The Criminal Law and Criminal Science Legal Clinic was established in September 2013 and it is mainly designed for undergraduates in CUPL. The goal of this clinic is to help students understand the real judicial activities, apply law in practice and provide high-quality legal service to communities and groups that need help. This clinical program is directed by four teachers ---Guo Jinxia (professor), Xiao Chenghai (associate professor), Zhang Pengli (associate professor) and Liu Pin (lecturer). While being full-time scholars in CUPL, some of them are also part-time judicial appraiser or lawyer. All of the courses are arranged and coordinated by these four teachers.

The content of this clinical program mainly includes three aspects as follow:

1. Legal consulting

In order to safeguard the interests of vulnerable people and groups directly, the clinic sets a special office on campus to provide legal service for people who telephoned or came on site for legal consulting. By providing legal service independently under the teachers’ supervision, the students could expand their legal knowledge and improve their legal practice tremendously. With the principle of “fairness and justice” in mind, volunteer students from the clinic provide legal service (e.g., judicial appraiser, evidence review, etc.) to all clients irrespective of the significance or category of the case. Through these activities, students contribute their efforts to the construction of rule of law in China.

2. Legal practice lecture

The clinic invites experts and practitioners in the legal fields to give various lectures to students, which includes, but not limited to: “procuratorial system and practice”, “the reform of the National Supervisory Commission system”, “challenges to criminal investigation under the trial-centered judicial reform”, “the role of political and legal work in securing the national safety and social stability”, “the criminal investigation of telecom fraud”, “the technicalization, informatization and intelligentization of criminal investigation”, “career plan for undergraduates”. Through these various lectures and communication, students have expanded their horizon, known the current situation in legal field and at the same time had a greater awareness of their own career planning.

3. Off-campus visit

Every semester the clinic organizes four to six off-campus visits and students have the opportunities to visit court, procuratorate, jail, judicial expertise institution, forensic science center, etc. These activities can help students to have better understanding to what they have learned in class and learn new stuff that they could not get from book.

Through the learning and practice from this clinical program, students could improve their legal ethics, professional responsibility and legal skills. Students in this program should actively participate in the various activities, master main legal skills, develop role consciousness and responsibility, and improve their abilities to apply knowledge to practice.