Small victories show students can make a big difference

Published on Sunday 29 November 2009 22:44

CHRISTOPHER Mackie visits a law clinic run by Strathclyde University volunteers

ON A large whiteboard in a cramped office teeming with files and legal books is a list of recent case wins written with a large blue felt-tip pen. The numbers aren't big – 100 here, 1,500 there – but each one represents a concrete success for the team of volunteers who enthusiastically man Strathclyde University's award-winning Law Clinic.

"The Hub", as it's known, is crammed with laughing students, and, as it is located right in the heart of the university's law school, more walk past on the way to and from classes, smiling a "hello" as they pass.

Just along the corridor is the clinic's administrative centre, an even smaller, windowless space, filled with more books, journals and documents.

"They are waiting to be filed," says Scott McMaster, the clinic's student director, pointing to the folders piled up on the floor. "I promise."

Next door is a meeting room where the clients, from all across Glasgow, are brought to discuss their cases. For many, the clinic is the last stop in a long legal journey that has taken them from agency to agency, lawyer to lawyer, in the search for some assistance.

"When they come to us, you feel that you need to do something," says Scott, who is in his diploma year at the university. "These people who have been passed from pillar to post – they have referral fatigue. Sometimes we are the last resort for people, but nine times out of ten we can do something for them, or know somebody that can."

Now entering its sixth year, the Strathclyde clinic was established by Professor Donald Nicholson and is staffed and run by a group of 196 students, selected by application and interview to weed out so-called "CV builders" keen simply to impress the HR managers of commercial firms in their quest for a traineeship.

The recruitment intake this year was 40 students, for which 80 were interviewed and 50 sifted out before that stage.

The clinic's clients are seen on a first-come, first-served basis and not prioritised in terms of apparent importance or monetary value of the claim. But there are strict eligibility criteria to avoid people who could afford legal fees, or might be able to get financial help elsewhere.

The clinic does not explicitly advertise its services ("we would be overrun, to be honest," says Scott), but the group has begun advertising its drop-in initial advice sessions, which offer help to local people and are manned voluntarily by qualified solicitors.

The caseload the students take on is not trivial. They deal with housing law, eviction actions and landlord disputes as well as consumer law, and an increasing number of employment cases, with unfair dismissals particularly frequent at present. A month ago, they won an employment dispute from which the client received a settlement of 10,000.

There are, however, areas they do not cover. Some cases are deemed too sensitive or high risk to be put in the hands of such inexperienced practitioners, even under the supervision of qualified lawyers. Child custody actions are outwith their remit, as are criminal cases, though this is mainly because legal aid is available.

The group is also wary of treading on the toes of other pro-bono organisations operating in the city, mindful of the futility of duplication of effort in an area in which resources are too scarce to chase the same clients.

"We like to be complementary to the existing legal services out there, and if we are doing something they are doing, it can affect their applications for funding," says Scott.

The group seem fiercely proud of their underdog spirit, one that has gradually seen them win the admiration of legal peers across Scotland.

"When I first started, people didn't have much respect for us," explains Scott. "They were of the opinion that, as students, we didn't know what we were doing. As the years have passed, people have started to take notice, and our reputation has grown. People have underestimated us – and they have done so at their peril!"

Sheriffs now routinely refer confused party litigants to their door, and their ability to help guide people through a confusing legal system has met a warm welcome from some sitting on the bench.

And the popularity of their services seems to be growing as their reputation increases. Another committee member, Paman Singh, admits that they had to impose a moratorium on new cases over the summer: "We were snowed under and had to have a couple of months when we just couldn't take anybody new."

The workload could be increased by greater supervision, but money is tight and the 200 students working in the clinic are overseen by three part-time, non-practising solicitors – offering the time equivalent of just one full-time lawyer. This is provided by the university alongside accommodation and the cost of running an office. Other funding comes from sponsorship from firms such as McGrigors, DLA Piper, Simpson & Marwick and Irwin Mitchell, and there are even donations from grateful clients.

But despite the funding challenges, there are greater ambitions for the service. They took on 152 cases in 2008-9 – 32 more than the previous year – and at the launch of this year's programme the team unveiled new initiatives to broaden their reach into the community.

Among these is a scheme to offer employment advice presentations to prisoners, and a commitment to move outwith the Glasgow area for the first time and set up an outreach centre in Greenock.

There are also plans to run street law sessions and consumer dispute workshops on how to make complaints. The university intends to set up a "clinical" LLB course based on the ethos of the clinic.

Members insist they are not overreaching: "We feel these are things that need to be done in the community," Scott says, pointing to the opportunities outreach events give the younger members of the clinic to get involved. For Prof Nicholson, the ambition is even greater.

He set up the clinic in the image of similar projects he had previously in Cape Town and Bristol, and hopes that the clinic's success will inspire other law schools to follow his lead. Some have visited to see how things are run, but few have followed that up with concrete action.

"If every law school had a clinic, suitably funded, we could resolve that middle-income resource gap," he says. "It doesn't take, in the grand scheme of things, a great deal of money – compared with the millions poured into legal aid."

He goes on: "Scotland is just waking up to the importance of pro-bono. The argument we would make is, as a professional, without a commitment to help those who can't pay, you are simply a tradesperson or business person."

But he senses a growing willingness for projects like his to be supported by the legal community as it gradually realises the importance of corporate social responsibility.

"There is a zeitgeist," he insists. "You have new generations moving through and partners are having to take notice. In ten years' time, it will be standard. We are creating a new type of graduate that sees this as integral to what they do as lawyers."

Scott and Paman are two such young lawyers. Knocked by the jobs crisis enveloping graduates, they admit that students are beginning to ask themselves what kind of legal sector they want to work in when they qualify.

Next year, Paman will study for a masters and Scott will join a large commercial firm in Edinburgh, buoyed by their insistence that he explore the possibilities of expanding the practice's CSR offering. They both intend to return to the clinic as an alumni, as many of their past volunteers have begun to.

"I was just sort of floating through my degree, doing what I needed to do, and then I joined the clinic," Paman says. "It really focuses you and makes you realise what a contribution you can make."