International practice of public legal education: a missing element in the justice system of Bangladesh

Abstract

Public Legal Education (PLE) is a recently developed international practice which aims at providing nationwide legal education and information services to the public by way of a variety of innovative methods. Compared to its presence in a number of developed countries, the practice of PLE is not very common in least developed and developing countries such as Bangladesh. However, its impact on the process of legal empowerment could be transformative. This article thus attempts to assess the necessity and the prospect of introducing PLE in Bangladesh. In doing so, the concept of PLE will be analysed first, focusing on the various methods that are applied for its delivery. Considering the presence of comprehensive PLE practices, the PLE framework in two other jurisdictions - Canada and Australia - will then be examined in order to achieve a comparative view on the subject. Upon analysing the relevance of PLE, the article will finally propose a number of key recommendations to introduce a PLE framework into Bangladesh.