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.

The Scottish Law Commission and Law Commission published their recommendations on simplifying the law on consumer remedies for faulty goods.

As reported on 18th May 2009, the Law Clinic took part a joint consultation by the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission. This response was founded upon the Law Clinic’s considerable experience in consumer cases involving faulty goods.

The Law Commission and Scottish Law Comission has quoted the Law Clinic’s response on three occasions. This report can be read here.

University of Strathclyde Law Clinic shortlisted for Community Champion Public Service Team Award

The University of Strathclyde Law Clinic was last week recognised as a finalist in the Glasgow Community Champion Awards hosted by the Evening Times. This recognition event brings together Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Community Planning Partnership, Strathclyde Fire & Rescue, Strathclyde Police and the Evening Times to celebrate the selfless efforts of local heroes.

Attended by around 200 people, the Community Champions ceremony took place in the Partick Burgh Halls last Thursday (28 May 2009) where the Law Clinic was nominated for the Public Service Team award and was one of three finalists in the Central and West region.

The awards recognise the contribution of local individuals and organisations to their local community. For such a large area, being one of only three finalists is a great achievement for the Law Clinic and demonstrates that the work our student advisors carry out, providing free legal advice and representation to individuals most in need, is having a significant impact in the Glasgow area.

The nomination for this local award recognising the tireless efforts of the Law Clinic follows national success at the LawWorks & Attorney General Awards in March, where the Law Clinic was awarded the Best Contribution by a Law School to pro-bono legal work in the UK.

The Law Clinic recently took part in a joint consultation by the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission. Having had considerable experience over the last five or so years in consumer cases involving faulty goods, four Clinic students (Felix Boon, Neil Campbell, Scott McMaster, and Katy McSkimming) wrote a response to the consultation paper on behalf of the Clinic. This was referred to frequently in the summary of responses to the Law Commissions’ consultation and on two occasions the Law Clinic’s submission were directly quoted (see atwww.scotlawcom.gov.uk and www.lawcom.gov.uk).

We are extremely pleased that our views and contributions may help law reform in this area. Law reform is something that the Law Clinic is keen to be involved in, seeing its role not solely as a provider of legal advice and representation, but also as a proactive organisation that helps improve access to justice by every possible means, including being active in law reform.

The summary of responses can be accessed athttp://www.scotlawcom.gov.uk/downloads/dps/dp139_responses_summary.pdf

University of Strathclyde Law School wins Best Contribution by a Law School award for the work of the Law Clinic.

The University of Strathclyde has become the first university in Scotland to win a prestigious award for widening access to legal services.

Strathclyde Law School won the Best Contribution by a Law School award in the LawWorks & Attorney General Student Awards.

The University won its award for the work of its Law Clinic, which offers legal advice to members of the public who do not qualify for Legal Aid but still cannot afford professional fees.

The Law Clinic is the only service of its kind in Scotland and Strathclyde is the first Scottish university to win in the LawWorks & Attorney General Student Awards. Law schools in Scotland and Northern Ireland were invited to enter the awards for the first time this year.

Nine students involved in the Law Clinic were at the awards ceremony, along with Professor Donald Nicolson, founder and chairman of the Clinic. They were presented with their trophy in a ceremony at the House of Lords in Westminster.

Lord Hope of Craighead, Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde, also attended to offer his support. Competition judges described Strathclyde’s contribution to the awards as “a watershed for student pro bono activity in Scotland; long overlooked and now well and truly centre stage.”

Professor Nicolson said: “The Clinic not only provides an invaluable service to the public, by fulfilling unmet need in legal advice. It also gives law students essential, practical experience of the legal profession.

“The Law Clinic has proved to be a hugely successful venture and this award is a great endorsement of our students’ achievements. We look forward to continuing to build on these successes.”

One of the students, Stuart Kelly, said: “It’s a great honour to win this award and to be given commendation by the competition judges. We were told that, as the only law clinic in Scotland, we were serving not just a community but a country and that we were a dynamic group who could help to develop more of a pro bono culture in Scotland.

“We won’t be resting on our laurels and will be working to ensure we strengthen the Law Clinic further.”

The awards, organised by legal charity LawWorks and endorsed by Attorney General Baroness Scotland QC, recognise the contribution of law students to pro bono work- free legal services performed by lawyers for people who have difficulty affording fees.

Strathclyde was also nominated in the Best Team of Students category and for the Best Contribution by an Individual Student- for Alasdair Stewart, Baroness Scotland said: “I am both proud and delighted to be part of this celebration which acknowledges the fine achievements of lawyers who are embarking on their legal career.

“I believe the desire to undertake pro bono work is inherent in every good lawyer; it is part of their DNA. I applaud the ingenuity, passion and commitment of all the winners, and all of the other nominees who have worked tirelessly to keep pro bono work at the very heart of our profession.”

The Attorney General presented the awards alongside LawWorks’ Chairman, Paul Newdick, and Chief Executive, Rebecca Hilsenrath, along with LexisNexis’ Managing Director, Josh Bottomley.

The event was sponsored by legal publisher and information supplier LexisNexis.

Youngest lay representatives in Scotland to win a proof in the Sheriff Court.

On 10 March 2009, Emma Boffey and Mhairi Alexander successfully represented a Law Clinic client in a Small Claims Action, heard in Glasgow Sheriff Court. The pursuer (the client) had raised an action for payment, to recover her tenancy deposit which she claimed had been unlawfully retained by her landlord. The defender (the landlord) maintained that he had lawfully retained the deposit and alleged that the client had damaged the property.

The case centred around the factual and legal interpretation of the concept of “fair wear and tear” – if any damage was present in the flat after the tenancy came to an end, did it constitute unlawful damage, or did it fall to fair wear and tear, thereby discharging the client from further liability?

Negotiations proved unsuccessful and the case called for a full hearing with evidence before Sheriff Bowman – this entailed leading evidence from the client herself, and a witness, who had professionally cleaned the carpets in the flat on two occasions throughout the tenancy. In addition, the advisors were responsible for preparation of all productions, legal submissions and cross examination of the defender.

Ultimately, Sheriff Bowman found for the pursuer and awarded decree for the sum of £127.79 – perhaps a small amount to some, but nonetheless this case proves that without the assistance of the Law Clinic in terms of advice and indeed, representation, the client would have been unable to recover this sum she was due.

In succeeding in this case, Emma and Mhairi become the two youngest lay representatives in Scotland to have conducted, and won, a proof in the Sheriff Court.