LW6051 - Student Law office

This module will draw on the knowledge and understanding of legal subjects and legal methods you have encountered in previous levels. You will learn through working on your client cases, approaching this as lawyers would in practice but carrying out all work under close supervision of a legally qualified member of staff. Alternatively, you may undertake policy work conducting practical research for a third party, either an external organisation or staff researching in a Higher Education Institution, with the aim of influencing policy and/or law reform. You will have been prepared for this method of learning through problem based and enquiry based learning modules in years 1 and 2. You will work collaboratively and independently to identify and research your client’s legal problems and take any necessary steps to progress the case. You will conduct your work in the Student Law Office under supervision of qualified members of staff and will maintain files and comply with the administrative, ethical and professional conduct requirements for legal practice.

You will be required to manage your time effectively so that you can conduct the work your case files promptly. You will benefit from a high staff to students ratio, working in a small groups (known as firms) of 6-8 students, with one main supervisor throughout the year, generally specialising in a particular area of work. There will be an initial training programme, to develop appropriate levels of skills to engage in live client work. This will utilise a range of experiential teaching methods. Independent learning will centre on you identifying clients’ needs and goals, investigating the facts and legal issues, and providing practical legal advice. Throughout the module you will receive feedback from your supervisor on your performance, through oral and written feedback on the work you prepare on client cases and for firm meetings. That feedback process is formalised both through the weekly firm meetings (group work) discussion and reflection, and through the keeping of a portfolio with all drafts of work and of feedback.

This module provides a high level of personal support from your supervisor, who will meet with you and your ‘firm’ regularly, and will provide formative feedback throughout the module, through initial induction, orientation and skills training using experiential methods such as role play, and then through the client-based legal/policy work you will carry out under their supervision. You will also be able to access peer support through close working with other students within the module. As well as ongoing formative feedback from your supervisor throughout the module on your work, performance, and your ability to develop reflective skills, you will have a one to one review meeting with your supervisor specifically to provide feedback and to encourage you to reflect on your own performance to date. The module has an eLP site which gives guidance on legal skills, reflection and assessment in the module. There are regular meetings between supervisors and firm representatives to deal with any issues and the module tutor can be contacted in addition to your supervisor in respect of any problems. The Student Law Office Administration team is responsible for the non-academic administration of the module. They and the Module tutor will contact you throughout the duration of your module with assignment hand-in dates and other issues.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding: At the end of the module you will have: • Developed knowledge and understanding of how the substantive law operates in the context of practice and recognise ambiguity and deal with uncertainty of the law in a practical context. Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities: In a clinical context, you will develop the skills to: • Be able to conduct enquiries both in a practice and substantive law context and understand the importance of evidence in the construction of arguments. • Communicate orally or in writing ideas, information problems and solutions to specialist and non – specialist audiences. • To consolidate and apply knowledge and understanding to complex actual or hypothetical legal problems and to further extend understanding so as to find solutions and construct sustainable and evidenced arguments in the conduct of a legal case or project. • To conduct self –directed research including accurate identification of issues which require researching, retrieval and evaluation of accurate, current and relevant information from a range of appropriate sources including primary sources. Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA): • To exercise initiative, self-manage and exercise judgement in a professional and ethical manner and to reflect on your personal and professional development . • To display the attitudes and skills to engage and work constructively and sensitively in multicultural environments and teams.

Your performance in relation to your clinic work will be assessed through continuous assessment, and with reference to the portfolio you will submit at the end of the module, incorporating your key pieces of work. The portfolio will include work evidencing that you have developed an understanding of the reflective skills required in professional practice and a report which takes an aspect of the legal practice experience and critically examines the context in which this has occurred.. Formative assessment – your supervisor will provide on going feedback on the work such as practical research reports and letters you produce in relation to your clinical experience, and you will be provided with appropriate written or oral feedback (as appropriate), as part of your reflective development. There will be a structured programme of support for the contextual report in parallel with firm supervision.

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The award-winning Student Law Office is an in-house law centre within the University, with state of the art facilities. This internationally respected teaching programme provides a unique opportunity for students to develop their legal skills within an authentic practice environment, and includes work on real cases for the public under the supervision of practitioner members of staff, enabling you to develop key employability skills. Student satisfaction rates for this module are very high, with students able to develop personally, as well as professionally and academically. Northumbria University was awarded the prestigious Queens Anniversary Prize , for the exceptional work of its Student Law Office. The prize , the highest form of national recognition open to a UK academic institution, was awarded in recognition of work judged to be of outstanding excellence and with positive impact, and for having: “A university law clinic making a distinctive contribution to the needs of the local community and to legal education.”