Programme description

The University of the Free State's Law Clinic falls under the Department of Public Law in the Faculty of Law. The UFS Law Clinic was established in the late 1980s on the initiative of staff members in the Faculty of Law and senior Law students. Initially, it was conducted solely as an advice office, where senior Law students would advise economically impoverished members of the local community on various legal problems.

For a number of years, the UFS Law Clinic, in co-operation with the Legal Aid Board of South Africa, operated from the same offices as the Bloemfontein Justice Centre. In 2007, this co-operation was terminated and since 1 March 2007 the clinic is conducted independently as a faculty centre on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State.

Programme content

The programme is aimed at

• providing free legal services to the indigent society of the greater Mangaung area in the Free State that qualifies in terms of a means test;
• providing practical legal training to final-year Law students; and
• exposing final-year Law students to various aspects of legal practice and community engagement.

The Law Clinic works in collaboration and cooperation with all stakeholders regarding socio-economic and legal issues in order to create general access to justice for the community it serves. It also operates within the University of the Free State’s declared policy of community engagement. 

For more information, contact:
Bishop Billyboy Ramahlele
T: +27 51 401 2822
C: +27 82 401 3279
E: ramahpm@ufs.ac.za

Karen Venter
T: +27 51 401 3732
C: +27 83 310 3715
E: venterk1@ufs.ac.za