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CLINIC STREAMS Introduction All Bronze Clinic member students coming into the Law Clinic will be divided into one of four streams until they “graduate” to Silver membership: case work, innocence work, mediation, and project work. Roughly 40 students will be allocated to each stream. You will be given the chance to rate your choice of streams in order of preference from 1-4. Allocation will be based on your order of preferences, the mark you received for your application, the number of places available and the year you are in. Please first read the description of each stream and then complete the form below to indicate your preference. But remember that many of the skills that we teach are transferable, hence, you will benefit greatly from involvement in any of the streams. Before doing so you should note the following:  

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as with all Clinic activities, work in the various stream will take place online until at least the beginning of Spring Term; merely participating in a stream is not enough to graduate to Silver membership. Students must also submit a portfolio reflecting on what they have done and learnt and complete all allocated work to the satisfaction of Clinic staff. More details will be provided at the Bronze Induction on the 21 st October which is compulsory; we have tried as far as possible to ensure a roughly equal workload in each stream, but inevitably this will only involve a very rough equivalence, and some may involve more work than others; with some streams it may be possible to carry on in working in that stream once you have graduated to Silver membership (details are provided below).

Case Work Stream This stream will involve students undertaking a minimum of five sessions in the Autumn Term in which they will be trained with the necessary skills to be able to undertake cases in the Spring Term. These sessions will involve a mix of preparation by watching webcasts and/or reading notes, interactive live online sessions and role plays practice, and some exercises which must be carried out to the satisfaction of the trainers before students can progress to being involved in actual case work. Case work will start with shadowing more experienced students or other lawyers before students take on cases themselves.

Given that this stream allows students an early opportunity to become involved in case work and hence involves intensive skills training, places are strictly limited. However, students who do not get in can still qualify to take on case work if and when they graduate to Silver membership and after receiving the necessary training. Staff Coordinator: Donald Nicolson ([email protected]) Innocence Work Stream This stream involves the investigation of cases of those who have been convicted of crimes for which they are innocent or where there is a lack of sufficient evidence to support the conviction or the conviction is based on breaches of the law. In this stream students will be trained in how to investigate alleged miscarriages of justice and will help with investigations currently being undertaken by the Freedom Law Clinic (http://freedomlawclinic.org/home). In the Autumn Term a series of sessions will introduce students to the causes and remedies for miscarriages of justice and to some of the skills involved in investigating and proving claims of innocence. During this term, students will also be introduced to the work of the Freedom Law Clinic before they start to work with it on actual case. There will be very limited opportunity to carry on with innocence work once students have graduated to Silver membership. Staff Coordinator: Donald Nicolson ([email protected]) Mediation Stream Mediation is a confidential, voluntary process where an impartial third party (the mediator) facilitates negotiation between parties to a conflict. The mediator’s aim is to help parties explore their real interests and needs behind their legal positions and help them come to a mutually acceptable agreement. For this, mediators have to develop a special set of skills, the mediator’s “toolkit”, which are mainly in the area of interpersonal communication. Many of these skills are also key to a successful negotiation. Students on this stream will receive an intensive eight session programme in the Autumn Term designed to provide them with the skills of a mediator. Once they have satisfactorily completed the training, students will join one of four mediation projects which will be conducted in the Spring Term: 1) Company project - students will design bespoke online training material in problem solving and conflict resolution for selected organisations. This may include students delivering webinars and/or participating in other forms of delivery. 2) Schools project - students will design and deliver workshops for school pupils in peer-mediation. 3) Housing Association project - students will design and assist in the delivery of mediation awareness sessions for Housing Association staff and design and distribute self-help problem-solving/conflict-resolution material for tenants. 4) Community project - students will design and distribute self-help problemsolving/conflict-resolution material in communities.

