Between dogma and experience: reconfiguring clinical legal education in Chile

Abstract

Chilean legal education is undergoing a process of reconfiguration driven by technological transformations, the expansion of the university system, and growing social expectations regarding the professional role of lawyers. In this context, clinical legal education has become consolidated as an active methodology aimed at experiential learning. However, its early implementation has generated epistemological tensions with the dogmatic tradition that has historically underpinned legal learning. This article argues that clinical education can only achieve a meaningful formative function when embedded within a progressive curricular framework based on a solid prior conceptual foundation. Drawing on educational theoretical frameworks, legal doctrine, and an analysis of the Chilean context, it is proposed that clinical practice should be subordinated to an initial structural dogmatic development to avoid fragmented, operational learning lacking theoretical grounding.