In order to ensure that the Clinic can run at full capacity during the university holiday period, we hire a number of part time ‘Summer Students’ to staff the Clinic. These students are typically funded through one of our partnerships or by one of the law firms that support the Clinic. This year we have been able to hire ten summer students, thanks in part to the support of the Refugee Survival Trust, David Stirling and the Scottish Women’s Right Centre.

In the sixth of a series of articles written by our Summer Students, Jennifer Rowlinson describes a typical day.

My morning always starts with planning the day ahead and sifting through my emails to arrange the priority case work. At present, I have a number of employment cases which are always subject to strict time rules. One of my cases in particular has involved a lot of correspondence with the Tribunal so I have had numerous talks with the client and late working hours to ensure everything is sent away on time. On these days it is definitely all systems go.

As well as employment cases, I have a few matters which are going to small claims court. I am involved in drafting the appropriate court documents, creating the inventory of productions and drafting submissions and witness questions.

As a Firm Co-ordinator, my role over summer has consisted of speaking to current members to see who is staying with us and who is leaving. I have re-allocated cases where people have left and I have also been reviewing cases which are in my firm to keep the files up to date.

Finally, I have the additional role of helping to run the pilot for the new Foodbanks and Benefits project. On Wednesdays I head down to Lodging House Mission with the aim of obtaining new clients. The aim of the project is to help some of the most vulnerable groups in society so we can be dealing with benefits claims or helping clients to find a home. When I am not at LHM, I am working on the administrative side. My role is to draft posters, creating forms and recruitment for the project and liaise with project members.

This is my second year as a summer student and just like last year, it has been a great experience. No two days in the clinic are the same and I like that I am able to spend the summer helping people with their legal problems as well setting up another great Law Clinic project.

In order to ensure that the Clinic can run at full capacity during the university holiday period, we hire a number of part time ‘Summer Students’ to staff the Clinic. These students are typically funded through one of our partnerships or by one of the law firms that support the Clinic. This year we have been able to hire ten summer students, thanks in part to the support of the Refugee Survival Trust, David Stirling and the Scottish Women’s Right Centre.

In the fifth of a series of articles written by our Summer Students, Ben Brown describes a typical day.

Being a summer case worker and project manager of the Online Project at the same time, it can be challenging trying to balance all of your commitments, but it is immensely satisfying at the same time.

As Online Project coordinator it is my responsibility to ensure that all online case enquiries are distributed among the summer advisors and are dealt with as efficiently as possible.  The response timescale for these enquiries is quite tight as we aim to respond within ten days.  We carry out the research and then ask a supervisor to check it. I am really proud to be responsible for the Online Project, it lets us help people who might not be able to come to the Clinic by giving them the legal help and information they need.

Alongside responding to online enquiries, I have spent the summer dealing with a wide range of issues, including employment rights and consumer issues.  For me, the opportunity to work independently but at the same time be part of a larger team has been an excellent learning curve.

Continuing the Clinic’s work over summer is an honour and a pleasure. I would recommend it to any Clinic member.

Ben Brown

In order to ensure that the Clinic can run at full capacity during the university holiday period, we hire a number of part time ‘Summer Students’ to staff the Clinic. These students are typically funded through one of our partnerships or by one of the law firms that support of the Clinic. This year we have been able to hire ten summer students, thanks in part to the support the Refugee Survival Trust, David Stirling and the Scottish Women’s Right Centre.

In the fourth of a series of articles written by our Summer Students, Miranda Hughes describes a typical day.

I am working as a summer student for the Immigration Unit, a project that works on referrals from the Scottish Refugee Council with individuals who have exhausted the asylum process. This work can be emotionally draining at times but is also incredibly rewarding. It is also great to be part of a project that, driven by Barbara Coll’s passion and expertise, has grown so much over the past year. This summer we have been reviewing all referrals made to the unit over the last year, developing the Asylum Process handbook which provides key information to the students in the unit and helping to compile a report to provide to the SRC. I truly feel like I learn something new every day.

This morning, however, my day started on a completely different track as one of my cases had a proof scheduled. I spent most of yesterday trying to negotiate a settlement with the solicitor from the other side and at 6.30pm we reached an agreement that both clients were happy with. However, neither side were willing to negotiate on expenses so this was to be a decided by the judge. Turning up with my co-advisor this morning I felt nervous and excited in equal measures but all our hard work paid off when the judge sided with our client and did not award expenses.

Walking back up to the Law Clinic, I felt so pleased we had managed to achieve that success for our client and was excited to go back and share the news with my fellow summer students. We are all so supportive of each other’s successes and ready to step in for client meetings or help each other out with casework; it’s a great environment to be a part of.

Once back, I began compiling a schedule of loss for one of my employment cases that is going to a full hearing in September. Having not done any maths since I was 15, it can be testing at times, but it only goes to show how fantastically varied the work is in the Law Clinic.

