Lessons Learned from Remote Delivery: Supervision and the Student Experience

Abstract

This article considers the effect of the shift to virtual delivery of clinical legal education (CLE) that was necessitated by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on students and the lessons learned from students’ perspectives, especially regarding supervision, for clinical best practice going forward. Much of the recent scholarship on the effects of the pandemic has focused on the clients of clinical programs and the challenges of responding to heightened client service needs at a time of economic dislocation and widespread movement restrictions. This was a particular issue in the city of Melbourne, Australia, where residents faced some of the longest and most onerous lockdowns in the world. This article focuses on students of clinical programs and the role of supervision practices in facilitating students’ learning during this challenging period.