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