Refugee Law Clinic Regensburg
History
How it all began
The Refugee Law Clinic Regensburg (RLC) was founded in October 2015 at the Chair of Public Law and Politics at the University of Regensburg (Prof. Alexander Graser). The aim was to form a voluntary initiative in which students offer free legal advice to refugees. The project was so popular among both refugees and students that it soon exceeded the chair's capacity. In order to utilize the enormous student commitment both for the common good and for teaching, the number of working students was not artificially reduced - unlike in other university-run clinics. Of course, the aim of providing students with optimal support and at the same time meeting their advice needs as best as possible remains. What initially began as a purely chair project is now also being organized by students. The clinic's student governing body is the Leadership Council, which currently consists of five law students.
MEMBERS
Our Successes
The Legal Leverage Platform e.V., which supports the Law Clinic, currently has over 400 members, the vast majority of whom have already worked on at least one case - many have already worked on several. Since the RLC was founded, over 1,000 cases have been closed. We have received several hundred cases in recent years. Cases that take longer are usually administrative proceedings or require more detailed legal research and therefore longer processing. The RLC was and is also active nationally and internationally. For example, students from the clinic were involved on the Greek island of Chios. As part of the nationwide “refugee law clinics abroad” project, they informed refugees locally about the asylum procedure. Furthermore, the RLC is keen to provide the interested public with information about the topic of refugees and to raise awareness of problems. At the law faculty at the University of Regensburg, the Law Clinic has established a series of lectures on migration law topics. Together with Amnesty International Regensburg, the RLC also invited people to “KinoAsyl” in May 2016.
CASES AND
CLIENTS
The RLC was also awarded the “Aumüller Integration Prize 2017”. In addition, speakers, primarily from practice, report and discuss their respective activities. As part of the training program, case-relevant topics are discussed in events and workshops. You can find out more about these in our blog. The events are public and are in demand by a wide audience. So far, among others, an administrative judge, an employee of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, several human rights lawyers, a member of the Bavarian Hardship Commission, a local politician and an employee of the Swiss Refugee Aid have contributed.