Legal Studies students from the Motherwell Campus recently visited Strathclyde University Law Clinic to get a taster of what could be in store for them upon completion of their course.

The Law Clinic, which is run by law student volunteers, provides free legal assistance to people who are unable to get help by any other means. Former NCL Law student, Karen Yuill, is a co-ordinator at the Clinic and in her third year of a law degree at the university. 

Karen met with the group to discuss her journey from college to university and to give them an insight into the work that is carried out by the Clinic. 

The visit was organised by class lecturer, Ciaran O’Neill, who said: “This was a truly fabulous opportunity for our Law students to see, first hand, the wonderful pro bono work that the Law Clinic carry out.

“This kind of opportunity gives our students an excellent insight into how theory is put into practice and the sort of opportunities that await them in the next stage of their educational journey.

“I am extremely grateful to Karen and her team for a very informative and interesting morning.”

For more information about law courses available at New College Lanarkshire, visit: https://www.nclanarkshire.ac.uk/courses/law

For more information about Strathclyde University Law Clinic, visit: https://www.lawclinic.org.uk/ 

In the run up to Christmas 2018, the Law Clinic’s Immigration Unit (IU) was invited to deliver a forum theatre session on asylum interviews to a group of third year social work students at Glasgow Caledonian University.

The IU ran two back-to-back sessions, with each session being delivered to an audience of 25 participants.

The session starts with a fictionalised asylum interview based on real law clinic cases, followed by an examination and deconstruction of the interview through audience participation. 

These interactive sessions aim to highlight the challenges faced by destitute asylum seekers when progressing their cases, and in particular, the credibility issues that hound their cases relentlessly.

The sessions were very well received. The audience quickly got into the spirit of forum theatre by raising their hands and stopping the interview when they saw an issue or problem. The braver amongst them got the chance to ‘jump in’ and re-enact the scene as they thought it ideally should have been acted out.

On Wednesday 23 January 2019, representatives from the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic attended the Strathclyde Student Union’s Welfare Week event for Student Services.

The event took place on level four of the Strathclyde Students Union in the Recharge Cafe and provided students with the opportunity to engage with representatives from the various support services available.

Alongside the Law Clinic, the event also featured the Advice Hub, Financial Services, Security, International Student Support Team, Student Accommodation and the Careers Service. The initiative has been developed by John Agbonrofo, the Vice President of Support, in order to promote the support services available to Strathclyde students.

Reflecting on the Welfare Week, John commented:

“Smile Project Strath Union Welfare Week is an outreach that provides opportunities for students to get access to the most up to date and relevant information and training to meet their needs (Personal, Academic, Housing, Employability, Finance, Legal Rights, Wellbeing, Health and, Safety).

In essence the message is, no matter the circumstance you are not alone, there are people and services that are here for you. Always remember, do not let anything take away your smile. Keep smiling 🙂 We are here to help!”

One of the volunteers representing the Law Clinic at the event, Kirstie Webb reflected:

“It was great to be able to represent the Law Clinic at the Strath Union’s inaugural welcome week. This gave us an invaluable opportunity to meet and interact with students who may not know about the Law Clinic’s work and the services we provide. Having a time where all the organisations and services are in one place is a fantastic idea that will hopefully enable students to access any information they may need.”

A dedicated group of Law Clinic volunteers took to the streets to distribute University of Strathclyde Law Clinic leaflets.

At the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic we are always aiming to support the most disadvantaged and vulnerable members of society. This includes people who do not have access to the internet. By distributing leaflets to public locations in Glasgow and the surrounding area, we hope to raise awareness of the services the Law Clinic provides in order to help those who need our service the most.

The team targeted local libraries, Councillors offices and Advice Hub’s. The locations included the Mitchell Library, Glasgow City Hall, Townhead Health Centre, the University of Strathclyde’s Advice Hub among other venues.

November 2018 marks the birth of a new partnership between the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic’s Welfare Project and St George’s Tron Church of Scotland.

The Clinic’s Welfare Project, reached out to the church’s minister, Alistair Duncan, who has been more than willing to accommodate the project within the church. St George’s church has various partnerships with humanitarian organisations including Glasgow City Mission and Bethany Christian Trust.

The Welfare project has already run two introductory sessions on 21 and 28 November. In January 2019, the project will start running fortnightly triage sessions between 3:30pm and 4:30pm on a Wednesday at St George’s Church, 163 Buchanan Street, Glasgow G1 2JX, for an initial six-month trial period.