We are currently developing a Mediation Clinic. Consequently, some students who do very well during the training and project work to the satisfaction of Clinic staff, will be given the choice of continuing with mediation work in this Mediation Clinic. once they graduate to Silver membership, instead of taking on case work as a Silver member. Staff Coordinator: Timea Tallodi ([email protected]) Project Work The Law Clinic runs a number of projects which do not involve providing advice and assistance to individual clients but some other sort of legal service such as providing the public in general or certain groups with information about the legal rights or duties or which serve the legal needs of the community in some other way such as through work on reforming the law or researching the extent of or solution to particular legal needs. Each project will involve initial training and then students will work with supervisors and other students to deliver the project over the course of the year. Given this workload, students may only participate in one project. Students who participate in the project stream will have to choose which one of these projects they wish to join as not all choices can be accommodated, You will be asked to give a list of preferences and again you will be allocated according the mark you got for your application, the number of places available and the year you are in. More information will be provided at the Bronze Induction in Week 3 of the Autumn. However, the following will give you a general idea of what each project entails so that you can decide on whether there are projects which are sufficiently attractive to cause you to choose the project stream in preference to others. 1. Consumer Welfare Law (only open to second and third years) This project focuses on the application of anti-money laundering (AML) legislation on British credit unions. Credit unions play an important part in the British financial system in achieving consumer welfare and social justice. These are not-for-profit financial institutions based on cooperative values, that are able to extend loans to those consumers that would often have no access to high street banks. As financial institutions, credit unions have to comply with AML legislation, which seeks to punish those engaged in the illegal process of making large amounts of money generated by a criminal activity appear to be legitimate. The project aims to help British credit unions in complying with the complex AML framework. Students will conduct empirical research to collect data regarding the current AML compliance models used by credit unions, the experience of credit unions from using these models, and the areas where clarification is needed regarding the extent of the credit union’s obligations under the law. Students will then work collaboratively to draft a report, based on their findings, for the benefit of the Association of British Credit Unions Limited (ABCUL).

Staff co-ordinators: Anastasia Karatzia ([email protected]) and Andrea Fejos ([email protected]) 2. Domestic and Sexual Abuse This project was initially set up by former students with the aim of providing legal advice for women involved in the Colchester Centre for Action on Rape and Abuse (CARA) charity, which provides support and services to women who have experienced sexual abuse/rape/sexual assault. The project has so far included the preparation of short legal advice guides on a range of relevant topics including access to justice, children and employment, as relevant to vulnerable women. Following completion of the guides, the group held a training session at CARA on family law. In the coming year, the aim is to develop student understanding of legal and social issues relating to domestic and sexual abuse, with the intention of providing further support to the community and relevant organisations. Term one will involve student training on relevant issues, followed by community engagement activities in term two. Staff Co-ordinator: Jaime Lindsey ([email protected]) 3. The Family Handbook There are a high number of family law cases in the Law Clinic (around 30% of the total). Students often, therefore, have to start from scratch when advising clients about the law, particularly because the family law module is only available to 3rd year students. This project involves students interested in family law will help finalise a Family Law Handbook (which was started last year) as a ‘first port of call’ for all students to refer to when commencing work on a family law case. Students will also work on developing family law Factsheets to hand to clients at their first appointment so that initial information is available whilst awaiting their detailed letter of advice. Staff Co-ordinator: Liz Fisher-Frank ([email protected]) 4. LGBT+ Rights & HIV and the Law The Law Clinic works in partnership with OutHouse East, based in Colchester, to provide an avenue to free legal advice to the LGBT+ community. The project extends to public legal education activities such as the production of a podcast and the development of factsheets and students will also undertake service promotion such as attendance at various Pride events (where this is possible). Bronze and silver level volunteers will work with the staff and student co-ordinator on the public legal education sessions, promotional activities and look to further expand the LGBT+ unit and its contribution to the community. The Law Clinic is also working in partnership with a local charity, Metro which supports people living with HIV. The Clinic provides public legal education sessions to attendees of the charity’s peer support sessions. These cover topics about legal rights in areas including confidentiality, disclosure and equality. Students will work on developing and delivering public legal education sessions on HIV & the Law. Students will need to be willing to travel to Metro’s outreach locations across Essex, which include Chelmsford and Harlow (though the Clinic will meet reasonable costs). Students will also work with the Staff Co-ordinator