In order to ensure that the Clinic can run at full capacity during the university holiday period, we hire a number of part time ‘Summer Students’ to staff the Clinic. These students are typically funded through one of our partnerships or by one of the law firms that support the Clinic. This year we have been able to hire ten summer students, thanks in part to the support of the Refugee Survival Trust, David Stirling and the Scottish Women’s Right Centre.

In the third of a series of articles written by our Summer Students, Stacey Martin describes a typical day.

As a summer student this year, I have been focussed on developing one of the Clinic’s newest projects: the Small Business Law Unit (SBLU). This aims to help small businesses, individuals looking to start up a business, social enterprises, and charities with legal issues they may encounter. Having worked to establish the project last year, it has been both exciting and rewarding for me to assist in furthering the project.

Since the SBLU is new, it requires a lot of development. Therefore, there is rarely a typical day for me as a summer student.  I regularly meet with the Project Manager of the SBLU, Megan McCulloch, to discuss aims for the year ahead and to identify tasks that still need done.

So far my work has included regularly communicating with other business organisations and working with them to identify individuals or businesses who may benefit from our services as well as preparation for the Business Law Bootcamp which took place in June.

In order to prepare for taking clients on during the SBLU’s pilot stage, I have also drafted many documents for clients (e.g. disclaimers, information sheets, etc.) in addition to training materials and a handbook for students.

Finally, although I have been concentrating on the SBLU this summer, I remain actively involved in many cases which has involved making many phonecalls over this summer and drafting letters of advice. Additionally, I regularly take on cases from the Online Project which involves extensive research into various legal areas in addition to attending Initial Advice Clinics.

Stacey Martin

In order to ensure that the Clinic can run at full capacity during the university holiday period, we hire a number of part time ‘Summer Students’ to staff the Clinic. These students are typically funded through one of our partnerships or by one of the law firms that support the Clinic. This year we have been able to hire ten summer students, thanks in part to the support of the Refugee Survival Trust, David Stirling and the Scottish Women’s Right Centre.

In the second of a series of articles written by our Summer Students, Kirstie Smith describes a typical day.

I have been lucky enough this summer to be involved in the brilliant work carried out by the Immigration Unit. The Unit is tasked with the important and, at times, tough job of helping destitute asylum seekers who have exhausted almost every avenue in attempting to obtain refugee status. As a result, the majority of individuals the Immigration Unit helps are unfortunately in a ‘last resort’ situation. Ultimately, we help destitute asylum seekers prepare a fresh, and often final, claim for asylum.

The summer months are always the time to catch up on tasks which cannot be completed thanks to a hectic term time. This summer these tasks have included carrying out case reviews of all the assessments carried out over the past two years as well as editing the Asylum Process Summary Handbook. It is vital that there are students working on these tasks throughout the summer months to ensure that the Unit can operate effectively during term time.

I feel I have learnt a lot during the initial assessments with asylum seekers who have been referred to the Unit by the Scottish Refugee Council. The assessments provide a real insight into the struggles of an asylum seeker in the UK. Working with Barbara Coll, who has vast experience in immigration law and humanitarian work, has been invaluable and the way she helps clients is truly admirable.

Working as a summer student has allowed me to pick up practical experience in a unique area of law, hopefully make a difference to individuals’ asylum claims and allowed me to help to progress the vital work of the Immigration Unit.

Kirstie Smith

In order to ensure that the Clinic can run at full capacity during the university holiday period, we hire a number of part time ‘Summer Students’ to staff the Clinic. These students are often funded through one of our partnerships or by one of the law firms that support the Clinic. This year we have been able to hire ten summer students, thanks in part to the support of the Refugee Survival Trust, David Stirling and the Scottish Women’s Right Centre.

In the first of a series of articles written by our Summer Students, Ewan Wilson describes a typical day.

Working as a Law Clinic Summer Student is interesting because the work varies enormously. This morning I found myself making calls to clients or to representatives acting for other parties before drafting letters of advice.

Afterwards, it was time to work on a case for our Online Project. This work is slightly different as it usually involves having to do some research, complete an advice form and have this sent to a supervisor to be checked under a tighter timescale. In the afternoon I went to Glasgow’s Lodging House Mission to offer legal advice. This was the second time we had gone to the LHM as part of our new Benefits project. The aim of this initiative is to give support to people trying to claim benefits or face sanctions. This is a project in its infancy however we were able to offer advice and took on a new client.

Upon returning to the Law Clinic I found myself drafting a schedule of loss for an Employment Tribunal, followed by some work on an ‘Enforcement Pack’ to help advisors working on tenancy deposit scheme cases.

Finally, it was time to look over our notes for a small claims hearing set to call at the end of the week and get ready to go again tomorrow…

Ewan Wilson