Event - Roma Tre Clinica legale in diritto dei risparmiatori Students visit the Luxembourg's Clinique de droit de la consommation (Luxembourg, 9-10 october)

EXCHANGE PROGRAM BETWEEN CLINICA LEGALE IN DIRITTO DEI RISPARMIATORI 
(ROMA TRE UNIVERSITY ) AND 
CLINIQUE DE DROIT DE LA CONSOMMATION 
(LUXEMBOURG UNIVERSITY),
 A.A. 2019-2020

Luxembourg, 9-10 October 2019

The opportunity to discover and experience diverse academic environment, with a different approach to the subject that has a European-wide influence, is a great starting point to create a common knowledge among the citizens of the Union, the students and the academics. 
The exchange program between the Clinique de droit de la consummation (Luxembourg University) and the Clinica legale in diritto dei risparmiatori (Roma Tre University) is a program that has been going on since 2015. 
The exchange program provides the selected students with an opportunity to attend some of the classes and experience a simulated meeting with a consumer, in order to see and comprehend the different methodology and diverse approach to the clinical teaching method. In this case two students form the Italian clinic had the chance to go the Luxembourg University; in Mach 2020 the exchange will be reciprocated by students from the Luxembourg University that will go to the Roma Tre University to have the same experience.
This year’s trip was on the 9th and 10th of October 2019, and the delegation was composed of two selected students from the Italian Legal Clinic held by the Professor Maria Cecilia Paglietti, accompanied by the lawyer of the Clinic, Matteo Ghisalberti. 
In the first day, the 9th of October, the students had the possibility to test the methodology of work used by the Luxembourg’s Law Clinic on consumer law, participating in a simulation, that took place in Italian, of the meeting with a consumer, which was portrayed by the Professor Elise Poillot. The students of the Luxemburgish Clinic, in the first classes, are taught on how to interact with the consumer. During the course the students are also helped by a lawyer, who oversees the identification of the issue and the legal framework. The students meet the consumer under the supervision of the lawyer and of a psychologist that analyzes the body and verbal language of both parties. The Luxembourgish legal Clinic deals with, in particular, consumers’ rights and all the issues that arises from the application of such a normative to the business to consumer relations. Indeed, in the simulation the case was on a refusal to provide the guarantee by the vendor, on a tablet that allegedly has some water damage.
The simulation lasted twenty minutes, for the first part the students had to establish the facts of the case, that were submitted by an e-mail by the consumer, where he explained his case and asked for a solution. Then, since the consumer was not an expert in the field, it seemed appropriate to explain the legal framework and the applicable laws. Following the methodology of the Clinic, a lawyer was present to the meeting, in this case Matteo Ghisalberti, whose duty was to oversee what the students said, but could not intervene. The fact that the lawyer is just an observer of the students’ work is made clear by his ubication, the consumer could not see him, and knew his presence only because he was introduced to him at the beginning of the meeting.
The meeting with the consumer is the last part of a process that takes place in during the classes, the students of the Luxemburgish legal Clinic confront with each other and the professor on the case that they received on the circumstances of the case and on the interpretation given to the applicable normative. Differently from the Italian clinic, the cases are submitted by the consumers through an online form that comprehends standardized questions and a description of the facts.
The simulated meetings with the consumers, including the one with the exchange students, are filmed, in order to be able to review and analyse all the elements and the behavior of the students, and see all the possible errors. At the end of every meeting the Professor, the Lawyer and Psychologist comment on how the students handled the consumer and on how to improve.
The second day, the 10th, was devoted first to a presentation by the Italian students. After a brief introduction of those presents, including the Luxembourgish Lawyer, the Psychologist and the simulated consumers, the students of Roma Tre University described the work of the Italian Clinic held by the Professor Maria Cecilia Paglietti, highlighting the different approach to the consumer and the focus, that is primarily on banking claims, addressed to ABF, an ADR. After the presentation, three simulated meetings took place, in which the students of the University of Luxembourg showed how they approached the consumer and the subject. The students firstly welcomed the bogus consumer and put him in the seat in front of them and then interviewed him for twenty minutes, providing all the requested information, regarding the case. 
After the session, and after a photo with all the students and professors, the exchange came to an end. 
What remains of this experience is mostly the opportunity to build a comparative view of the approaches used in different legal and academic environments. Being able to see the characteristics of the different systems allows to identify and study the diverse points of view, and consequently to improve the knowledge of the subject and the training of future lawyers and academics. Of particular interest was certainly the more numerous and diversified figures involved in the Clinic, primarily the presence of a psychologist that enable the students to understand the challenges and the importance of having a good relationship with the consumer, who often find themselves in trouble and are not expert. That particular focus, given in the Luxembourgish Clinic, is a constructive approach in a holistic view of shaping the future lawyer, allowing him to understand what will happen in the professional world.