Legal advice from students combines teaching and practice

The Chair of Public Law, Media Law and Information Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Passau has established a Law Clinic: Passau’s law students offer legal advice to regional startup-companies and enterprises.

The students’ expertise ranges from questions of website design, data protection to broadcasting law. Under the supervision of fully qualified lawers, the students investigate relevant legal cases and provide a legal opinion to the company. Counseling is bound to the semester term.

"Law Clinics" derive from American law education and combine teaching and practice. Originally - hence the name - they offered legal help to those in need, for example to refugees or to fellow students. Meanwhile, however, they are available for all legal areas.

As the student legal service is part of the university education, it is free of charge for the advised client; in return, a liability of the students and the university is excluded. Also, a "Law Clinic" offers the opportunity to get to know the work of future lawyers - similar to an internship.

The Law Clinic has started as a Chair's project. It then became part of the certificate program "Digital Technology and Entrepreneuship" (DTE) und and of "Passau - the Entrepreneurial Campus" (PAtEC).