Montpellier Legal Clinic

Director: Professor LucasBENTO DE CARVALHO
Co-Director: Dr. Laurent CHABAUD

The Legal Clinic is an educational innovation with a social mission; it promotes access to the legal system while complementing students’ theoretical training. The purpose of the Legal Clinic is to provide a free information service to people facing legal or social difficulties.

Founded in 2013 by Professor Daniel MAINGUY, the Montpellier Legal Clinic is one of the first modern legal clinics to be established in France. It has a twofold mission: to improve access to the legal system for the most vulnerable individuals and to provide hands-on training for law students.

Recognized on multiple occasions as an initiative of excellence and winner of the Grand Prix for Student Initiatives awarded by the M.U.S.E. (Montpellier University of Excellence) consortium at the University of Montpellier in 2019.

► TWO MISSIONS

Established by Dean Guylain Clamour within the Faculty in April 2019, the Montpellier Legal Clinic is located in Building 3 of the Faculty.

Helping Vulnerable People

To assist individuals facing legal issues. Our goal is to improve access to the legal system for the most vulnerable populations (students, seniors, the unemployed, those in precarious situations, etc.) as a complement to the assistance already provided by the Maison de la Justice et du Droit, attorneys, and the legal profession as a whole. 

Train students to handle real-world situations

The Clinic allows students to apply the theoretical knowledge they have acquired during their studies by dealing with real-world situations.

At the university level, the clinicians at the Montpellier Legal Clinic are law students or students in their second year of law school or higher. Our teams are mixed so that our more experienced volunteers can share their skills and help develop those of the younger volunteers. 

► Are you an individual or a student facing a legal issue?

The first step is to schedule an initial meeting together.

In your email, please include the following:
> A summary of your request—what are you hoping to get from the Clinic?
> Your availability over the next two weeks ( please provide several options).
> Your phone number

We will get back to you within approximately 72 hours ( excluding school holidays and weekends).

During this initial meeting, you will explain your situation to a team of student volunteers who will handle your case.
To ensure we can provide you with a prompt response, please bring all relevant information and documents with you. The team will ask you relevant questions as needed to better understand your situation. Afterward, we’ll need about 4 weeks to provide you with the necessary answers and assist you with your next steps.

The team will explain its recommendations to you during a second appointment.

As part of our quality assurance process, no advice will be provided during the first appointment. It is this same quality assurance process that requires the information provided by volunteers to be reviewed by faculty members or attorneys.

All volunteers are bound by professional confidentiality.

► How does it work?

Of the 200 clinicians, 30 are part of the organizing team, which is divided into three areas of expertise (Organization, Quality, and Partnerships). Each of these areas is led by several doctors or doctoral students in law, who are in turn supervised by faculty members.

The Organization Division

The Organization Division is responsible for the overall organization of the Montpellier Legal Clinic. It is responsible for managing relations between the Montpellier Legal Clinic and clients, as well as between the clinic and our legal practitioners. It also manages office hours, registrations, and the assignment of cases to our legal practitioners. Additionally, it works closely with the Quality Department to provide you with the best possible service.

The Partnership and Project Division

The Partnership and Project Division is responsible for coordinating the entire Montpellier Legal Clinic. It oversees all internal relations (with the University and the Faculty) as well as all external relations (with legal professionals and French or international legal clinics). It also implements all partnerships established with the Montpellier Legal Clinic. Its goal is to promote the work of all our clinic staff. It may also organize training programs with certain organizations that require legal training.

The Quality Division

> A department dedicated to quality.

The Quality Center ensures that our legal information is of the highest possible quality while also making sure that turnaround times are as short as possible. It is composed of the most experienced students from the Faculty of Law and Political Science, who are supervised directly by a faculty member with a Ph.D. or a Ph.D. candidate.

> Individualized follow-up for each case.

For each case received, a member of the Quality Team will be designated as the point person. This point person is responsible for guiding our clinicians before, during, and after appointments. Although a member of the Quality Team is present during each of our appointments, they will intervene only as a last resort, allowing our clinicians to handle the case with as much autonomy as possible. They act as a team leader for each case to support our clinicians.

> Three levels of control.

The member of the Quality Unit designated as the point person for a project serves as our first line of quality control. A second review is conducted by a doctoral student or a student in a doctoral program. Finally, a third review is conducted by a faculty member. We have streamlined our process as much as possible without compromising quality.