A service which provides law students with experience on actual cases while making a genuine difference to the local community has been nominated for a national accolade.
The Plymouth Law Clinic, coordinated by the Law School at the University of Plymouth, runs a range of pro bono projects and has worked within the region of 200 clients in the South West over the past year.
Now it has been shortlisted in the Best Contribution by a Law School category of the LawWorks and Attorney General Student Awards 2017.
The Awards are run by LawWorks with the support of the Attorney General, Jeremy Wright QC MP, and recognise outstanding pro bono work carried out by students and law schools across the UK. The Attorney General will present the awards to the winning students during a ceremony attended by leading legal figures and politicians in the House of Commons on Wednesday 26 April.
Rosie Brennan, Director of the Plymouth Law Clinic, said:
“The Law Clinic has helped many people gain access to legal information and advice. It has provided our students with invaluable hands-on experience and we are extremely proud of their ongoing efforts to both expand their own knowledge, and use it to give something back to the local community.”
The Plymouth Law Clinic is run by students under the supervision of staff and practitioners, offering advice in an area of the country which continues to suffer high levels of deprivation and poverty.
There is a considerable focus on social welfare law, alongside a thriving Business Start-Ups and Entrepreneurship hub which increasingly reaches out to assist community groups developing small business initiatives, as well helping student entrepreneurs and existing small businesses.
It also provides key client-facing services in employment and family law, refugee family reunion and tenancy advice, and works in close partnership with organisations including Plymouth City Council, the British Red Cross, Citizens Advice and local businesses.
Students participating in the project regularly cite their work with the Law Clinic as being instrumental in helping them to secure employment, while clients praise the professionalism of the students and the high quality of the advice they provide.
