Legal education in transition: Is the bologna process responding to Europe's place in the world?

Abstract

The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements between European countries, which began in 1999 to ensure the harmonization of the standards and quality of higher education qualifications. Through the Bologna Accords, the process has created the European Higher Education Area. The preoccupation of the Bologna Process with continental Europe has left out from its purview other regions of the world where traditionally European universities have played a leading role.This article reassesses the Bologna Process against the North American universities' outreach and proposes new avenues for matching it by the European universities.It will first examine the Bologna Process: its goals, achievements and failures. Special emphasis, as detailed analysis will be put on the mobility component of the Bologna Process-Erasmus program and its potential for the future.The US system of legal education will be then shortly presented with special emphasis on the clinical legal education as the American method which in regions all over the world promoted not only an effective teaching mechanisms but core, fundamental principles such as rule of law and human rights.Transatlantic influence of the Bologna Process will also be examined to bring final conclusions for possible international actions in the future. The text is based on data available in 2014.