Student Director Hannah Cosgrove With Her Award

Strathclyde Law Clinic Student Wins National LawWorks & Attorney General Student Pro-Bono Award.

We are delighted to announce that yet again the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic have been successful at this year’s LawWorks and Attorney General Student Awards. Student Director Hannah Cosgrove was a much deserved winner in the Best Individual Student Award, beating off competition from seven others.

This award was thoroughly deserved after the effort she has put into the Clinic over the last two years. She has been instrumental in the formation of the Scottish Universities’ Law Clinic Network, and also has taken the lead in establishing our Schools Project, setting up links with the Terence Higgins Trust and also establishing an outreach clinic in Bathgate.

This award builds on previous successes at the LawWorks awards ceremony, which have seen the Law Clinic shortlisted on various occasions, winning Best Law School in 2009, Best Contribution by an Individual Student, Alasdair Stewart, in 2011 and more recently winning Best Contribution by a Team of Students Award, in 2012.

Hannah said “Winning this award is a perfect way to mark the end of my time in the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic. I am absolutely delighted, not only to have received this award, but to have had the opportunity to be in the Law Clinic and make a genuine difference to people who would not have achieved access to justice without it. The pro bono work that I have taken part in would not have been possible without the support and hard work of everyone in the Law Clinic and the University of Strathclyde itself. Hopefully, this is something that will continue and grow for years to come.”

Building on a string of recent awards and nominations, the Law Clinic is pleased to announce that we have been shortlisted in two categories at this year’s Law Works national pro bono awards. The University itself has been shortlisted for the Best Contribution by a Law School, and our current Student Director Hannah Cosgrove has been shorlisted for the Best Contribution by an Individual Student award. The Law Clinic has had some past success at these awards, and so would hope to continue this trend.

Donald Nicolson, Clinic Director, notes that “the fact that we have been shortlisted in these two categories, against impressive competition from across the length and breadth of Britain, demonstrates two things: the value that clinics can bring to a host university, and the sheer drive of the individual students involved. All of this is, of course, only possible thanks to the huge amount of work that the student volunteers, and small number of staff members, quietly do every day in helping people who have nowhere else to turn.”

The award ceremony will take place on 25 March 2013 in the House of Commons.

Deputy Student Director Patrick Campbell and Training Officer Laura Ferguson Collecting the Award on Behalf of the Law Clinic

It was celebrations all round in the Law Clinic yesterday as we were awarded the Herald Society Team of the Year Award 2012. The award was given to us in recognition of our public service values, outstanding drive and commitment that have made a difference in improving the lives of people in Scotland. We hope we will be able to continue this for years to come, reaching out further across Scotland. The award was picked up by Deputy Student Director, Patrick Campbell, and Training Officer, Laura Ferguson.

Once again, the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic have been recognised for its services and engagement with the local community by the Evening Times Community Champion Awards 2012. The Law Clinic were successfully shortlisted for the award for the Glasgow Central and West area for a third year in a row and this year, we achieved runner up status in the awards ceremony held in August. At the very least this was an opportunity to raise awareness of the problem of access to justice in the local community. However, as Donald Nicolson, Law Clinic Director commented, “As ever, it was an honour just to be shortlisted from amongst so many other commendable contributions to the community. To be chosen as runners up, however, is even gratifying. We have just reached the milestone of our 1000th case and we looks forward to growing from strength to strength in the lead up to our 10th year.”

We are delighted to announce that the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic have been shortlisted for the Charity of the Year award from the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations.

Established in 2003 by Professor Donald Nicolson OBE, the Law Clinic aims to assist people who cannot attain legal advice through any other means. Since it began, the Law Clinic has helped almost1000 people gain access to justice and in the last year, the Clinic has assisted 182 people, winning or saving them nearly £220,000. As well as tackling individual cases, students, supported by fully qualified solicitors, carry out education and community work in prisons and schools.

The SCVO itself has 1300 voluntary sector organisation members, indicating how tough the competition was. Professor Nicolson, Director of the Law Clinic said, ‘To be shortlisted itself is an honour given the number of worthy voluntary organisations which operate in Scotland. However, it is no more than the hard work and dedication of the students and staff deserve. The fact that the students put together the nomination on their own is an indication of the level of professional which has been engendered in the Clinic.’ Hannah Cosgrove, Student Director of the Clinic said, ‘SCVO do an amazing job promoting the great work that goes on in the 3rd sector. To be part of the work that is recognised is a fantastic achievement for the students who make the Clinic what it is today. Access to justice is something which people might not automatically think a charity can help with, but where we can, we will and hopefully this will continue for years to come.’

The Law Clinic were also recently recognised in London, winning the Best Contribution by a Team of Students at the LawWorks and Attorney General Student Awards 2012.

