DIRECTOR’S REMARKS AT CELEBRATIONS OF THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LEGAL AID CLINIC

Today, we celebrate twenty-five (25) years of the Legal Aid Clinic (LAC) a home-grown innovation that has linked learning to service and brought justice within reach for the indigent and vulnerable, while moulding future advocates equipped for practice.

What LAC adds to Law Development Centre (LDC)?

LAC holds deep significance not only for the justice institutions represented here and the indigent persons we serve, but also for us as an institution for the reasons I will outline below;

LAC is our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in action. It is our institutional way of standing with citizens who would otherwise face the system alone. The Clinic is LDC’s enduring commitment to “give back” by offering free legal services, taking legal information, counselling, Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms to prisons, police, remand homes and communities.
A living classroom: Through Clinical Legal Education, the Learning Court and supervised student practice; LAC turns doctrine into competence, ethics, and public-service ethos. Our graduates leave not only learned, but ready to serve.
Gender and equity compliance: The Clinic’s eligibility tools/client profile, disability accommodations and data disaggregation make LDC’s mission measurable, inclusive and fair as per the requirement of the Public Finance and Management Act Cap 171, Laws of Uganda 2023. We have put equity at the core of how we teach and serve.

Gratitude:

As we celebrate this day, I wish to express our heartfelt gratitude to our stakeholders and partners. Your willingness to welcome our Clinical Legal Education students into your institutions has enriched our educational approach, providing invaluable practical experiences that complement and enhance our teaching role.
Special thanks go to the Judiciary(the respective High Court Divisions, High Court Circuits and Magisterial areas), Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Uganda Police Force, Uganda Prisons Services, the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Tribunal, Commercial Banks, Uganda Registration Service Bureau, Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development (the Ministerial Zonal offices), Bank of Uganda, Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development (Remand Homes and Industrial Court), Insurance Regulatory Authority, Insurance Appeals Tribunal and the Legal Aid Service Providers.
To the Government of Uganda and our Development partners, thank you for the financial support which has enabled us to reach out and turn policy into service.
To the Local Governments thank you for the support offered in form of office space, referrals, radio talk show airtime and opening up doors for our staff to deliver services without any disturbances.
To our Clinic staff thank you for extending the legal services with utmost professionalism, compassion, and dedication.
To our clients, the users of LAC services you are the reason we exist.

Our requests (to sustain and scale what works)

To the Honourable Attorney General and the Law Council

We implore you to:

protect and grow the LAC budget line, tied to outputs that matter and ensure fast dispensation of justice including; early legal engagements, representation at first appearance, increased ADR settlements, diversion for juvenile offenders, and reducing the duration from when an issue, request or incident is first reported until it is fully resolved),
facilitate timely predictable inspections and accreditation of Legal Aid Service Providers, with feedback mechanisms designed to strengthen rather than disrupt service delivery and
champion duty-counsel standard operating procedures (in collaboration with the Office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, the Uganda Police Force and the Uganda Law Society) for easy police-station access and first appearances targeting a practical 12 hours response time from custody notification to legal contact.

The Acting Principal Judge, Lady Justice Jane Okuo Kajuga addressing the guests

To the Judiciary:

Keep courts open for learning sessions and court-annexed ADR, and help us align timetables so student practice complements rather than compete with trial scheduling and
use shared indicators to improve case management and reduce on adjournments when counsel access and disclosure are availed in a given case.

To the Local Governments and Justice-sector MDAs to:

maintain office space for Clinics, enhance referral services and support in legal outreach coordination and
work alongside us on public legal education — including providing free radio talk show airtime on local stations — so that citizens know what to do and who to engage before a problem becomes a crisis.

To the members of the Bar, ULS, and Alumni:

Join our micro panel/ strategy: one student supervised case per quarter, periodic mentorship in drafting, ethics, and ADR. (many hands make work lighter and with better equipped lawyers).

Head of the Austrian Embassy/Development Cooperation, Dr. Katja Kerschbaumer addressing guests

To the Development Partners:

Ensure support is aligned with government planning frameworks to maximise its impact.

The road ahead

At 25 years, the Legal Aid Clinic has evolved from a project into a benchmark for practical and ethical legal education. It stands as a testament to the belief that public institutions must serve the community.

Our commitment is to the effect that every eligible individual deserves timely access to legal counsel, and every graduate should gain experience through service.