The Escuela de Derecho y Ciencia Política UIS is conducting orientation for students beginning their professional practice in the Consultorio Jurídico y Centro de Conciliación de la Universidad Industrial de Santander in the second semester of 2024.
Until Friday, August 2, future lawyers will participate in a program designed to provide essential information about the operations and legal framework of the Consultorio Jurídico.
The orientation opening was led by Escuela de Derecho y Ciencia Política UIS, Javier Alejandro Acevedo Guerrero; the Director of the Consultorio Jurídico y Centro de Conciliación, Clara Inés Tapias Padilla; and professors from the academic administrative unit.
“We welcome the students who are about to start practicing as lawyers in the Consultorio Jurídico y Centro de Conciliación, in this initial phase, we have introduced the new guidelines and changes aimed at enhancing virtual services to reach remote national communities in need. We will initiate a pilot program and strengthen our relationship with entities, especially the Ministry of Labor, through an agreement for labor conciliation to advise workers with the quality service that characterizes us,” said Professor Javier Acevedo.
He added, “We will explore new forms of conflict resolution, starting with equity-based conciliation to consider new forms of justice. We will strengthen the legal clinic and strategic litigation as a novel approach to understanding the law and enhance the administrative and teaching team to support students in this critical stage of transitioning to professional practice while continuing to provide the quality service that defines us.”
The focus areas include labor, criminal, public, private, family law, and cross-cutting issues such as migration, victim assistance, prison issues, gender, disability, and elderly care. This will also include the presentation of the Grupo de litigio estratégico y clínica jurídica «Carlos Gaviria Díaz», as well as the Litis Data tool.
Regarding criminal law, Professor Jhon Alexander Serrano Fajardo explained, “The university has always had a very human and social approach. The Legal Clinic is where students apply this learned approach. Specifically, criminal law is perhaps our strongest area in victim assistance, whether it’s domestic violence, gender-based violence, child support issues, personal injuries, etc. Students practice everything they have learned to represent victims as well as individuals being prosecuted for crimes within our competency.”
“What sets UIS lawyers apart is their humanistic approach. A person undergoing a legal process remains a subject of rights and a human being; they do not lose this quality because they are being processed. This is what students must practice here,” added Professor Serrano Fajardo.
One of the major strengths of the service provided by the UIS Consultorio Jurídico y Centro de Conciliación UIS is its focus on individuals with hearing disabilities. Psychologist Luisa Fernanda Hernández Valdivieso, a professional assigned to the department, stated, “We train students comprehensively to ensure an inclusive process that adheres not only to regulations but to humanity. We serve individuals with any disability, particularly those requiring specific services such as sign language communication. We train students using a linguistic model because there are deaf individuals who may not know sign language. Thus, it’s crucial to have a linguistic model, with Professor Claudia Hernández, a deaf person who translates information into sign language, which I, as an interpreter and psychologist, then translate into Spanish for our beneficiaries, ensuring complete and inclusive service during their practice.”
For the Director of Consultorio Jurídico y Centro de Conciliación UIS, Clara Inés Tapias Padilla, this new generation of future lawyers plays a fundamental role in their training process. She highlighted, “There is a great expectation every semester to validate the social commitment of applying all our students’ knowledge to causes that are much needed by the population: single mothers, LGBTQ individuals, migrants, Afro-descendants, and others in vulnerable conditions who lack financial resources and need legal assistance, which they will find here. This orientation affirms our social commitment to the community.”
She added, “We will continue to provide legal services with significant social impact, reflecting the university’s extension by offering daily legal advice and representation in various areas of law. This practice allows students to apply their knowledge in labor, civil, commercial, criminal, and public law, and strengthens their skills through experience, while enabling us at the Universidad Industrial de Santander, through the Escuela de Derecho y Ciencia Política, to materialize our support, representation, and protection of rights.”
It is worth noting that the entire orientation program will take place in the salón Hormiga at the Sede UIS Bucarica. Starting Monday, August 5, a Conciliation in Law course will be offered to students in the 9th semester, as part of the second academic semester of 2024, which is mandatory for the Consultorio Jurídico course.
