The goal of the program Access to Justice is to foster legal empowerment of individuals and disadvantaged communities, exposed to forms of temporary or permanent exclusion in order to facilitate the removal of barriers in the resolution of their legal challenges and the vindication of their rights. Its goal is also to present law as a useful and accessible tool for citizens and individuals of all generations and a possible alternative to violence. The program seeks also to develop critical thinking of students on the effectiveness of rights talk and its variable effectiveness in certain geographical spaces and depending on the situation/status of individuals. It is open to students from the Masters in Economic Law and the Masters for Judicial Careers. The program consists of a clinical course and field work. The objective of the course is to acquire all the personal and legal skills required for the hands-on work in the field to enrich the more contextual experience.

The course is taught by Marie Mercat-Bruns in the first semester and Marthe Jacquemin in the second semester, with the contribution of outside speakers, researchers and practioners (psychologists, doctors, union representatives, lawyers, NGO advocates etc.) who work on access to justice, care facilities or in public interest law.

Pedagogical team

Curriculum development, pedagogical supervision and scientific responsibility for the Access to Justice program are placed under the supervision of Marie Mercat-Bruns, Full University Professor at Sciences Po Law School.

The Access to Justice clincial program is taught in French by:  

• Marie Mercat-Bruns, course lecturer for the first semester, lecturer of the required Access to Justice course and tutor
• Marthe Jacquemin, course lecturer for the second semester
• Anaïs Gauthier, tutor
• Deirdre Jones, tutor
• Mathilde Patrurel, tutor 

Field work combining research and action is done in eight different areas:

• In the three « Houses of law and justice » (Maisons de Justice et du droit): community legal services run by public authorities (CDAD) in the 10th, 15th and 17th districts of Paris, and in six Access to justice hubs (“point d’accès au droit”, run by NGO “Droit d’urgence”, including one in the new Paris court house. Each week for a half day, students participate in all activities, including meetings for legal information with citizens. They raise recurring questions of obstacles to the law (drawn from their observation of the application of rules relating in particular to legal aid, labor law, social security law, immigration law or criminal law (domestic violence) and produce a critical analysis of some form of barrier in access to justice 
• At the Defender of Rights (French Equality body and Ombusdman): students discover all actions of the institution and its different tasks as regards the law. Students, through practice sessions, participate directly in the triage of claims and work in the different departments on law and ethics (anti-discrimination law, childrens’ rights, mediation and police investigations (brutality), alongside professionals of the institution. Dispatched in the different departments (Law enforcement monitoring, Children’s rights, Mediation with public authorities, Discrimination, Whistle-blowing), they participate in the resolution of one or more claims and can contribute to proposals for legislative reform and produce a critical analysis of a specific recurring barrier in access to justice 
• As part of the « Street Law » project: its goal is to raise awareness among people of all generations (young people, migrant women), in a school (with the support of Allen & Overy), a home for isolated minors in the 16th arrondissement in Paris and in a community café located in Le Blanc Mesnil, on how to identify a legal problem, a legal issue in civil law outside of the criminal system and its logic of repression. The idea is to produce a toolbox of examples in contracts, labor law or consumer law. The students create games and simulations with the younger generations based on their own queries about the law. 
• « En prison… » : the goal is to organize workshops in the prison on health issues and based on the main concerns of inmates in terms of access to justice. Students also participate in telephone hotlines for inmates for the ARAPEJ association. 
• Right to housing : Housing policy for homeless people. Students carry out in-depth research on the “housing first” policy for homeless people leading to drafting a bill on the issue.
• UNESCO Legal Action Network:  in the context of this network, an informal platform facilitates the exchange of experiences and expertise (among national public institutions, regional intergovernmental bodies). Students carry out research to enhance knowledge sharing and ensure global representation, and work on establishing an Observatory on Equality Data to collect and analyze national data and laws, allowing for global comparisons. They will also work on the implementation of best practices. 
• Lawyers Without Borders (ASF): students will work on a comparative analysis of the EU's non-discrimination framework regarding migration (review of European asylum rules, understanding inconsistencies in the rules and implementation of deportation and repatriation). 
• International Prison Observatory (OIP): students discover prison law and access to rights for prisoners through the hotline and access to justice. They carry out a legal analysis of a situation of rights violations observed on a permanent basis. 

The projects combine field work and empirical research on fundamental issues of law and society.

For more information on the Access to Justice clinic programme and to see a detailed list of clinical projects for the 2024-2025 academic year (FR).

Past projects

• Projects carried out in 2024-2025 (PDF 181 Ko)
• Projects carried out in 2023-2024 (PDF 230 Ko)
• Projects carried out in 2022-2023 (PDF 176 Ko)
• Projects carried out in 2021-2022 (PDF 315,81 Ko)
• Projects carried out in 2020-2021 (PDF 149,57 Ko)
• Projects carried out in 2019-2020 (PDF 439 Ko)
• Projects carried out in 2018-2019 (PDF 427 Ko)
• Projects carried out in 2017-2018 (PDF 263 Ko)
• Projects carried out in 2016-2017 (PDF 149 Ko)