Through these sessions, we hope to reach clients who are dealing with welfare benefit appeals. Our project will focus on those clients who are looking to appeal at Tribunal level. We will assist clients with preparation to self-represent at hearing, or in certain cases, we may represent clients.

The Welfare project will also be triaging clients with a range of legal issues and would therefore be able to refer clients to the Law Clinic for further advice and representation where appropriate.

Through this new location, the Welfare project aims to reach clients who would otherwise not know about or be able to access the Law Clinics services.

The Welfare Project Coordinator Kudakwashe Chinyani commented on the new partnership stating:

“All students involved are all excited to be making this step and we are grateful for the support of St George’s Tron Church.”

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The University of Strathclyde Law Clinic recently celebrated its 15^th year anniversary with an event on 15 November 2018.

From left to right: Student Director of the Law Clinic, Kirstie Webb; President of the Law Society of Scotland, Alison Atack; Student Director of the Law Clinic, James Anderson.

The event featured a variety of speakers, including:

• Law Clinic Director Kate Laverty;
• President of the Employment Tribunal (Scotland), Shona Simon;
• President of the Law Society of Scotland, Alison Atack;
• Dean of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Strathclyde University, Professor Douglas Brodie; and
• Trainee Solicitor and Law Clinic Alumni, Andrew Burns.

Speeches were followed by a brief opportunity for questions, before a drinks reception. During the reception interactive stalls displaying the work carried out by the Clinic were available.

These stalls were operated by student volunteers involved within various Law Clinic collaborations and projects, including the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre (SWRC); The Immigration Unit; Online Advice Project; Initial Advice Centre; Public Legal Education Projects etc. More information regarding each of these projects can be found on the Law Clinic website.

Student Advisors from the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic.

Student Director of the Strathclyde Law Clinic, James Anderson, reflected on the evening saying:

“The University of Strathclyde Law Clinic strives to increase access to justice in Scotland by providing pro bono legal services to those who are unable to access legal advice elsewhere. We are delighted to celebrate a successful 15 years of helping to meet these unmet legal needs, and we look forward with enthusiasm, to the next 15 years.”

Director of the Strathclyde Law Clinic, Kate Laverty, stated:

“We were delighted to be celebrating 15 years of the Law Clinic during which time we have helped almost 4,000 people. Our volunteer law students, past and present, should be proud of what they have achieved in that time. Their dedication, commitment and enthusiasm is inspiring. We hope to continue trying to improve access to justice in our Glasgow community and beyond for the foreseeable future.”

To keep up to date with all future Law Clinic news and updates for the next 15 years and beyond make sure to stay in touch.

The University of Strathclyde Law Clinic was given the unique opportunity to present the Law Clinic to thirty-five senior Judges, including several members of the Supreme Court, from Thailand.

The event, organised by Paul James Cardwell, a Professor in the Law School, was part of a two week trip and aimed to provide the Thai Judges with an insight into the University of Strathclyde Law School and aspects of the Scottish and English Legal and Criminal Justice Systems.

While on a trip to the Sheriff Court, one of the Sheriffs discussed the Law Clinic with the Judges who expressed an interest in learning more about the Law Clinic.

James Anderson and Kirstie Webb, Student Directors of the Strathclyde Law Clinic, volunteered to provide a presentation to the Judges, aimed at describing the work the Law Clinic carries out, how it operates and students involvement in the Clinic.

Both Directors found the experience invaluable with Kirstie Webb stating: “When Kate mentioned that representatives of the Law Clinic had been asked to present the objectives and ideologies of the Law Clinic to thirty-five Supreme Court Judges, I was thrilled to have this rare opportunity. The Judges were extremely interested in the way that the Clinic operates and the work that we do, and I hope that we inspired with our presentation and left a lasting impression of the work we do here at Strathclyde.”

James Anderson recalled: “It was an exceptional experience to address thirty-five Supreme Court Judges from another country. I was immensely proud to relay the work of the Clinic and how it benefits the general public and students alike. During our time with the Judges we learned that Thailand does not currently have anything comparable to a Law Clinic, therefore it was a privilege to convey and hopefully encourage the principle of access to justice through Law Clinics to such an esteemed audience.”

Dr Supakit Yampracha, one of the judges who coordinated the visit and who is a former PhD student at Strathclyde Law School, said, “It was a great opportunity for the visiting judges to hear about the work of the Law Clinic at Strathclyde. We do not have Law Clinics in Thailand, so it was very interesting to hear how the students and staff at Strathclyde have developed their role in helping people in Glasgow”.

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