Manchester
Pro bono
The best way to learn about the law is to put your skills into practice. And nowhere offers more opportunities to get involved than we do at The College of Law. During your course you’ll have the chance to hone your legal skills, gain hands-on experience and improve your career prospects through all kinds of curriculum related activities.
All work undertaken is fully supervised by qualified lawyers and many projects are run in conjunction with external practitioners, so it is also a great opportunity to network and extend your legal skills.
College of Law projects have won major national pro bono awards including a number of the Attorney General’s Pro Bono Awards. If you are thinking of studying with us and have further questions about pro bono after reading the information below, please e-mail paul.roebuck@lawcol.co.uk. If you are a current student, please access the pro bono pages for Manchester on the 'My Centre' tab of Elite.
Here are just some of the opportunities that are on offer at our Manchester centre:
Legal Advice Centre (LAC)
Streetlaw programme
National Centre for Domestic Violence (NCDV)
Judicial hadowing
INTERIGHTS
Personal Support Unit (PSU)
Big Issue in the north
Small business legal advice
Legal Advice Centre (LAC)
The LAC provides free, preliminary legal advice to the public, on a wide variety of issues. You will interview a client and produce an advice letter, carefully supervised throughout.
Students interview clients in pairs to obtain details of the case and then work together to produce a letter of advice. You gain interviewing, drafting and file management skills through this hands-on experience.
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Streetlaw programme
Streetlaw is a community legal education scheme which raises awareness of legal rights and responsibilities within the community by providing workshops on various legal topics. Individual organisations choose the topic for their workshop, often in areas of law such as Human Rights, Police Powers, Criminal Law and Consumer Law.
You work in a team of students to produce an interactive workshop on a legal topic. Skills acquired include team work, research practice and presentation/communication techniques.
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National Centre for Domestic Violence (NCDV)
NCDV helps people obtain injunctions against someone who is abusing or harassing them. You will interview clients over the telephone and draft the witness statement they will rely on in court to obtain an injunction. If the case is to be heard in a Manchester court you will have the opportunity to accompany them as a McKenzie Friend, and to advocate for them in court.
There is a compulsory two-day training course which will introduce you to the issues surrounding domestic abuse and equip you to confidently interview vulnerable clients and draft witness statements.
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Judicial Shadowing
We currently offer shadowing opportunities in the Asylum & Immigration Tribunal, the Coroner's Court, two County Courts and a Crown Court.
You will shadow a judge for a day, speaking to them about the cases they have listed for that day, reviewing the files, sitting in on the hearings and then talking about the decisions made.
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INTERIGHTS
INTERIGHTS works to promote respect for human rights through the use of law by providing leadership and support in the legal protection of human rights.
You will summarise important human rights decisions from courts around the world, particularly other common law jurisdictions. Your summary will be published and disseminated by INTERIGHTS.
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Personal Support Unit (PSU)
The PSU provides practical support to litigants in person appearing in the civil courts. You will speak to clients before their hearing, explain what will happen in court, put their documents in order, accompany them during the hearing and then explain to them what happened in court and what their options are.
Full training is provided. You must commit to volunteer at least two days in every month over the course of the academic year.
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Big Issue in the north
You will write a short piece of legal advice in response to a question from the public or on a topic of your choice. Articles are published monthly.
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Small business legal advice
You will advise small start-up businesses on common legal problems, such as the relative advantages and disadvantages of being a partnership or a company limited by guarantee and protecting intellectual property.
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