We have an award-winning pro bono service. The opportunities may change year-to-year, however we always provide a range of options designed to enhance your employability. Here are details of some of the programmes we have run in Manchester:
Legal Advice Centre (LAC)
We run two LACs; one is a general clinic which offers advice on most areas of law, and the other is a specialist clinic offering advice on family law problems. This hands-on experience would see you interviewing clients in pairs to obtain the details of their case and then working together to produce a letter of advice, under the supervision of qualified lawyers, in order to develop your interviewing, drafting and file management skills.
Streetlaw Programme
Streetlaw is a community legal education programme that 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 would work in a team to produce an interactive workshop on a legal topic, helping you to develop your team work, research practice and communication skills.
National Centre for Domestic Violence (NCDV)
NCDV helps victims of domestic abuse get injunctions against their abuser. Your time at the NCDV will see you interview clients over the telephone and draft the witness statements they will use in court. During this experience you will learn how to interview clients, conduct telephone interviews and how to draft witness statements.
Judicial Shadowing
We currently offer shadowing opportunities in the Asylum & Immigration Tribunal, the Coroner's Court and the Crown Court. You will shadow a judge for a day, speaking to them about the cases they have, reviewing case files, sitting in on the hearings and then discussing their decisions.
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 and you must commit to volunteer at least two days in every month over the course of the academic year.
Schools Consent Project
This project teaches school children aged 11-18 about sexual offences, with a particular emphasis on the issue of consent. Their aim is to equip students with a knowledge of the legal framework using interactive workshops and examples of real cases. You will develop skills in public speaking and legal research, explaining the law in a clear and concise manner to non-lawyers.
Greater Manchester Law Centre
We have opportunities to volunteer with the Greater Manchester Law Centre, which provides free advice in the area of social welfare, employment, prison law and community care.
Activities
Court visits - We have strong links with the judicial community and arrange visits to various courts near our campuses. We will help you to arrange your own visits to other courts that reflect your areas of interest.
Manchester Legal Enterprise Competition
Competing students are tasked with solving a business problem set by the local law firms sponsoring the competition. Previous prizes have included work experience opportunities with those firms.
Mentoring
Our mentoring scheme matches successful applicants with a mentor from a wide variety of practice areas. We endeavour to match you with a mentor with similar career interests and experiences, giving you valuable insight into how to succeed in your career.
Mooting Competitions
Mooting is the oral presentation of a legal issue or problem against an opposing counsel and before a judge. Run on a knock-out basis, the preliminary rounds are judged by fellow students, with the final rounds judged by practitioners. Our students frequently go on to take part in national and international mooting competitions.
Prize Giving
An annual event, attended by lecturers, sponsors and local legal professionals, for students who achieve the highest marks in each of the subjects. The prizes themselves are sponsored by several firms and other legal organisations.
Negotiation and Interviewing Programmes
We run short programmes to improve your negotiating and interviewing skills. Internal competitions are then held, with the winners entering national competitions where available. We recently saw a team from our Manchester campus win a national competition and head to the international finals in Tokyo.
Speaker Programme
Throughout the year, we have external speakers talk about topics that are chosen to inform and inspire you.
Wellbeing Events
We run wellbeing events throughout the year to help you maintain balance in your studies.
Pro Bono and Work Experience
Go back to find out more about the pro bono opportunities that we offer at each of our campuses.
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