Incorporating Freedom of Information Law into the Work of Legal Clinics

Title of Presentation: Incorporating Freedom of Information Law into the Work of Legal Clinics

Names of all Presenters: Ernest Ojukwu, Marguerite Angelari, Odinakaonye Lagi, Ramiro Ugarte, Raquel Yrigoyen

Short Abstract: Freedom of Information (FOI) can be a valuable tool in the protection of many other rights. Incorporating FOI into the work of legal clinics not only benefits the clinic by giving it a new tool, but is also an easy way to train students in the use of FOI law, have them submit requests on behalf of clients, and as such encourage the implementation of the law. If the clinic is interested in promoting the use of the FOI law, adding an FOI component to an existing clinic is much easier than setting up a new clinic focusing exclusively on the topic. This session will include a panel discussion with clinics that have incorporated FOI into their work on other rights. Following the panel discussion, attendees will be broken up into groups to identify how FOI law might be used in their own clinics. An FOI Toolkit recently developed by the Open Society Justice Initiative will also be presented during this session.

For some sessions the speakers have uploaded material. To see any material uploaded uploaded for this session, click on the link(s) below. If there are no links, no material was uploaded.