Call for Papers: 12th ENCLE Conference - 23rd IJCLE Conference
University of Edinburgh Edinburgh, United Kingdom 15 & 16 June 2026
Invading the Curriculum: Clinical & Experiential Legal Education in an Era of Sustainability and ImpactAs legal education navigates shrinking resources and increasing pressures for relevance and innovation, clinical and experiential programmes are more vital than ever. Under the theme “Invading the Curriculum,” the 2026 ENCLE / IJCLE Conference explores how clinical mind-sets and methods can move within and also beyond the clinical space to transform mainstream teaching, enrich learning experiences, and demonstrate meaningful societal and educational impact. How can experiential pedagogy adapt and thrive amid change? How might collaborative partnerships, reflective practice, emerging digital tools, and sustainable funding models embed practice-based learning deeply across the curriculum? And how do we thoughtfully assess what matters most: growth in students, evolving institutional cultures, and positive community outcomes?
We invite proposals that share insightful experiments, spark curiosity and critical reflection, and envision sustainable, justice-oriented futures for legal education.
In addition to proposals aligned with the conference theme, submissions on all traditional and contemporary clinical legal education topics are warmly welcomed.
Why this theme now?Universities face tightening budgets, rising costs, and increasing demands on small-group, practice-based teaching. At the same time, Clinical legal education is often still seen as add-ons or pilot projects rather than integral components of legal education and therefore struggling to survive in times of shrinking budgets and to institutionalize within the traditional structures of legal academia. Legal clinics face challenges in securing stable funding, acquiring permanent staffing, and being recognized as academically rigorous and research-generative.
Moreover, the prevailing theoretical and doctrinal focus of many law schools, coupled with rigid accreditation and assessment frameworks, makes it difficult for clinical legal education to gain equal footing alongside conventional courses. As a result, clinical education remains vulnerable to fluctuations in leadership, policy changes, and external funding streams, making its long-term sustainability and integration into legal education an ongoing struggle.
This conference seeks to facilitate dialogue on sustainability of clinical legal education, and embedding clinic and clinic-inspired methods into mainstream curricula and building robust evidence of impact - on students, institutions, and communities - that strengthens support for sustained funding and development.
What are we looking for?We welcome submissions that:
- share models and case studies of sustainable integration and scaling of clinical and experiential learning within law curricula;
- offer innovative approaches to pedagogy, supervision, reflection, assessment, and the use of technology or AI in experiential teaching;
- explore institutional partnerships, funding strategies, and mechanisms for evidencing social justice and community impact;
- present comparative and cross-jurisdictional perspectives on clinical legal education’s sustainability challenges and solutions; and
- any other that fit within the traditional scope of clinical legal
Formats & Submission
Presentations can take one of three formats, each with its own structure:
Lightning Talks- These short presentations are designed to allow presenters to share an idea or a problem and seek We anticipate each presentation will consist of short introduction to new work, methodological innovations or insights from the field. Each presentation should last no more than 10 minutes.
- These will be in traditional conference paper format with a twenty-minute presentation followed by questions linked to clinical legal education/justice education in general, such as indicated by the non-exhaustive list of themes
- For the interactive workshops, we seek proposals from teams of justice educators or students, who are interested in organising a 45min or 90min interactive workshop on a relevant topic linked to clinical legal education/justice education in general, such as indicated by the non-exhaustive list of themes above.
Proposals are reviewed by the Conference Team. Relevance to clinical legal education/justice education and geographic diversity among presenters are important criteria in the proposal review. We encourage session proposals from international teams.
Proposal Submission Form:Session proposals should be submitted online (using the Submission Form: https://forms.gle/TJVuovfFRLv1v74o8), giving the following information:
Lead Presenter:- Where there is more than one presenter, we require that a “Lead Presenter” submit the Proposal Submission form. That person, unless changed, becomes the point of contact for the presentation throughout the stage of proposal review, decision, scheduling, and questions and logistical information for the conference.
Content of the proposal - the Online Proposal Submission Form will ask the following information:
- Full name (as written in the passport) and contact details (email) of lead presenter
- Organisation/affiliation of lead presenter
- Professional title/position of lead presenter
- Country of lead presenter
- Name(s) and details (affiliation, email address) of any other presenters
- Title of the session proposal
- Abstract of session proposal (which should include information about the session’s objectives, how interactive methods will be used, relevance to conference theme, short information about the presenter(s) and their relation to legal education/CLE; max 400 words)
- Summary of the session proposal (for conference website; max 100 words)
- Presentation format
- Lightning Talk
- Paper Presentation
- Interactive Workshop
Deadline for submission of papers 31 January 2026
Confirmation of paper accepted no later than 28 February 2026
Conference Registrations Open 1 March 2026
Registrations close 31 May 2026
Registration & Venue
The conference will be held at the Law School of the University of Edinburgh on 15 and 16 June 2026. Detailed registration fees and information will be available soon.
