This course is for those that may choose to work in Access to Justice, Human Rights, Advocacy and/or at the intersection of sociology and the law, or anyone with an interest to learn about law in action in grass roots context. This course is designed for students currently in their 3rd, 4th or 5th year, who are interested in understanding the socio-legal nuances of various aspects regarding legal empowerment.

This course is essential to equip students with the knowledge, skills and mindset needed to use law as a tool for social change, especially for the vulnerable and marginalized communities. The course prepares students to become effective agents of change by covering the practical and ethical dimensions of justice at the grassroots through addressing real world issues with the help of self-reflection, theory and hands-on practice.

It fills a crucial gap by informing, inspiring and training young law professionals in designing and implementing legal empowerment strategies. It gives them a glimpse of how what they are capable of and how they can do their part in making a more just and equitable society.

Legal Empowerment is the process of systemic change through which the vulnerable are enabled to use law for social change. This change can be at individual, family, or community level and essentially involves changing the power relation between privileged and under privileged.

The course sits at the intersection of the protection and expansion of rights, social change, and changes in legal and political systems – all towards a more equitable and just society. It requires a wide array of competencies including that of a good lawyer. This course seeks to engage with a few concepts at the heart of Legal Empowerment, particularly law and development, while also building the foundations for skillsets to work at the grassroots, be community organizer, a trainer and the like, all competencies crucial to legal empowerment.

It collapses the artificial wall and hierarchy between lawyers and non-lawyers.