Tribe Mkwebu

Dr Tribe Mkwebu is an Assistant Professor of Law at Northumbria Law School, University of Northumbria, United Kingdom. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). Tribe read Law at the School of Law, University of Northumbria. He was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Law in 2017, a Master of Laws (LLM) in Advanced Legal Practice in Human Rights and Civil Liberties in 2010, a Post-Graduate Diploma in the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) in 2009 and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB Hons) in 2007. Tribe received his Call to the Bar of England and Wales in July 2009 and is a member of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, London, United Kingdom. Tribe’s doctoral thesis, which he completed in October 2016, was entitled: Clinical Pedagogy: A Systematic Review of Factors Influential in the Establishment and Sustainability of Clinical Programmes and a Grounded Theory Explication of a Clinical Legal Education Case Study in Zimbabwe. Tribe has previously taught Civil Litigation on the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) for those aspiring to qualify as Barristers, and currently teaches on the MLAW (Exempting) (Integrated Masters) and the LLB (Hons) Programmes. He is a Law Clinic Supervisor within the University of Northumbria’s award winning Student Law Office. Tribe supervises LLB and MLAW students undertaking live-client cases within Northumbria Law School’s Law Clinic. He is experienced in preparing appeal cases and representing clients at Immigration Appeal Tribunals and Social Security Appeal Tribunals, having previously worked as an Immigration Law Practitioner and Social Security Law Specialist. Tribe has and continues to publish in academic journals such as, for example, the Law Teacher, the International Journal of Clinical Legal Education (IJCLE) and the Asian Journal of Legal Education (AJLE). He peer-reviews journal articles submitted for publication to one of the leading international academic journals in the United Kingdom. Tribe also undertakes supervision of postgraduate research students undertaking PhD studies. Outside academia, Tribe is a member of the Board of Trustees for Citizens Advice Newcastle, a local independent charitable organisation that provides free, confidential, independent and impartial advice to people in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne.

The research undertaken by Dr Tribe Mkwebu for his PhD in Law indicated that there were various positive and negative factors influencing the creation and sustainability of clinical programmes. Enabling factors were most frequently related to positive intervening conditions such as, for example, the availability of a healthy financial base upon which a clinical programme is built. Impeding factors were most frequently associated with negative intervening conditions such as, for example, the resistance to clinical pedagogy. The clinical scholarship reviewed by Tribe revealed a wealth of knowledge on key aspects to consider while founding a clinical programme. However, despite the emphasis on the importance of maximising the benefits accrued using a legal pedagogy that combines theory and practice in the education of future lawyers, little has been written on strategies to sustain already existing clinical programmes. There are still critical knowledge gaps requiring attention. To fill in the knowledge gaps, Tribe undertook a ground breaking systematic review of literature on the formation of law clinics as part of his research for his PhD study and created a map of influential factors, he believes ought to be taken into consideration when planning to establish clinical programmes and/or sustain those that are already in existence. Tribe’s research on clinical pedagogy breaks new ground as the first piece of research in the field of law clinics whose methodological approach has included the undertaking of a systematic review of literature to identify influential factors important to consider when planning to sustain or foster a new clinical programme. This is the area of law in which, primarily lie Tribe's research interests. He is particularly interested in analysing how different factors, such as for example, the resource intensive nature of law clinics, the integration of a clinic component within the legal education curriculum and the tension between the social justice and the educational goals of a clinical pedagogy, influence why law clinics are formed and how they are sustained.