The South African legal system can only be effective if it is accessible and credible in the eyes of the ordinary citizen. The Law Clinic is ideally situated to extend access to justice to the poor and marginalised. The Law Clinic, situated at 18-24 Crozier Street, Stellenbosch, operates as a fully-fledged attorneys’ office, delivering legal services to the poor and marginalised, whilst at the same time training final year law students and candidate-attorneys in the practical application of the law. The attorneys and candidate attorneys appear in various litigious forums in the Boland. The Clinic also nurtures a culture of civil responsibility conducting workshops on evictions, debt relief and family violence. The Clinic also provides back-up legal services to the Ceres and Worcester advice offices. Poor and marginalized people are assisted by staff of the law clinic with a wide variety of civil matters such as evictions, divorce matters, family law and debt relief, to name but a few. The Law Clinic has a specialized focus on farm evictions, currently one of the most important legal issues in the Boland region. Evictions and consequent homelessness are a real threat to the human rights of farm labourers and their children they become outcasts with little hope of finding homes and protecting their family life.
