Law in Action: Integrating social justice issues into the curriculum

using clinical legal education

Rosie Harding & Andrew Francis Keele University

Contact Email: r.harding@law.keele.ac.uk

Level 2, elective, clinical module (15 credits)

Open to all law students Module aims & objectives:

◦ To introduce students to how law works in the community and facilitate and empower students to take and active and reflective role in their learning.

◦ To provide a realistic context in which students can practice their general transferable and applied communication skills.

◦ To provide local community organisations with useful input on legal topics.

What is ‘Law in Action’

A combination of: ◦ ‘Clinical’ Legal Education – educating students to

become good lawyers◦ Community Legal Education – educating the

public about their rights and responsibilities◦ Streetlaw/Legal Literacy – a form of community

legal education Based on principles of:

◦ ‘learning-by-doing’◦ Reflective learning◦ Self- and peer- assessment

What is ‘Law in Action’

Kennedy (1998: 58): “A lot of what happens is the inculcation, through a formal curriculum and the classroom experience of a set of political attitudes towards the economy and society in general, toward the law and the possibilities of life in general”

Kennedy (1998: 61): “there are peripheral subjects like legal philosophy....clinical legal education... not truly relevant to the core of law... a kind of playground”

The Ideological Content of Legal Education

‘technocratic trade education’: Thornton (2005: 267)

Masculine domain: (Thornton, 1996); Collier (1998); Sommerlad and Sanderson (1998)

Corporate Law Orientation: “large corporate law firms ... week after week, visibly manifest the meaning of law and the exercise of power .... As [one student] observed, ..., ‘even the idea of alternative careers is a strange idea.” (Manderson and Turner (2006: 665). See also Sherr and Webb (1989); Granfield and Koenig (1992); Rolfe and Anderson (2003)

Instrumental motivations for choosing Law: Pitcher and Purcell (1998)

Ideological Content of Legal Education

Desire to encourage ‘deeper approaches to learning’ See e.g. Brockbank and McGill (1998)

Assessment and Student Engagement. See e.g. Sambell and McDowell (1998)

Learning by Experience: See Kolb’s work, which describes learning as ‘the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience.’ (1984: 38, cited by Light and Cox, 2001: 52)

“that the teaching of appropriate and defined skills is undertaken in a way which combines practical knowledge with theoretical understanding” ACLEC (1996: para2.2) NB: Hall and Kerrigan (2010) propose deeper embedding of clinical approaches in the mainstream curriculum given its perceived advantages in developing students skills and substantive understanding.

Skills and Engagement

U.S. in origin. Poverty Lawyers, Progressive Social Justice Aims. Law Students involved in Clinical Practice - See e.g. Tokarz et. al (2008)

UK Context: Mapping best practice in clinical legal education Grimes and Brayne (2004): in-house advice centres and/or representation services; outreach clinics (advice and/or representation); community based consultancy services; placements; legal literacy clinics (Streetlaw); simulation clinics

Nicolson (2006) criticises the importance placed on ‘skills development’ in UK clinical education, suggesting that ‘educationally oriented’ clinics undermine social justice aims and may be ethically problematic in prioritising student rather than the community’s needs.

Clinical Legal Education

Lectures◦ Introduction to variety of social justice topics

Seminars/Field Visits◦ Group research project◦ Presentation on research/Citizenship class

Community Partners◦ Brighter Futures (homelessness charity)◦ Savanah (Stoke rape crisis centre)◦ Stoke CAB (immigration and asylum team)◦ Madeley High School (citizenship curriculum)

Assessment: ◦ 1) Peer Assessment of Practice Presentation◦ 2) Portfolio: Reflective Log (1,500 words) + Essay (2,500

words)

Teaching Social Justice through CLE

Paper evaluation form (quantitative)◦ Completed during class time◦ Anonymous◦ limited

Online evaluation (qualitative)◦ Anonymous◦ In-depth

Reflective logs◦ Compulsory◦ Assessed (anonymous)

Module Evaluation

Number of students registered on module: 58

Forms returned: 37 Percentage return:

63.8%

“refreshing to actually get involved instead of classroom learning all the time”

“I have found this module really interesting and worthwhile”

“I really do mean the above. This has been my favourite module”

“a different course content which provides a break from the norm”

Paper Evaluation Form

“This was the most interesting module in law so far. More modules should encourage going out into the community to literally put ‘law in action’ – it really helped me learn more about law and how it applies to us every day. If only other modules were as interesting as this one!”

Interesting?

Encouraging critical thinking?

“Disappointed that the group presentations to our various visits were completely unmarked & did not contribute to overall grade of the module. Visit to Savana & work on presentation very interesting but hard to get motivated about something that doesn’t count for anything”

“[the presentation] isn’t marked. It was atrocious all wasted effort went into something unmarked. This meant time was being given to it when it could have been going towards something/another subject thats actually graded. Awful aspect. Worst part of the course.”

‘Negative’ Feedback

“the group work” “trying to organise the people in our group” “trying to write my final reflective log” “the formative presentation”. “Presentation. My group was not motivated to do the

necessary work as we were this was not being graded. We spend weeks making posters and powerpoints and researching, and then do a 30min presentation that counts nothing towards our final grade. I find that extremely unfair when we could be doing valuable research towards a portfolio that counts 100%; towards our final mark. Granted I learnt a lot on a subject I previously did not care for. But I still did not enjoy being told to work on something that would have no say whatsoever in my final mark, when I worked so hard to make something out of nothing.”

The ‘worst’ aspect of the module?

“Visiting Savana, meeting the inspirational people who have everyday dealing with the law... even if they are dissatisfied with it.”

“meeting up with the people who were using the CAB service and being able to interview them and find out about their situation as this was definately a new experience for me and was a real eye-opener.”

“going out in to the community to do our own research and also the presentation at the end was the most fun.”

“the lectures and learning about asylum seekers, asylum law and discrimination etc, but also I found the group work and presentation really enjoyable.”

“The independently researched essay.”

The ‘best’ aspect of the module?

Challenging assumptions (see also Nicolson: 2006: 9)◦ “Having had the ability to interview a number of

asylum seekers I was able to appreciate fully the extent to which the current legal system regarding refugee law is failing those relying on it. The evidence we obtained, coupled with the research I did on the standards expected for such accommodation revealed how far the Law falls shorts [sic] of providing what it sets out to achieve” (070092255028)

Reflective Logs

Assumptions challenged (but not always through the Presentation)◦ “I had never thought about it before. All I

remember was negativity about asylum seekers through the media which is probably why I held the opinion that there may have been a sense of illegality surrounding them. However I was really shocked when I found out that only 26% of applications were admitted in 2007... This week probably had the biggest impact on me... I had never really taken the perspective of using the Law up until this point” (07010527012)

Reflective Logs

Excitement and possibilities of alternative legal practice:◦ “It was exciting it was out of the lecture...Before the

interviews started, I was really excited as I felt like a professional and it was during the interview in which I felt like our research really had a practice” (07013935)

◦ I feel that my conceptualisation of my legal studies and my ambition beyond is something that has been hindered by too much attention to the financial incentives that the profession offers and not influenced enough by the difference that community involvement and pro bono work can accomplish in deprived communities.(090507165)

Reflective Logs

Facilitates key aspects of the University mission:◦ Community engagement◦ Widening participation

Integrates key transferable skills into the LLB curriculum:◦ Team working◦ Research Skills◦ Communication Skills◦ Reflective learning

Encourages Law Students to think about alternatives to traditional legal practice

Law in Action: