The Member of Parliament for Madina Constituency, Hon. Francis-Xavier Sosu, has expressed his desire and willingness to partner the Center for Practical and Multi-Disciplinary Legal Education and Training (CPMLET) at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) for the implementation of a legal clinic and community lawyering projects.
The Legal Clinic is a legal aid programme that aims at providing hands-on legal experience to law school students whilst the Community Lawyering Project will offer free legal services to members of the community.
Hon. Francis-Xavier Sosu, who also doubles as Deputy Ranking Member of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament offered his support for the initiatives at a brief meeting with the Dean of the CPMLET, Mr. Godwin Adagewine.
Mr. Adagewine explained that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss and agree on modalities for the implementation of the initiatives. He stated that the legal clinic will enable UPSA law students to study the law by engaging in activities of lawyers with supervision of professional lawyers. This, he said, specifically entails the participation of law students in the provision of real legal services to clients under the guidance of qualified lawyers in order that students can acquire some practical skills.
For the community lawyering programme, Mr, Adagewine explained that it entails working with communities to identify specific community related challenges and using the law to solve such problems, with the objective of empowering community members to seek legal redress for violation of their rights. Mr. Adagewine further explained that the reason for embarking on the partnership with the Office of the Member of Parliament is because the MP possesses extensive knowledge and experience in community lawyering in Ghana.
Hon. Francis-Xavier Sosu indicated his excitement in being part of the implementation of the projects describing them as “groundbreaking projects relating to legal education and lawyering”. The MP also offered to make facilities of his law firm available for the projects.
