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The Pro Bono Group offers students the opportunity to apply their legal knowledge in a rewarding and charitable environment. Pro Bono work is highly regarded by a variety of firms and organisations who seek graduate employees. We work with a number of local firms and professionals in the community in order to support the students and staff at the University as well as the greater population. 

As a member of Pro Bono, you will have the opportunity to attend a number of educational and enriching events over the course of the year. Last year these events included several Workshops and  the professional Meet and Greet networking event held in Harry Peach Library and Council Chambers. 

This year students will have the largest number of teams to apply to than we have ever had before. The teams that you are able to apply for include: The Legal Advice Clinic, The Miscarriages of Justice Team, The Street Law Team, The Lawyers Without Borders Team, Project Light, The Insight Project, Amicus Charity, Immigration and Asylum Project, and Litigants in Person.

Please follow the Pro Bono Group link to find out more about the work we do and the opportunities that we can provide you with. We encourage students from all courses to apply.

Check out our social media and website to find out about which project suits you and how to apply!

 

Street Law Project

Street law aims to make issues of law accessible to the local community. The project cover issues ranging from cybercrime to women's rights and tailor their presentations to reach different demographics within the local community.

The Project's primary objective is to bridge the gap betweenlegal issues affecting Leicester and its surrounding areas by educating and informing different audiences through presentations and mock trials.

If you love presenting and meeting people from a wide variety of backgrounds, this is the Project for you! Equally if you enjoy researching topical legal issues, this is the project for you!

 

Legal Advice Clinic

Students provide legal advice to fellow students, staff members, or the public who otherwise may not be able to afford legal advice. The Legal Advice Clinic generally provides advice for contractual, tenancy and employment law – aiming to provide our clients with the correct knowledge to further their legal dispute

Find us on twitter @UoLlegaladviceclinic!

 

Legal Advice Clinic: "What About Me?"

The Clinic is offering an opportunity for 3 students to get involved in a time-limited project to support the Leicester Family Court, and to produce a piece of writing reflecting on the position of the child when parents separate.

 In response to the What About Me? Report  by the Family Solutions Group, the Court seeks to ensure that local separating parents are supported when making decisions about their children, and ensuring that their children understand their rights.

 Group work: Students taking part in this project will consider the Report, and the position of children of separating parents, and will produce online or other resources for separating parents and their children, highlighting what resources are available to assist them during the process of separation, in order to ensure that the children’s best interests are recognised.

 Individual work: Students will then reflect on the law relating to the children of separating parents and, in particular, the extent to which the child’s voice is listened to and acted upon during separation. Is the law in this area satisfactory? Each student will produce an essay on this subject (up to 2,500 words) which will be marked and given feedback. The essay with the highest mark will be published in the Student Law Review.

 

Legal Advice Clinic: Citizens Advice Opportunity 

Citizens Advice LeicesterShire (CitAL) will host 15 - month volunteering placements for up to 15 students. The following students are eligible to apply:  

• Second and final year Law students  

• Second and final year non-Law students 

• First year JD Pathway students  

• Full or part-time LLM students. 

The placements programme will enable students to develop practical skills and experience of delivering information and advice across a wide range of areas, including:  

• welfare benefits 

• debt 

• housing 

• employment  

• relationships and family  

• community care 

• immigration 

• discrimination  

• consumer problems  

 

AMICUS

Amicus is an American charity who helps to provide fair representation for those facing the death penalty in the U.S, and is the only legal charity on campus! 

Our Amicus project boasts two world-leading research teams and a continuously high level of fundraising from diverse sources. The project provides national training opportunities, legal research skills and fundraising for the valuable cause of providing representation for those facing the death penalty in the United States. Our project has been recognised as the largest and most successful of its kind globally.

If you would like more information, please visit the Amicus website: www.amicus-alj.org.uk

 

Miscarriages of Justice

The Miscarriages of Justice Program is a great way to engage practically with real-world criminal law cases. We work closely with the case files of prisoners who have maintained their innocence and who have exhausted all other means of appeal. With the goal of discovering new legal grounds, we review the legal practices, evidence and witness statements and submit an application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

This project investigates the cases of convicted persons who have always maintained their innocence, with a view to making an application on their behalf to the Criminal Cases Review Commission(CCRC). The project seeks to find discrepancies in these cases that could have caused potential miscarriages of justice.This can thenbe further investigated by the CCRC to determine whether their a realistic grounds for the conviction to be overturned on appeal.

The Insight Project

The Insight Project aims to inspire and lead young minds to discover their passion for law. Insight members form the roll out division of the Law School’s ‘School Tasking’ project. By going into schools to deliver interactive sessions and workshops to students, they inspire young minds to find their passion for law. Training and support will be available throughout. it is a brilliant way to boost your CV and spread your passion!

 

Project LIGHT

Project LIGHT'S purpose is to provide legal support to homeless people in Leicester, through two branches. The volunteering branch focuses on organising fundraising events, collecting donations for local charities and volunteer in the community. The resource branch raises awareness of homlessness by creating legal resources for local charities

 

Immigration & Asylum Project 

The Immigration and Asylum Project aims to support asylum seekers who lack the funds to make an asylum claim. This year, the project is hoping to work with the Red Cross, volunteering with their Refugee Services team. This role involves working on case files of vast variety, providing us with more knowledge of the asylum process.

