Clinical Legal Education on the Ground

SASKATOON INNER CITY (CLASSIC) is a community-based legal clinic in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.CLASSIC, which was established in 2007 through the work of a small group of law students, hosts the University of Saskatchewan College of Law's Intensive Clinical Law program, providing full-time clinical placements to approximately ten upper-year law students each term in its Walk-In Advocacy Clinic program.Clinical students obtain a full semester's worth of academic credits: they work at CLASSIC Monday to Thursday each week and attend an academic clinical seminar on Friday mornings.The clinical program runs throughout the year in three terms: fall, winter, and summer.CLASSIC also provides multiple pro bono placements for law students who want to volunteer.CLASSIC is structured as a not-for-profit organization with a community board.Funding has been an ongoing struggle: the clinic receives no legal aid funding and is funded through a wide (and tenuous) set of grants from organizations including the Law Foundation of Saskatchewan, the provincial Ministry of Justice, and the College of Law.CLASSIC's mission is to work "toward social justice with lowincome, marginalized Saskatchewan residents, with a commitment to Indigenous peoples, through a legal clinic that is guided by the needs of the community.This engages law and interdisciplinary students through experiential learning, providing insights into the cultural and social reality of law and fosters an ethic of social justice."1CLASSIC has served well over ten thousand clients in the areas of housing law, immigration and refugee law, prison law, criminal law, human rights law, and many more areas.In the fall of 2018, Clinical Law professor Sarah Buhler sat down with four CLASSIC staff members (Executive Director Chantelle Johnson, Supervising Lawyers Nicholas Blenkinsop and Leif Jensen, and Legal Assistant Kim Pidskalny) to discuss their perspectives on issues relating to the challenges and rewards of clinical legal education.The conversation (

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