The Emotional Impact of Law Clinic Supervision: An Autoethnography

The importance of supervision in clinical legal teaching is universally accepted. Supervision is positioned as a “hallmark” of clinical legal education. Supervisors are said to be “central to harnessing the rich possibilities” of the law clinic environment. However, despite the recognised value of supervision, little attention has been paid to the emotions experienced by supervisors as they go about their working day. Much of the research on supervision places an emphasis on effective supervision. Any reference to supervisors’ emotional states are often buried in extensive footnotes.

This chapter seeks to offer important insights into the emotional impact clinic supervision can have on law teachers. Using autoethnographic vignettes to create “ground-level, intimate, and close-up perspectives” on my lived experience as a clinic supervisor, I critically examine the emotions associated with a role that requires us to be lawyers, educators, mentors, and colleagues.