University of KwaZulu-Natal UKZN Law Clinic

By | September 17, 2021


University of KwaZulu-Natal UKZN Law Clinic

For almost a century, the UKZN’s School of Law and its predecessors have championed the cause of human rights.  The School’s commitment to human rights has resulted in a number of important practical initiatives which offer support to vulnerable communities.

The UKZN Law Clinics in Durban and in Pietermaritzburg are numbered amongst the leading law clinics in South Africa.  They serve as ‘laboratories’  where students, carefully supervised by trained practitioners, are able to practice the legal skills they have learned by dealing with real clients and solving actual legal problems.

The UKZN Law Clinic specialises in providing legal services in the areas of HIV and AIDS (e.g. unfair dismissal due to status); Family Law (e.g. divorce, maintenance, custody and domestic violence); and social justice (e.g. housing and eviction matters).  



As many of the clients served by the Clinic live in rural and semi-rural areas, Clinic staff and students often travel to remote areas in order to provide vulnerable communities with access to justice.  In addition to offering free legal services, the Clinic, together with local non-governmental organisations and paralegal advice offices, conducts workshops and awareness raising programmes aimed at empowering poor communities and educating them in relation to their legal rights.