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.

The client came to the Law Clinic in June 2010 with a potential unfair dismissal case. Following a Disciplinary Hearing in November 2009, he had been dismissed for gross misconduct. His subsequent Appeal against his dismissal in March 2010 was unsuccessful. He therefore, submitted an ET1 Form and approached the Law Clinic to see if we could assist him in his case and possibly represent him at his Employment Tribunal Hearing. After looking at the case, the Law Clinic agreed to represent the client on the basis that he had been unfairly dismissed due to his employer’s failure to comply with proper procedure during the dismissal process. The evidence also suggested that the client’s actions had not amounted to gross misconduct.

The Employment Tribunal Hearing took place in December 2010 and was scheduled to last five days. After the respondent’s led their evidence, we cross examined each of their witnesses and successfully highlighted how they had failed to follow proper procedures when dismissing our client. We then led evidence from our client along with his Trade Union Representative in order to further illustrate the unfairness surrounding our client’s dismissal. We also demonstrated that the client’s actions did not constitute gross misconduct. In the end, the leading of witnesses only lasted two and a half days, after which both sides gave their closing arguments.

We waited three months for the findings of the Employment Tribunal Hearing. However, it was well worth the wait. The Tribunal found that our client been unfairly dismissed and awarded him a total of £69,358 in compensation.

He was absolutely delighted with this outcome, and continually maintained that the important aspect of this result was not the financial gain, but rather the satisfaction that the Tribunal had found him to be have been unfairly dismissed.

This case is just one of many examples where the Law Clinic and work of its advisers can make a visible difference in people’s lives. It is not about how much money we can achieve for our clients, but also about helping them with legal problems which would otherwise go unresolved. In short, it is about helping as many people as possible achieve access to justice.

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

Alasdair receiving his award from the Attorney General

Students and staff involved in the University of Strathclyde’s award-winning Law Clinic travelled to London to attend the LawWorks & Attorney General Student Awards at the House of Commons on the 30th March 2011. The awards, organised by legal charity LawWorks and endorsed by Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC MP, recognise the contribution of law students to pro bono work- free legal services performed by lawyers for people who have difficulty affording fees.

The Law Clinic was extremely successful at the event, being shortlisted from over 52 submissions in two categories. These were Best Contribution by a Team of Students for the Clinic’s pioneering Projects Team and Best Contribution by an Individual Student for Alasdair Stewart, the Clinic’s Student Director and creator of the Clinic’s innovative and groundbreaking online Case Management System.

Alasdair was a well deserved winner in the ‘Individual’ category, impressing the judges with his unwavering commitment and dedication to pro bono activities during his four years at university. In nominating Alasdair for the award, Law Clinic Director, Donald Nicolson, said, “In twenty years of Law Clinic experience, I have not met a student who has put more into pro bono activities than Alasdair Stewart. … Over the last two years, I have been constantly able to call upon him, often at very short notice and late at night, for statistics and advice and suggestions on a variety of issues ranging from funding applications and project development to sensitive issues of ethics and management of occasional problems with and amongst the student advisors. Alasdair has proved wise beyond his years and has an amazing instinct for the right decision.”

Event sponsors, legal publisher and information supplier LexisNexis, were so impressed with Alasdair’s contribution to pro bono that they offered him the chance to take a trip to Canada in order to gain first-hand experience of pro bono activity on the other side of the Atlantic.

Alasdair said: “The pro bono work I’ve taken part in during the last four years has been challenging but also extremely rewarding when you realise the significant impact you can make on some of the most vulnerable people in our society. I feel extremely privileged to have been involved in the Law Clinic at the University of Strathclyde and to have studied at a university that recognises the huge benefits of pro bono work for both communities and students.”

The Law Clinic was the first student-led initiative of its kind in Scotland and its model is now being replicated in other universities as the recognition of the benefits of pro bono work to both students and the wider community spreads. Most impressively, Alasdair has offered to donate his award-winning Case Management System to other university Law Clinics free of charge in order to ensure that the pro bono movement truly takes root north of the border.

At an award ceremony held at Strathclyde Police’s Pitt Street HQ last night, Professor Donald Nicolson won the Evening Times Community Champion Public Service Individual Award for the Glasgow Central & West region.

The awards, run by the Evening Times, celebrate the work of individuals and teams across Glasgow who are making a difference to the local community. Professor Nicolson was nominated for his work promoting pro bono legal services within the University of Strathclyde and the wider legal profession.

He founded the Law Clinic at the University of Strathclyde in 2003, and has been the Clinic Director for the past seven years. In that time he has helped to motivate hundreds of students to take on hundreds of cases and fight for some of the most vulnerable individuals across Glasgow. He has overseen the expansion of the Law Clinic from a small group of 20 students, to over 200 students providing legal advice and representation today, and ensured the funding is in place to employ staff and solicitors to support the students’ work.

