Learnings from the Law Clinic

Occupying all of 10 Queen Square, our Law Clinic is a place for members of the public to receive free legal advice, online or in person, in areas such as family, employment, debt matters, personal injury claims and civil disputes.

At the same time, our students get to develop their skills in a real legal environment under the supervision of a practising solicitor. It’s a win-win situation, and in high demand from a wide range of clients who need advice, and our students who want to help.

Rebecca shares the reasons she chose the Law Clinic module and offers a valuable insight into how it all works.

Practical experience

As a Law LLB student wishing to pursue a career in the legal sector as a solicitor, it was important for me to gain practical experience during my degree. The Law Clinic presented the perfect opportunity, so I selected it as an elective module over one semester in the third year of my Law degree. 

City centre office

The Law Clinic is the ideal way to gain relevant experience and develop professional skills in a supportive environment. The Law Clinic is located in Queen Square in Leeds city centre, in an exclusive office building. There is a reception area for greeting clients, professional meeting rooms for interviewing clients with the technology for remote interviewing, and there are rooms for conducting research and collaborating with peers.  

Real legal advice

The main reason I chose to participate in the Law Clinic was so I could deal with real-life clients and provide them with legal advice. This was important to me as I feel access to free legal advice to those who need it is crucial. Being able to help those who may not be able to afford it otherwise, whilst gaining hands-on experience, was a no-brainer. 

Key skills

The Law Clinic is focused on learning and developing skills through experience. The key skills the module helped me to develop were interviewing, researching, drafting letters of advice, and reflecting. All these skills will be paramount in pursuing a career as a solicitor. 

Interviewing clients was something I was nervous about prior to participating in the Law Clinic, but as the module progressed, my confidence grew. This helped to focus on skills such as notetaking and time management - the client interview is limited to 30 minutes in which you have to gather all relevant information and take instruction from the client of what they would like advice on. 

During each practical session, you are paired up with a peer and allocated a new client case. I really enjoyed this as it meant we got to work with different people which helps in developing teamworking skills which is highly transferrable. Working as a team helped in clarifying issues and supporting each other. 

A refreshing change from theory

This session is used for interviewing clients, recording the interview notes, and starting research. The variety of clients led to researching in different areas of law, which helped to strengthen core legal knowledge and expand my knowledge of areas I’d not come across before. I loved the opportunity to see the law in practice, which is refreshing after learning the theory. 

Following the research, a joint letter of advice is drafted. This is reviewed by the supervising tutor who provides feedback and helps you to develop your writing skills. I saw an improvement in my drafting skills over the course of the module. The tutors are very approachable and the support they provide is outstanding and helps hugely with your confidence. 

Highly recommend

The Law Clinic module is an experience I would highly recommend and ideal for anyone seeking careers in the legal sector or those wishing to develop skills ready for professional roles. 

If you know someone who needs free legal advice and would like to find out more about The Law Clinic at Leeds Beckett University, please contact lawclinic@leedsbeckett.ac.uk