How our students contribute

We'll support you throughout your volunteering journey at the Law Clinic. You'll begin with advice and casework opportunities and then become eligible to join the team of students triaging potential clients. Students who are particularly committed and experienced can go on to mentor and support others by becoming student leaders.

Our work and projects

Our students volunteer across a range of projects, gaining valuable experience while supporting our local community.

Family Law

The Family Law team run a busy advice and support service for parents facing court proceedings. Students and solicitors work together to deliver the service, with students progressing through different stages to build their skills and confidence.

These stage include:

• Triage – Students contact all potential clients to conduct an initial phone interview to gather background information and identify issues.
• Advice – Students assist solicitors with advice appointments and draft advice letters.
• Drafting – Students are trained to draft statements and court application forms for clients.
• Court – The team run a drop-in advice service in Liverpool Family Court and a support project at Birkenhead County Court. Trained students attend hearings with clients to provide support and assistance.

The Family Advice Project is supported by solicitors from firms in Liverpool who volunteer their time to give advice to clients and give students the opportunity to meet a range of practising lawyers.

We aim to have approximately 40 - 50 students volunteering on the project at any one time, with a mix of experienced and new students volunteering at different stages of the project.  All students must commit to a minimum number of sessions over at least 12 weeks when they join the project.

Immigration

The solicitors in the immigration team provide full casework advice, assistance and representation for people who are stateless, children and refugees who want to become British citizens, and people with human rights leave.

The team also provides complementary support to local advice organisations, helping to increase capacity within the immigration advice and representation sector across the Merseyside region. 

They continue to work alongside national and international policy organisations as experts to improve the rights of stateless persons in the UK, including Asylum Aid, the European Network on Statelessness and UNHCR.

A team of volunteer students work with the solicitors to progress complex and challenging cases. You'll develop  legal practice skills alongside the solicitors, including:   

• note-taking in interviews or hearings;
• drafting witness statements, advice letters for clients and representations to the Home Office;
• collating evidence;
• completing application forms and writing research reports.   

Special Educational Needs (SEN)

The solicitors in the SEN team provide advice on all aspects of SEN law and procedure and assist parents with appeals to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal. They also work with local MPs and advice agencies to provide public legal education.

A team of students assists the solicitors by interviewing parents, drafting advice and completing forms.  Our most experienced students assist the solicitors with judicial review pre-action procedures.

Students can also support the team's Public Legal Education Programme, which seeks to enhance the knowledge and understanding of parents and those working with children who may need additional support in schools.

Events 

HEAR

All our projects are HEAR eligible.