1. Advise and provide solution or solutions to problems in complex and unpredictable situations
2. Reflect upon your performance and implement strategies to improve your performance
3. Evidence the independent learning and research and enquiry required to advance your knowledge and understanding tailored to a professional environment
4. Comply with applicable standards of professional conduct and client care requirements to show a sound appreciation of the constraints on and expectations of a university based legal service provider
5. Communicate information and provide solutions to specialist and non-specialist audiences
6. Demonstrate an appropriate standard of professional behaviours relating to attendance, punctuality, commitment, enthusiasm and initiative

The assessments for this module reflect the range of tasks that are required as part of the duties as a legal advisor in the Legal Advice Clinic. With the exception of the reflective journals, all elements of assessed work will arise in the course of students performing duties in the clinic.

Case note and letter of advice are evidence of the work done providing legal services to the community reflecting subject knowledge, research skills and professional behaviours (LOs 1 3 and 5).

The research task record is a short document which captures the strategies and sources employed in order to give legal advice (LO3).

The Blog is a short piece of writing on a legal topic which is aimed at a generalist audience to provide information to potential clients (LO 5).

This module includes an element of assessment of pervasive professional behaviours which will help prepare students for the workplace (LO 6).

The reflective journals require students to reflect on the range of knowledges and skills they have acquired as a result of working at the Legal Advice Clinic (LO 2 and 4).

This module involves students working to assist members of the local community with the provision of legal advice. To participate, students will be trained in a range of practical legal skills including interview techniques, letter writing, and the professional requirements contained in the legal advice clinic’s office manual. They will also be received subject specific training on matters such as family law and employment law as well as professional conduct and ethics.

Students will carry out guided research on relevant legal issues using the online resources to which the University already subscribes. Students will reflect on the research and its application to the problem in meetings with their supervisors, which take place before and after client meetings.

Students will meet with clients either face to face or online, conduct interviews to elicit information about the problems, allowing them to draft letters of advice which accurately reflect the law but be written in a way that is intelligible to the clients.

The students will also be able to enhance their employability, by developing skills in a practical and relevant way to suit the needs of the client base.

Training sessions, covering an induction to the legal advice clinic's procedures, practical research, interviewing and drafting will form part of the teaching strategy. The bulk of the contact time will be spent by students preparing for client meetings, interviewing clients and in drafting letters of advice.

Independent study will be split between:

Time studying professional conduct and using a variety of methods to learn the skills needed for clinic: and

Research for client meetings and drafting letters of advice

Reviewing news articles in order to prepare blogs to market clinic

Finch and Fafinski, Employability skills for Law Students OUP 2014

It is not possible to provide other texts in light of the nature of the module. Students will be expected to review texts such as Practical Law but much will be dependent upon the nature of the client’s complaint

Law works
Advice UK
Clinic Office with PCs and Laptops for offsite clinics
Access to Practical Law and Lexis PCL

Students will be required to sign a contract setting out what they are required to do whilst working for clinic including a confidentiality clause. There will also be a selection procedure in place

The Legal Advice Clinic is a module in which you will be trained to put the law into practice. You will be providing free legal advice to members of the public and certain sectors of the local community, supervised by a qualified solicitor. The Legal Advice Clinic is designed to give you a real-life experience from which you can compare, contrast and critically examine the role of law, lawyers and the legal process, as well as the wider context of human dynamics in practice and legal ethics. The Legal Advice Clinic operates in various locations including a local prison and the Court as well as offering an online service via Microsoft Teams.