Professor Nicolson has also worked to promote pro bono within the Scottish legal profession, regularly speaking on the opportunities for solicitors at several conferences throughout the UK. More recently, he has been part of the steering committee to setup LawWorks Scotland, an organisation designed to promote and co-ordinate pro bono projects within Scotland.

Speaking after the event, Professor Nicolson said “While it is a great honour to receive this award, the award should really go to all of the students and staff involved in the Law Clinic, who work tirelessly every year working on behalf of nearly 200 clients to provide them with the legal advice and representation they otherwise wouldn’t receive”.

University of Strathclyde Law Clinic students have been shortlisted for two awards this year in the LawWorks & Attorney General Student Awards 2010.

The Law Clinic’s student committee has been shortlisted in the Team of Students Award and our Development Officer, Liam MacLean, has also been shortlisted for the Best Contribution by an Individual Student Award.

Last year, which was the first year that activities outside England and Wales were eligible for the awards, the Law Clinic and its students were nominated in three categories, and the Law Clinic won the award for the Best Contribution by a Law School. Given our success last year, we are looking forward to the awards this year which will be held in the House of Lords on Tuesday 30 March 2010 where the winners will be announced.

Professor Donald Nicolson, Director of the Law Clinic, said: “Each year the Law Clinic continues to expand and improve thanks to the dedication and commitment of our 200 volunteer student advisors. It is great that the hard work and success of our Law Clinic students has been recognised for the second year in a row with the two nominations”.

Kenny MacAskill MSP meets with staff and students.

On January 18th, Scotland’s Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill MSP, visited the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic where he was given an insight into our work.

Mr MacAskill met our staff and students, and heard opinions about ways in which access to the type of work done by the clinic could be broadened and ideas for developing pro bono work within Scotland.

Mr MacAskill said: “It’s good to see students with difficult courses to pursue and other jobs to hold down contributing their free time and expertise to help others. “It will doubtless stand them in good stead in whatever career they pursue but it is a sign of commitment to others that is much appreciated and much needed.” Professor Donald Nicolson, Director of Strathclyde Law Clinic, said: “It was a pleasure to welcome Mr MacAskill to Strathclyde. We are at the forefront of efforts to widen access to legal services- he seemed genuinely interested in what we are doing here and his visit was a great endorsement of our work.

“He listened to our ideas about access to justice and how it might be improved. We also offered an impression of the invaluable experience which the Law Clinic offers to our students and the commitment to justice which it helps to cultivate.”

Mr MacAskill speaking with Professor Nicolson, our SD and External Relations Officer.

A student advisor discusses her work with Mr MacAskill.

CaseCheck speak to our Student Director – Scott McMaster.

Scott discussed a number of issues with CaseCheck, including funding and current ventures. The interview can be watched here.

Strathclyde Law Clinic hosts successful launch event for new projects.

To celebrate the launch of four new projects and National Pro Bono week, the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic hosted a launch event on Wednesday 11 November 2009.

Speakers at the event included the Lord Advocate, the Rt Hon Elish Angiolini QC, and Lord Philips of Sudbury, who co-founded and is President of the legal charity LawWorks. Attended by solicitors, advocates, representatives of Glasgow advice agencies, academics and other members of the legal profession, the event addressed the need for pro bono in Scotland and the ways in which people could get involved with the new Law Clinic projects.

The new projects launched by the Law Clinic are:

• Initial Advice Centres, a series of monthly evening sessions at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, where qualified and trainee solicitors will be available to offer free, on-the-spot legal advice and, where relevant, make referrals back to the Clinic for further representation.
• The Greenock Outreach Project, starting in the new year with a pilot programme of monthly sessions aimed at extending the Law Clinic’s services to the Inverclyde area
• Prisons Project, a programme for prisoners approaching the end of their sentence, designed to offer them advice on employment issues to help them in their return to society
• Supporters of the Law Clinic, which is being established to help raise funds for the Law Clinic

Professor Donald Nicolson, Director of the Law Clinic at Strathclyde said: “I feel tonight has been a great success and it was very encouraging to see so many members of the legal profession attend and take a real interest in pro bono and the opportunities available through the Law Clinic, helping to increase access to justice for people in Glasgow and beyond”.

The successful event was highlighted in the Evening Times, The Firm, The Journal and on the BBC News website.

The Law Clinic at the University of Strathclyde has been operating for over six years and has assisted over 650 clients. The new projects are designed to build on the Law Clinic’s core service of providing advice and representation to people who do not qualify for legal aid, but struggle to afford lawyers’ fees. Earlier this year, the Law Clinic’s work won the Strathclyde Law School the Best Contribution by a Law School prize in the LawWorks & Attorney General Student Awards. The Law Clinic relies on and is grateful for the funding and donations received from the University of Strathclyde Law School, Graduates Association, Alumni Association and sponsors Simpson & Marwick, DLA Piper and Irwin Mitchell, along with its other supporters who contribute their time and expertise.

Part of the Law Clinic’s student committee.