consecutive years - took the floor. In addition to the need for Pro Bono services, the discussion focused on the importance of ensuring that the service is done fully, honestly and responsibly. The author of the idea to organize a conference dedicated to the education of lawyers is Maria Havelkova, who works at the Institute of Clinical Legal Education. Dr. Havelkova is dedicated to innovative and practical forms of teaching, and her research focuses on legal aid, the unaffordability of legal services, and finding ways to motivate lawyers to provide their services Pro Bono, i.e. free of charge. The outcome of the conference will be a monograph on the social responsibility of lawyers drafted by a collective of authors led by Maria Havelková.