Strathclyde Law Clinic Committee Win National LawWorks & Attorney General Student Pro-Bono Award

Louisa Doole, Hannah Cosgrove, Annabell Fowles & Nur Hemsi Collecting the Award on Behalf of the Law Clinic

We are delighted to announce that the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic have once again been successful at the LawWorks and Attorney General Student Awards 2012. The Clinic’s Executive Committee have been the proud recipients of the Best Contribution by a Team of Students Award.

The committee is made of twelve appointed and seven elected students. It currently meets monthly along with the Clinic Director and the supervisors to decide on Clinic policy and direction, and debate ethical issues raised by cases. In this role, it has played a crucial role in upholding and modelling to others the Clinic’s core volunteer and social justice ethos.

The appointed office holders on the Committee are particularly important in ensuring that the Clinic runs effectively and efficiently. Such work includes:

• helping with the allocation and monitoring of cases, and mentoring student advisors (Case Managers);
• organising induction training and around ten additional training sessions a year, as well as attendance at outside sessions (Training Officer);
• maintenance of our award-winning case management system, mailing lists, and the website (IT Officer);
• Producing external and internal publicity and maintaining external relations (Communications Officer);
• Fund-raising (Funding Officer).

Most importantly, the Student Director and her Deputy oversee all Clinic activities, including the various Clinic projects, represent the Clinic to the outside world, and help maintain Clinic morale through social events.

A very conservative estimate suggests that these students volunteer around 7000 hours annually. This saves the time (and salary costs) of the Clinic Director and having to employ four more paid staff to maintain current Clinic activities. As a result, the Law Clinic runs at cost of less than a third of the average law clinic affiliated to LawWorks.

This award builds on previous successes at the LawWorks awards ceremony, which have seen the Law Clinic shortlisted on various occasions, winning Best Law School in 2009 and Best Contribution by an Individual Student, Alasdair Stewart, in 2011.

Current Student Director, Hannah Cosgrove, said, “We are absolutely delighted that our efforts have been recognised nationally. The standard of competition is always high, with other universities such as BPP Law School, King’s College London, Cardiff Law School and Bristol Law School offering equally notable services. The University of Strathclyde Law Clinic’s Committee is the driving force behind its continued success and high level of service, and we know this will continue on for years to come.”

The Law Clinic Student Committee has been shortlisted for the Award of Best Contribution by a Team of Students at the LawWorks & Attorney General Student Awards. This is in recognition of the incredible job performed by the Student Committee in running the Clinic. Students from the committee will attend the awards ceremony on Tuesday 27th March at the House of Lords.

The Law Clinic has previously been successful, winning Best Contribution by a Law School in 2009 and Best Contribution by an Individual Student in 2011. It has also received a runner up award for Best Contribution by an Individual Student.

The Law Clinic’s first consumer workshop will be held on Monday 12th December at 5.30pm in the Law School (Room 714, Level 7, Graham Hills Building, 50 George Street ) The free workshop will cover consumer rights under the Sale of Goods Act and how to obtain a remedy, including how to raise a small claim.

The Schools Project is the Clinic’s latest project, aiming to bring public legal education into schools and teach young people about the law and the ways in which it affects them through the use of interactive teaching methods. It is based upon the principle that people learn far better through such interactive methods than they do when they are simply lectured to. The Project is influenced by the teaching methods of Professor McQuoid-Mason who has founded and developed Street Law in South Africa.

The first presentation took place on Friday 11th November in front of a class of 26 second year pupils at Hermitage Academy in Helensburgh. The overall aim of this presentation was to teach young people about the law affecting cyberbullying as this issue had been flagged up as a current problem within the school. We also discussed the complicated relationship between law and morality and were impressed by the pupils’ ability to question aspects of the law on this level. This presentation included a debate, a mock trial and elements of role play and the pupils responded well to the interactive nature of the activities. Pupils and Law Clinic students participated with much enthusiasm, particularly during the mock trial in which the pupils performed their roles impressively.

We received positive feedback following this presentation and are now hoping to maintain good links with Hermitage Academy, hopefully returning to give further presentations. Furthermore, we are aiming to deliver presentations in Govan High School in early 2012.

If you have any queries regarding our Schools Project, please contact our Schools Project Manager, Rachel Leggett – rachel.leggett@strath.ac.uk

We are delighted to announce that our Director, Professor Donald Nicolson has been the proud recipient of an OBE as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Professor Nicolson has been recognised for his dedication and services to the legal profession, something which we all aim to echo within our work in the Law Clinic.

Donald has been a Professor in the Law School since 2000. Prior to his appointment here, he was involved as a student in the University of Cape Town Law Clinic and then taught law at the Universities of Cape Town, Reading, and Bristol, where he also set up and ran a law clinic, which continues to thrive, though not to the extent of our clinic!. In his role as founding director of the Law Clinic, Donald has acted as a mentor and consistently provided encouragement for all students involved in helping address the problem of access to justice. For this he was awarded a Life Changers Award from his union in 2008 and the Glasgow Evening News Community Champion (Central and West Glasgow) in 2010.

The Law Clinic are very proud of all of the work that Professor Nicolson has achieved and we are extremely privileged to be part of it.