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.

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.