Heroism Science offers a New Framework for Cultivating Civic Virtue within Clinical Law Programs

• Main Authors: Francina Cantatore, Nickolas J James
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bond University 2017-11-01
• Series: Australian Journal of Clinical Education
• Subjects: legal education; pro bono; experiential learning; heroism
• Online Access: https://epublications.bond.edu.au/ajce/vol2/iss1/1

Law schools have an obligation to produce law graduates who are not only knowledgeable and competent but also committed to working towards the public good. Clinical law programs, and in particular pro bono law clinics, have the potential to provoke a positive personal transformation on the part of the law student, leading to the development of civic virtue, but law schools lack a useful framework for conceptualising, facilitating and evaluating this personal transformation. The emergent field of heroism science provides such a framework. In particular the notion of the ‘hero’s journey’ can be drawn upon to address some of the challenges in cultivating civic virtue within clinical law programs.