Since I was in my early twenties (about 20 years ago…), I have been involved in initiatives that, in some way or other, tried to make society a bit more inclusive and just. I co-founded and headed some of those initiatives and joined others as a fellow. My experience with volunteer work and my background in systemic work also led to my appointment as director of the law clinic at Bucerius Law School in 2016, a position I still hold. Our clinic involves about 100 people, most of which are student volunteers who give legal advice for people in need. I learnt – sometimes with trial and error – to create conditions in which the volunteers can grow, and clients get a valuable service. Soon I also became involved in the nationwide Refugee Law Clinic movement, first as a board member and then as the chair of the advisory board of Refugee Law Clinics Germany (RLCD). As an umbrella organisation, RLCD represents 36 clinics that offer legal aid for migrants. Parallely, I started teaching students in clinics all over Germany and assisted students who wanted to found their own local clinic, so I have first-hand impressions of the challenges the students are facing in their pro bono work. The next step was my involvement in the international clinical legal education movement (including academic contributions to several conferences all over the word), which made me aware of the much broader recognition of clinical legal work in other parts of the world. I realised that German law clinics need much more support than they are getting now. Consequently, I set out to build a support structure for the supporters.
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