Pro Bono

Professional

All of our students are given the opportunity to volunteer for Pro Bono work. The Pro Bono Unit offers a range of activities including an in-house Advice Clinic, placement clinics, a partnership programme and a Streetlaw programme. The Pro Bono Unit web page gives further information for prospective clients including contact information.

We leave it up to you to select the programme which best suits your skills, interest and professional objectives. If you take advantage of these opportunities, you are likely to gain valuable experience in the practice of some of the skills in which you are formally assessed. Obviously you will need to do legal research before giving advice. Similarly, an opportunity to interview a real client will help to develop your interviewing skills, while giving an advice in writing will help to develop your skills in drafting and writing. You may also wish to make reference in your c.v. to the work that you have done.

Clinical Legal Education

Although the Unit provides a useful service to people in need of legal advice and assistance, its main purpose is to aid your learning. Self-evaluation is a vital part of this process. We will therefore ask you to do a few things after you have completed your participation in the programme.

The first is to complete an Evaluation Form. This asks you to think about what you have achieved, what you could have done better and what you might have done differently. The form will also help the Supervisors if asked to provide a reference.

The second is to complete a Reflective Training Log. You are expected to attend a Group Evaluation meeting with other participants to discuss in general terms your involvement in the Unit's work. Learning from the experience of others is as important as reflecting on your own work. This meeting will take place at the end of the term in which you participate in the Unit.

Apart from the obvious benefits to your main studies of practising how to apply the law in context, you are encouraged to submit an entry for the Sibel Dedezade Pro Bono Award. The Sibel Dedezade Pro Bono Prize forms the centrepiece of the CLS (GIP) Pro Bono Programme, which encourages and promotes pro bono work amongst students. The Sibel Dedezade Pro Bono Prize rewards students who have shown exemplary dedication, consistency and commitment to pro bono.

If you wish to be considered for the Sibel Dedezade prize at the end of the course for your pro bono work, it is your responsibility to complete the Entry Form and hand it in to the School Office by the closing date (announced each year) with the supporting evidence.

For further details and downloads of all forms mentioned current students should go to the dedicated pro bono pages on CitySpace.

The Advice Clinic

The Advice Clinic is open throughout the year for daytime appointments. Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) students have the opportunity to participate in the daytime sessions during Terms 1 and 2; Legal Practice Course (LPC) students have a similar opportunity in Term 3 when you have greater capacity to commit to such activities.

At the Clinic students, in pairs, have the opportunity to interview a client with a real legal problem. Within 7 days of seeing your client, you will be expected to write an initial letter giving details of the interview and the legal problems raised. After a further 14 days you will be expected to write a letter setting out your legal advice. You can only give advice after you have discussed the case with your Clinic Supervisor, who will be available at the time of the interview and on certain other agreed days. The Clinic Supervisor checks each letter before it is sent out in the names of the student advisers, endorsed by the Clinic Supervisor.

You will be given training before you meet your client and provided with a handbook covering procedures in operation at the Clinic. You must check the Pro Bono Unit notice board outside the School Office for announcements about training sessions.

At the training session your supervisor will allocate interview appointments to the trained students. You will be notified of any changes by the School Office staff through your personal e-mail address. It will be your responsibility to check your e-mail regularly for messages regarding the Clinic and to contact your supervisor if it is impossible for you to keep your appointment, or if you are running late.

Throughout the academic year the Advice Clinic is also open for evening appointments on alternate Tuesdays between 6-8pm. It is open to both BPTC and LPC students, and is an opportunity for to give free legal advice with the help of qualified solicitors from Travers Smith, a City firm of solicitors. This is an excellent opportunity to learn from working closely with practitioners.

The Partnership Programme

Under the Partnership Programme, over 20 organisations have agreed to provide opportunities for students to work with them on a voluntary basis while enrolled on the BPTC or LPC at CLS. We have agreements with a number of Law Centres and Legal Advice Centres at which the work will involve interviewing clients, case work and legal research. Other organisations, e.g. the RCJ Advice Bureau, provide advice on a variety of legal problems.

A number of the organisations are charities providing advice and assistance to specific groups of people, e.g. the Disability Law Service, the Terence Higgins Trust, Westminster Race Equality Council, Inquest and Shelter. If you volunteer to work with one of these organisations, you will be expected to have an interest in the relevant area or areas of law.

A full list of the Partners is provided at the left of this page. Click on a particular organisation to find contact details, an outline of the aims of the organisation, the training provided, the nature of the work and the commitment expected of the volunteers.

Please return a Partnership Form, available on CitySpace, to the School office when you have been accepted as a volunteer.
Placement clinics

You can work with a variety of host organisations helping them to provide legal services to the community. The work is predominantly within the not-for-profit sector. Details of the placement clinics are set out on the Pro Bono Unit web page.

Streetlaw

This programme provides rights and responsibilities awareness training for community groups through legal literacy projects and presentations. Community groups decide what information they would like you, the students, to prepare. You then research and prepare material on a wide range of legal issues, as requested by the community client group, under supervision. You then deliver interactive sessions in the community client group. You will gain experience in legal research, presentation, time-management and communication skills. Last academic year saw students involved with a project for a youth group based near Waterloo. The students wrote and delivered interactive learning sessions on subjects as varied as 'Djing - the legal aspects' and Anti Social Behaviour. Students involved gained experience in legal research, presentation, time-management and communication skills.

How to get involved

City Law School students interested in participating in one of our programmes need to apply using our Standard Application Form. Please ensure that you complete the Application Form and hand it into the School Office by the closing date indicated.

Current students can also find out more about the range of programmes on offer and how to be involved by checking the Pro Bono pages on CitySpace which provide up to date information on new opportunities, valuable pro bono resources and links to enable you to explore further. You will also find a complete list of the Partnership organisations, together with full details of their aims, the training provided, the nature of the work and commitment expected of the volunteers.

If you wish to be considered for the Sibel Dedezade prize at the end of the course for your pro bono work, it is your responsibility to complete the entry form, available on CitySpace, and hand it in to the School Office no later than the closing date given with the supporting evidence.