King's Legal Clinic news

King's Legal Clinic student Giulia Mazzu nominated for LawWorks Pro Bono Awards 2019

Giulia Mazzu, an undergraduate law student working with King's Legal Clinic, has been nominated for 'Best contribution by an individual student' at the LawWorks and Attorney General Student Pro Bono Awards 2019. 

The awards celebrate the best pro bono activities undertaken by law students and law schools throughout the UK. Giulia’s nomination recognises her outstanding contribution to legal pro bono work in a wide range of activities, showing dedication and compassion in helping the vulnerable.  

Guilia  is  a student volunteer with the Article 8 Project,  an immigration and human rights law project at King’s Legal Clinic that provides representation to immigrants who are seeking to remain in the UK on human rights grounds.  The project is run in conjunction with Islington Law Centre, Hackney Migrant Centre and law firms Reed Smith and Akin Gump. 

Shaila Pal, Director of King’s Legal Clinic, said:

Giulia has been assisting in a case involving a vulnerable woman. She has provided invaluable support to the lawyers preparing the case and the client. She has produced work of a high standard; at times with very short notice and tight deadlines. What sets Giulia apart is her willingness to assist with any task which helps the client, whether that be legal or administrative. 

King's joins city powerhouse to give legal advice to businesses

King's Legal Clinic and PricewaterhouseCoopers’s (‘PwC’) UK Legal network are teaming up to offer free legal advice to members of the public and small businesses who might not usually be able to afford such legal support.

The project will see around 30 PwC volunteers working with law students from the Dickson Poon School of Law to give members of the public, sole traders, small business owners and social enterprises one-off advice on range of legal issues. These include issues relating to employment, property/housing, contractual issues and intellectual property. 

Shaila Pal, Acting Director at King’s Legal Clinic, said:

King’s Legal Clinic is delighted to be partnering with PwC on this new service for the community. Ordinary people and small business with limited means can be faced with legal problems that they are unable to resolve without specialist assistance.  As a result, our clinic has seen the demand for pro bono legal advice increase over the past few years.

‘The clinic with PwC is a great opportunity to for students to help in increasing access to justice for the local community.  It’s also a valuable way for King’s students to learn about how the law works in practice.

Kirsty O’Connor, solicitor at PwC and co-founder of the clinic, said

This is an exciting and extremely important venture. Legal services should be available to everyone, regardless of their background or personal circumstances. Many of the clinic’s clients have low household incomes and could not otherwise access legal support. For a society to be fair, income should not be a barrier to accessing justice.

King's Legal Clinic collaborates with Fletchers Solicitors to launch the first UK Cycling Injuries Clinic

King’s Legal Clinic, in association with leading personal injury experts Fletchers, is providing a new service by offering specialist free initial legal advice to victims of cycling accidents.

The Cycling Injuries Clinic will see law students from The Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London interviewing clients and offering advice under the supervision of qualified lawyers.

Fletchers is a law firm based in Manchester. As such, the Cycling Injuries Clinic will be unique in requiring students to work on online case files and documents, while liaising with their supervisors via online conference calls.

'Working remotely with Fletchers will expose our students to the increasing automation of legal services, as well as some of the practical and ethical issues which working online raise. It is also important that students understand some of the commercial realities which impact on a client’s ability to obtain justice – for example, how to afford a lawyer when there is no legal aid available – and the Cycling Injuries Clinic will enable us to tackle some of those issues,'
said Stephen Levett, former Director of Clinical Legal Education at The Dickson Poon School of Law.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) estimates that more than 18000 people a year are either seriously injured or slightly injured in cycling accidents, and many more accidents go unreported. The overwhelming majority of these accidents (around 75%) occur in urban centres such as London.

‘We’re absolutely delighted to be working in partnership with King's College London and their legal clinic. Cycling and motorcycling has never been more popular in London, and two-wheel accident cases have been our specialism at Fletchers for 30 years. We’re excited to share that knowledge with the students and also to provide excellent representation for anyone affected by a cycling accident that attends the clinic,’ said Ed Fletcher, CEO of Fletchers.

King's Social Enterprise Clinic launches in partnership with Charles Russell Speechlys

King's Legal Clinic and international law firm Charles Russell Speechlys LLP are teaming up to offer free legal advice to start-up social enterprises.

‘Every year in London thousands of businesses are started by people who want to make a difference to their communities. This new legal advice clinic will make this ambition that little bit easier by offering free legal advice on everything from the best form of business structure through to advice on employment contracts or data protection regulations,’ said Stephen Levett, former Director of Clinical Legal Education at King's College London.

Students from The Dickson Poon School of Law, working under the guidance of legal specialists from Charles Russell Speechlys LLP, will offer free face-to-face interviews and letters of advice to anyone needing help to setup or develop a new social enterprise. Help will also be available for people who have recently become or are thinking of becoming self-employed.

‘Charles Russell Speechlys LLP is delighted to be supporting The Dickson Poon School of Law in offering this new service. There are quite a few places in London where people can go to get help with legal problems around issues like housing or debt, but it can sometimes be difficult for a small business to get free legal advice about business related matters. Getting the right advice from the start can make the difference between success and failure,’ said Mark White, Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys.

King's Legal Clinic working in partnership with Duncan Lewis Solicitors

In association with Duncan Lewis Solicitors, King's Legal Clinic is offering free legal advice on immigration and asylum matters through its Duncan Lewis Immigration and Asylum Clinic.

The clinic will operate every Tuesday evening and assist with a wide range of immigration matters for both European and Non-European nationals and their family members.

As this is an appointment-only service, clients need to be able to attend a face-to-face meeting with one of Duncan Lewis’s specialist solicitors at the Strand campus.