The Red Cross also provide outstanding training to ensure we are equipped for the role, which will give lots of assistance to anyone wishing to study immigration law or work in the immigration field. 

 

Lawyers Without Borders - Student Division

Lawyers Without Borders is a charitable organisation that harnesses the pro bono work of lawyers from around the world into volunteer service in global rule of law, capacity building and access to justice initiatives.

This Division specialises in the awareness of international human rights violation, specifically focussing on legislative measures and combat initiatives used to resolve human rights related issues. The student division committee is an extension of a global initiative to shed light on Rule of Law Projects helping to defeat human rights violations; this is facilitated through informative debates, expert presentations, and research projects.

The LWOB-SD team aim to raise awareness about global human rights violations by conducting legal research, competing in the Rule of Law Innovation Competition, raising money for the parent organisation and holding events. The project works closely with the local Race Equality Centre. Last year’s events included: Stop and Search Workshop, Gender Based Violence Open Discussion and Mental Health Amongst Asylum Seekers and Refugees.

 

Litigants in Person

The Litigants in Person Project strives to help individuals that are currently not eligible for legal aid and do not have the financial means to fund their own cases. Student volunteers will work in the Leicester County Court assisting litigants with their cases by accompanying them into proceedings to take notes, fill out forms, and prepare legal bundles. Students will also have the responsibility of conducting interviews with service users to determine if there are any financial options for an individual to fund their own cases or if there is any opportunity for a third party charity to offer specialist aid. 

All volunteers will have the opportunity to be trained following the C.L.O.C.K (Community Legal Companion) training program, as well as topic specific training provided by the courts and our solicitor partners. Students will also have the invaluable opportunity to network directly with practicing solicitors and members of the judiciary along with multiple charitable organizations. 

 

Legally Green 

The Legally Green Project is a fundraising and advocacy group founded in 2021 and functioning to bring light to pressing environmental issues. As a project, it is geared toward fundraising for urgent causes as they occur, raising awareness, and organising guest speaker lectures, fundraising events, debating competitions, peaceful protests, volunteer excursions, and a journal symposium at the end of each academic year. 

Our team is primarily focused on academic research and public lobbying to demand policy changes that can preserve the environment amidst the global crisis, which duly affects us all. This interdisciplinary approach recognises that, as a global issue, the contents of our project exceed merely the legal domain. Therefore, we aim to collaborate with other departments and organisations to achieve our common goal.

The Legally Green Project is a good opportunity for you to get physically involved with a political cause, while still contributing to a structured project via professional and academic avenues. It enables you to engage with current events and political dilemmas through both critical analysis and public advocacy, while being highly rewarding.

 

Windrush Compensation Project

The Windrush Compensation Project forms part of the free Legal Advice Clinic at the University of Leicester and works in partnership with United Legal Access. The Project works with victims of the ‘Windrush Scandal’ from across Leicester and surrounding areas, assisting them with applications for compensation under the government’s ‘Windrush Compensation Scheme’. 

We are offering a free service where we help potential claimants to consider whether or not they are eligible, what they can claim for, and how to prove it. We also assist in getting hold of supporting documents where needed.

Due to the Windrush Compensation Scheme being a government-run scheme, many have an understandable mistrust in “the system”. By raising awareness locally, we can help people to work through their concerns and find out more about the Scheme. Our main goal is to seek justice for those harmed by the ‘Windrush Scandal’, by ensuring that they have the tools to make the strongest application for compensation possible.

Our team is made up of six students and one supervising solicitor, all of whom have been trained to assist claimants. The team consists of a communication liaison officer, publicity director, legal creative director, digital outreach director, policy director and project director.

Check out our social media pages:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/uol_windrush

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uol_justiceforwindrush/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uoljusticeforwindrush/

 

AVA Project 

This is a student led project seeking to educate, raise public awareness, and provide legal support to survivors of Domestic Abuse (DA), DomesticViolence (DV), and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV).

The project forms under ‘Research, Policy and Reform Team’, which seeks to contribute to academic commentary by addressing current laws, policies and lobbying for reform; ‘Mobilisation Team’, which seeks to raise awareness, campaign for change, and produce accessible materials and resources; and our ‘Legal Support Team’, which provides and ensures survivors have access to Pro Bono legal support.

We are made up of three branches:

+ our ‘Research, Policy and Reform Team’, which seeks to contribute to academic commentary by addressing current laws, policies and lobbying for reform;

+ our ‘Mobilisation Team’, which seeks to raise awareness, campaign for change, and produce accessible materials and resources; and,

+ our ‘Legal Support Team’, which provides and ensures survivors have access to Pro Bono legal support.

 

The SEND Project 

The University of Leicester’s SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) Project is a student-led non-profit Pro Bono organisation. Our focus is on: producing accessible, educational resources on the rights of children and young people with SEND; campaigning for meaningful change; and fundraising for IPSEA

 

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For further enquiries/questions please feel free to email: probono@leicester.ac.uk 

Membership fee: £12.50