My Experience as an Edinburgh Law School Virtual Law Clinic Student Advisor
By Gabriella Barnes, Diploma in Professional Legal Practice Student
(Edited by Aideen Byrne, Pro Bono and Clinical Legal Education Coordinator)
The Free Legal Advice Centre, typically abbreviated to FLAC, is the longstanding clinic for Diploma in Professional Legal Practice students. The Pro Bono and Clinical Legal Education Department was established in 2019 to expand Edinburgh Law School pro bono and clinical legal education portfolio. The Virtual Law Clinic is part of that expansion and it enables undergraduate and postgraduate students who have a Scots Law LLB to participate as student advisors.
As one of the first undergraduate student advisors at the Virtual Law Clinic, I was initially looking forward to solely providing free legal advice under the supervision of a qualified solicitors and contribute to closing the access to justice gap in my Edinburgh community. However, throughout the process, I realised that this is not the only benefit from participating in pro bono student law clinics. While helping to bridge the justice gap, I was gaining skills through clinical legal education, a form of experiental learning. This learning experience doesn’t reduce the impact of being able to help others but is in addition to it.
I chose to apply for a student advisor position because I wanted to be able to put the skills that I am fortunate to have been educated with to use for the community. I also think– without a doubt – that it is best to learn by doing. Learning cases and legislation is useful as a lawyer but practical skills like being able to interview a client, drafting an advice letter that is concise and easy to understand to non-lawyers, etc., are skills that you aren’t subjected to until the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice. I am now a student on the DPLP programme and I am grateful to have already started to develop these skills through my time as a student advisor in my final year of my Graduate LLB.
I found as a result of being a student advisor, I have more confident going into not only client interviews but also other professional settings. As with most skills, the more I practice, the better I get. I believe these so-called “soft skills” are going to be ever evolving throughout my career and I’m glad to have gotten a head start developing them through my experience in the Virtual Law Clinic
It is still, at first, a nerve-wracking experience. Even being fully prepared with my fellow student advisor after our training, both provided by the Pro Bono and CLE Department and Probonoskills.com (a wonderful not-for-profit, of which I am a Steering Committee member, that helps with training pro bono students in law clinics) our practice interview with an actor and meeting to discuss what questions we needed to make sure to ask before preparing with our supervising solicitor, I was still anxious going in to the first interview with a client. I had questions in my mind of what if I completely blank or not being prepared if the client becomes emotional and not knowing what to do. What is great about FLAC is there is always someone with you to help. I felt comfortable knowing that the supervising solicitor was there to take over if they felt it necessary and cover anything that was missed, or a member of the FLAC team could step in to answer any questions we had.
Once that first interview was underway, I felt much more at ease. The client interview is what most students are worried about as that is the first step in giving free legal advice. The team sets you up for success and it’s up to you to put those tools to use.
The work doesn’t stop after the interview is completed. You have to research and write the advice letter with your fellow student advisor, manage your case using case management software and respond to any additional questions the client has. For me, it was a learning experience to know you’re not finished when you send in the legal advice letter. For essays, you turn it in and that’s you done and dusted. With legal advice, you need to ensure you answer further questions from clients and, importantly, write the closure letter once the case is finished. This for me was just as much of a skill to develop as interviewing and writing advice. It’s a lesson in making sure that you are organised as to not cause anyone else additional work or them having to wait on you to complete your task in a timely manner, and ultimately, it is about providing a professional and reliable service to our client. University work typically relies on you solely to finish your work on your own timetable with a due date. When there are several completion dates and the need to work in a team with your partner, it becomes a different exercise in time management and juggling competing deadlines.
One of the key things I took away from my experience is that law is so much more than cases and legislation. It’s a combination of having that legal knowledge and being able to apply it to unique situations that are not neat, not clear but real. It is a skill lawyers have to develop through time and being able to start that development early in your education is beneficial to everyone – yourself, the community, and future employers and clients. If you’re a student, an educator or a solicitor reading this, I encourage you to participate in free legal advice services whether it’s volunteering your time, funding, or helping to further access to justice, it’s going to benefit everyone who comes in contact with it.
Pro Bono and Access to Justice has become such a significant part of my life. In addition to joining the VLC as a student advisor, I now participate in FLAC as a DPLP student. During this time, I have also continued volunteering on the VLC. In total, I have worked on four client matters. I also joined the Pro Bono Society as a founding member and progressed to Student Director. In that role, I have worked to spread awareness among students about pro bono and access to justice volunteering opprotunities as well as demonstrating to the wider legal community the massive interest students have to participate in these areas. I have worked to fundraise for various legal charities and helped organise various events such as the Pro Bono Law Fair and Access to Justice Foundation Legal Walk. I was also delighted to be asked to join the Steering Committee of Probonoskills.com and through that have worked with a variety of legal professionals and students to expand the content the platform offers. I am also a student member of the Scottish University Law Clinic Network where students from law clinics across Scotland can collaborate and discuss clinical issues, and further the work of the pro bono community. I want to carry this passion for access to justice and the excellent skills and knowledge I possess as a result into my career regardless of what area I focus on. I recommend taking the leap and finding a way you can use what you already know to help others. It will open so many doors for your personally and professionally, all the while enabling you to give back to your community.
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