NCJ Number
73357
Journal
Deviance et societe Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1980) Pages: 61-68
Date Published
1980
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Belgian legal training has opened up since the 1960's, but such training must become flexible enouh to allow lawyers to have extensive contact with both the outside world through onsite training and with scientific and theoretical materials and teaching.
Abstract
Traditionally, law students were confined to the classroom but with the influx of students into the profession, the diversifying of the profession, and the increase in the profitability of being a lawyer, the arena of legal study has also grown and diversified. The Belgian bar is allowing more combinations of professions, such as forensic psychiatry and forensic medicine. Lawyers are being permitted to combine their studies in law with employment in social services. Lawyers are splitting up their time between acting as attorneys and conducting courses at the universities. The legal field itself is expanding, with expanding needs in training. Legal aid services are developing, with emphases on human rights and the poor. Numerous subspecialties are coming into play in the courtroom, with expert testimony in voice-printing, finger-printing, and other forensic laboratory areas. These developments are very fortunate for law students, who now, in order to understand which field is most applicable to his interests, must gain experience in the field, among practitioners, clients, and with peers. In this way, students combine practical knowledge with their theoretical training, a trend in Belgium's legal world that is welcome and needed. Fifteen references are provided.