Molly Malone Meets Ho Chi Minh

My initial introduction to the clinical education work of BABSEA CLE was a workshop at the University of Mandalay in Myanmar in October 2013. The audience consisted of deans and professors from 17 law schools throughout Myanmar. The principal objective was to continue their introduction to the use of clinical legal education modules under the BABSEA CLE teaching plan module. The first such workshop had taken place in Yangon in July 2013.

This time in Vietnam, it was very different. Instead of a few days at one university, we had a total of five days spread across three universities with all of the travel in between. The classes were substantially made up of students - and very bright students they were, too.

My teaching colleagues were Freda Grealy, Michelle Linnane and Sean O'Reilly from Irish Rule of Law International, along with Nguyen Tue Phuong from BABSEA CLE.

Over the next two days we facilitated the workshops on legal ethics and professional responsibility to 25 clinical legal education students and 14 other law students (plus four lecturers and three senior lawyers) at the University of Can Tho.

We were warmly welcomed by Dean Le Thi Nguyet Chau, who played a significant role for us with her students.

When we arrived, about half an hour before the time for the commencement of the class, the students were already sitting at their desks. Shortly thereafter they started an energiser which consisted of an activity where you bent down, placed your hand between your legs and reached backwards to take the hand of the person behind you. In some way, it is referred to as an elephant walk. I think you get the picture.

For me, this was too good an opportunity to pass up and I suggested to our Irish friends that we should join in. Initially, I think the students were quite taken aback that these senior lawyers from other countries were about to get involved in their hilarious (and potentially embarrassing!) energiser.

Before long, we were all into it - there was a conga line and around the classroom we went.

The ice was broken. From that point onwards the relationships between presenters, students and others developed to a level of comfort and confidence, which made our teaching tasks very easy indeed.

For our presentations in Can Tho we had chosen five topics from the excellent presentation materials prepared for BABSEA CLE by DLA Piper, Herbert Smith Freehills and the Australian Government Solicitor. Our topics were:

• What is legal ethics?
• Why is it important for lawyers?
• Duties to the Court.
• What is access to justice for the lawyer and client relationship?
• Confidentiality.

Of course, being clinical courses, much of teaching time is devoted to activities which engage the students. There was absolutely no reluctance on the part of these students to be engaged - indeed, there was a high level of enthusiasm. Not just to join into their groups, but to report back and to demonstrate their findings and use well-developed presentation skills.

As with any class, there are some really outstanding participants, and that was the case here. I won't single them out for fear of embarrassment, but at the end of two days, we could identify a number of students who were odds-on to make significant contributions to the law, their society and country with what they do in their life.

It was a privilege for us to be able to help them along that journey.

With three Irish lawyers on board, it was always likely that a sing-along would break out at any moment. The song of our workshops became Molly Malone. It was wonderful to see the Vietnamese students join in from the beginning and take up the challenge with the chorus in particular.

We finished to the words of the Maori farewell, but never far from the musical routine was Sean O'Reilly leading them all in his favourite song: 'Vietnam Ho Chi Minh'.

Thank you all for giving me this opportunity. It was a pleasure to participate and I look forward to the next opportunity.