Law Clinic Feedback
17th January 2011
Renfrewshire Law Centre is pleased to report student feedback from the first crop of student advisors to particpate in the RLC/UWS joint law clinic venture, Law Wise, as originally publisged on the Law Clinic website.
Law Wise Law Clinic began in September 2010 and had its official launch on 15 October 2010. We were honoured to have Professor Seamus McDaid (Principal and Vice Chancellor of University of the West of Scotland) Hugh Henry MSP, Professor Donald Nicolson (Director of University of Strathclyde Law Clinic) and Mungo Bovey QC speak at the launch. The event was a huge success and it was really exciting to see how much enthusiasm and support Law Wise had at such an early stage.
We had 25 students apply to be a part of the law clinic and from this we selected 12 students to be the first student advisors. The students were selected by way of an interview with the Law Clinic Manager, Briony Cullin, the Academic Director, Dale McFadzean and UWS lecturer Stacey Lees. All 12 students have shown real eagerness and dedication to the law clinic. They received academic credit for their participation in the law clinic and have all committed to continuing with the law clinic as student advisors in Trimester 2 on a purely voluntary basis.
The student advisors were inducted into the law clinic by attending lectures on topics including office procedures, interviewing, letter writing and ethics. It is proposed that in the future, these induction lectures will be delivered by a one-day intensive induction into the law clinic which will also allow the students to be formally introduced to the law clinic base at Renfrewshire Law Centre (RLC), the staff of the law clinic and the staff of RLC.
Renfrewshire Law Centre holds a drop-in advice surgery for clients who need legal advice. This surgery is available Monday – Thursday afternoons. The student advisors sat-in on appointments with RLC solicitors to learn interviewing skills and technique, and over the trimester, students began conducting the interviews under supervision of the solicitor. In the period from September to December, student advisors participated in 108 client interviews at 34 drop-in advice surgeries. Students were exposed to a wide range of matters, the predominant matters being employment and housing issues.
In addition to participating in client interviews, students were also offered the option of attending the Paisley Sheriff Court to observe the Heritable Court, as well as attend legal conferences on various topics to encourage networking and understanding of a wide range of legal issues. More of these types of activities are planned for the future.
Law Wise Law Clinic is planning on inducting another 12 students in trimester 2 who will join the existing student advisor teams.
Some student comments about their participation in the law clinic module:
“I think the opportunity to learn within a professional environment has been very enjoyable. I have also enjoyed having the opportunity to work on real life cases rather than those created by a lecturer. It has provided me with a further insight into working in the legal profession and confirmed my career choice.”
“I feel more positive after undertaking this work experience in the law Centre. By having the freedom to interview clients I feel that in the future I have more confidence when speaking to clients.”
“Whilst also being able to gain experience from the Law Wise Law Clinic on how it operates and helping improve my personal skills, I have also thoroughly enjoyed my participation as a student advisor at the Law Clinic and have found this to be an invaluable experience to truly understand what is required to work in a legal profession.”
“I have enjoyed the practical experience working with clients. I have learnt and developed skills that I would not have been able to during lectures and tutorials. I have also enjoyed providing assistance to clients accessing the legal resources to enforce their rights, which they would otherwise have been unable to do so without the aid of the clinic.”
“Most of us don’t get the opportunity to talk to actual lawyers very often, especially not on an informal basis. This is not only valuable when it comes to legal knowledge or developing skills in that area, but also in respect to evaluating career choices and becoming aware of one’s prospects in the employment market. My group also particularly enjoyed sitting in at court proceedings. This is something we would have liked to do more often, especially if we could have observed an entire case from the beginning to end.”
“The law clinic has been the most valuable experience I have ever had the opportunity of participating in at university. The practical experience which I have been given and the skills which I have learned will stand me in good stead for pursuing a career in law. All the staff at the law centre have made me feel very welcome, which further enhanced the joy of what I have been able to learn. They were all approachable, and answered any question whether simple or complex. I hope that I can continue at the law clinic for a long time!”
“Working at the Law Clinic has provided me with real life experience which all employers look for. Many students are graduating without any experience in the field so this will provide me with an extra boost for when I apply for employment.”
“I have enjoyed myself greatly working as part of the law clinic. The whole experience did not feel like work any task given to my group was a pleasure and cases given to us.”
“I have enjoyed the variation of legal issues we had to research. No one day is the same in a legal workplace and this is what I liked the most. Issues ranged from employment law to succession and this challenged me as I learnt something new each week.”