Face-to-face , first and second term, 30 hours of theory and 30 hours of exercises.

French

Combining an optional course with the seminar in legal theory, this course aims to articulate legal theory and practice in order to develop a plural knowledge of the normative regimes of law and gender. The purpose is to identify the extent to which a gender approach sheds light on the legal phenomenon, on the one hand, and to put these insights into practice by solving a "clinical" question for the benefit of a non-profit organization, on the other.

At the end of the course, the student should:
o have opened up to fundamental questions and critical reflection on law, having used a gender lens in the process
o have acquired the ability to understand and discuss texts (from legal theory or other disciplines) that renew the understanding of the legal phenomenon, particularly insofar as it involves gender issues
o have grasped and experienced the intertwining of legal theory and practice;

o have articulated and resolved a legal theory question presenting a gender dimension, in a critical manner, through personal research;
o have synthesized the results of their theoretical research in the form of a poster, which could be presented publicly;
o have written, on the same issue, a critical analysis of approximately 20 pages, based on a bibliography combining legal and non-legal sources, in an interdisciplinary perspective;

o have solved, with several of his/her fellow students, a clinical question for a non-profit organization, using the resources in positive law acquired in other courses, deepened in casu and strengthened by the theoretical insights mentioned above;
o have written, on the same issue, a critical analysis of about ten pages, which demonstrates a full command of its technical and practical dimensions as well as an ability to make legal resources accessible to an uninformed public, in a clear and synthetic manner.

For the Bachelor in Law :

None

The organization of the course reflects the objectives outlined above.

In the first semester, there will be an introductory session, five "clinical sessions" devoted to the cases that students will be asked to take on, followed by three "theoretical sessions" during which we will discuss one or more scientific papers on the crossroads between legal theory and gender issues.
The clinical sessions will each focus on clarifying one of the requests made to us by associations in the field, formulating the legal questions that emerge from it and the gender issues that it includes, and discussing this with a legal practitioner who is an expert in the field. These files will relate to distinct branches of law, thus allowing for exploration in both public and private law.
The theoretical sessions will be designed to develop together a conceptual, critical and interdisciplinary analysis of a variety of themes, all of which present a gender dimension.
The clinical work groups, the demand they will be required to fulfil and the theoretical problematic of each one will be defined in December. The professors hope that the definition and distribution of these different elements will be freely and collaboratively determined.

During the second semester, three theoretical sessions will take place, alternating with periods of practical work devoted to each clinical case, in groups, and individual support for students who so wish in writing their theoretical paper.

The clinical file is due the day before the spring break, March 31, 2023.

Just after the spring break, the presentation of the theoretical work will be organized in the form of academic posters. Their presentation could be made public and coupled with a conference, organized with the students and the organizations to which we will have contributed.

Individual papers in legal theory will be due the day before the blocus, May 19, 2023.

Participation in the introductory session, the five clinical sessions and the six theory sessions will be mandatory. All will take the form of discussions; the theoretical sessions will be based on documents to be read in advance.

In addition to these times of collective work, the work will mainly consist of the production of two texts.
The first, about 10 pages long, will be written by a group of 4 to 6 students; it will consist of a report to a non-profit organization, addressing a legal issue "on the merits", whether it is a synthesis of the current state of the law, in its textual dimension as well as its interpretation, or a more prospective response to an unresolved problem.
The second paper, about 20 pages long, will be individual and will address a theoretical issue chosen by each student with the agreement or even the help of the professors. It will consist in developing a conceptual analysis of a legal issue involving a gender dimension. If the individual papers are based, more or less directly, on the clinical research carried out collectively, the texts will have to be clearly distinct - in terms of their subject matter maybe, but certainly in terms of their method and their formulation.

Each group, for the clinical component, and each student, for the legal theory component, will be autonomous in its organization. Reinforced support for research, reflection and writing will be available every week, throughout the second semester; regular attendance at (some of) these sessions seems essential to the timely delivery of papers that meet the required quality.

The necessary documents will be made available on moodle.

Each of the written assignments will be worth half the marks obtained by the student. An insufficient mark for one cannot be compensated by the other: the paper that would not have been considered satisfactory must be resubmitted, the mark obtained for the other being upheld.

As for the clinical work, it will result in the same mark for all students in the group concerned. Its evaluation will be based in particular on the rigour of the legal research, the relevance and exhaustiveness of the answers to the question submitted, the handling of its gender dimension, the capacity to transmit legal knowledge to an uninformed public, the methodology and the presentation (including written expression). The brief nature of the expected document, rather than suggesting a simple exercise, should be understood as requiring the development of a particularly clear, structured and widely accessible argument.

The evaluation of the paper in legal theory will be based primarily on the formulation of a relevant conceptual problem, the structure of the argument, its interdisciplinary and critical nature, the quality of the research, the technical command of positive law aspects, the general understanding of the question and the literature, the written expression and the methodology.

The participation in the debates and the theoretical poster will intervene, more marginally, in the global evaluation of the work provided by each student. An active presence in the courses and an implication in the collective research will be expected, on the one hand, and the presentation of the poster will be a condition of admissibility of the paper in law theory, on the other hand.
Consequently, unjustified absence from more than one clinical or theoretical session, as well as unjustified absence from the presentation of the theoretical posters (even if it is the only absence of the year or if it is partial) will result in automatic passage to the second session, for the submission of the individual assignment.

Provided with the portfolio of papers as well as through individual and group discussions with the professors.