to develop the range of services available to the Charity and its stakeholders. Staff Co-ordinator: Lee Hansen ([email protected]) 5. Housing Resources and Homelessness Support Project Specialist housing advice in possession, homelessness and disrepair is an important part of the Law Clinic legal advice service, making up about a third of all cases annually. There is a need to develop interactive resource materials to support students giving advice in this area. On this project, teams of students will carry out research and prepare resources to provide key information (links, flow charts, template letters, etc) in the areas of landlord-tenant disputes/possession; homelessness; and, housing conditions/disrepair. This project is being developed and run by students and there will be lots of opportunities to gain project management experience and input creatively to developing accessible and comprehensive resources. The work can be carried out flexibly around other commitments, but students will need to be available for regular meetings with their supervisor and their project team. Part of this project is to support specialised housing advice to the Beacon House Homelessness project which is currently on hold due to COVID-19 restrictions. We hope to be able to restart this project this year depending on the situation with COVID-19. The knowledge gained from the resource development project will inform this information and advice work with Beacon House whether online or in person, should f2f advice resume there. Beacon House is a day support centre for homeless people and those in precarious housing, which provides medical, practical and pastoral support to anyone struggling with housing issues. The Law Clinic volunteers have been running a regular information session at Beacon House to provide legal advice, mainly on housing and family law issues. This project is student-led and volunteers would be expected to contribute to strategy and planning as well as attending the sessions. Full training is provided online or at the Law Clinic. Staff Co-ordinator: Lucy Davies ([email protected]) 6. Law Reform Unit Students who join this project will receive training in policy and law reform practice. They will work with the clinic membership and local community to identify areas of law in need of reform. We will pursue an integrated law reform practice which is informed by the direct casework undertaken by clinic members. Particular opportunities to contribute to law reform inquiries or consultations will be identified. Students will then complete the projects under the supervision of the Staff Coordinator. Alternatively. students may provide support to academics or external organisations on their law reform work. Law reform projects will be subject to externally imposed timescales but may otherwise be carried out flexibly. Students will need to be available for compulsory training and be available for regular meetings with their Supervisor. Staff Co-ordinator: Lee Hansen ([email protected]) and Jo Harwood ([email protected]).

7. “Record Your Wishes” This project aims to improve access to justice in the area of end of life planning, helping people to make their own wills, advance decisions and powers of attorney so that they have more control over what happens at the end of their lives. This will be done through the development of a website, online tool, interactive workshops, and a power of attorney clinic, to engage members of the Essex community in end of life planning. In particular, the project aims to proactively encourage and facilitate members of the community to consider making a will, lasting power of attorney (LPA) or advance decision to refuse treatment (ADRT) in relation to their health and welfare. You will work with a team of students under staff supervision to develop information for members of the public. You will also be encouraged to develop links with organisations and hold interactive online workshops where users will be able to work through their templates and seek further specialist advice in relation to each of the areas. Staff Co-ordinator: Jaime Lindsey ([email protected])

Whether or not students can carry on with their projects once they have “graduated” to Silver membership will depend very much on the project in question.

CHOICE OF STREAM FORM Your name: Muyiwa Adewoye Please put a number ranging next to each stream with 1 being your first preference, 2 your second preference and 3 your third preference. Case Work - 4 Innocence Work - 1 Mediation - 3 Project Work - 2 Please cut and paste into an email and send to [email protected] with the title “Stream Preference Form”. Please send no later 9 am than on 22nd of October. If you submit the form late or not at all, a stream will be allocated to you.

CHOICE OF PROJECT FORM

To be filled out only if and when you have been allocated to the Project Stream Your name: .................................................................................................................. Year of study: □ 1

□2

□3

□4

□ PG

Put a number by order of preference to all the projects you are interested in, 1 being for the project you would most like to do. You do not need to write a number in front of all of them but if you are not allocated one of the projects for which you have expressed a preference, an allocation will be made for you. Projects Consumer Welfare (not open to 1st year students) Domestic and Sexual Abuse Family Law Handbook Housing Resources Handbook Law Reform Unit LGBT+ /HIV “Record your wishes”

Your wishes ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ..… …...

Please cut and paste into an email and send to [email protected] with the title “Project Preference Form”. Please send only if and when you have been allocated to the Project Stream on the 26th or 27th October but no later than 9 am on the 29th October. If you submit the form late or not at all, a project will be allocated to you....