More than 130 Newcastle Law School students translate theory into action by getting involved in one of several pro-bono /community-based projects. The projects are wide ranging, from delivering awareness raising sessions through the Street Law Project, to other social justice-based initiatives with various partners which allow students to participate in live-client advice and research campaigns. The projects help students to build their confidence allowing them to engage positively with both the local community across Tyne & Wear and nationally.
Our challenge / opportunity
- Since 2011 and with the help of our amazing partner organisations the Law School has continued to provide opportunities for students to apply to engage in projects which provide a richer, practice-based experience to build professional confidence, sharpen social-justice insight and nurture the people skills demanded by the profession.
- The Street Law Project, School Tasking, ELIPS, SEQUENTUS, Legacare are anchored in the wider Community & Pro-Bono Hub—the partnerships and opportunities have been created to let students apply their classroom learning, working with partners to respond to local needs and to actual live out the University’s commitment to equity and social justice. All these projects are currently undertaken extra-curricular.
Our solution (Approach), providing a mixture of opportunities for our students to apply to get involved in.
- Street Law Ambassadors – public legal education
Students themselves design and lead interactive legal-rights sessions for schools, youth groups and vulnerable adults. Faculty research-ethics approval has been in place since 2011 which is continually reviewed, and a fresh risk assessment is filed for every workshop. All ambassadors hold an enhanced DBS certificate and complete safeguarding training. The academic lead remains linked to the University’s central Safeguarding Team. - Live advice & research strands – Citizens Advice Newcastle, Citizens Advice Gateshead, SEQUENTUS
Through campaign partnerships—most recently with Tyne & Wear Citizens and through Newcastle Citizens Advice —students, working within the local community, undertake research and campaigns work on cost-of-living, racial-justice and housing issues. Through SEQUENTUS, Citizens Advice Newcastle and Citizens Advice Gateshead our students help to advise clients, supervised by qualified practitioners. Through ELIPS our students support Barristers and Solicitors in taking attendance notes. - Governance & student voice
A student-led Steering Group co-creates each project with community partners, while qualified solicitors, barristers or accredited advisers supervise the projects which involve live client work. - Recruitment & training
There is a recruitment process for all projects and there are opportunities available for our Undergraduate students (across all stages) and we also have some projects suitable for our PGT and PGR students. Training is provided on all projects, for example, Street Law, first-semester training sessions cover ethics, pedagogy and safeguarding—which are delivered with Youth Focus North East. For ELIPS and School Tasking, training is provided by the academic lead in the Law School. For our live client work the partner organisations ensure the students are trained and supervised appropriately. - Scale & recognition
Each year the initiatives involve approximately 100-130 volunteers, volunteering their time on a pro-bono basis.
The impact (Results)
- Student engagement: 130 volunteers worked on our different projects in 2024/25.
- Campaign wins: Research with Tyne & Wear Citizens fed into Living-Wage and housing-justice negotiations with regional employers and councils. Newcastle University
- Access to justice: LegaCare interns helped draft client documents (wills, LPAs, benefit appeals). Our Citizens Advice volunteers also commit to at least 2 days per month advising clients on a wide range of issues including debt, welfare, housing, employment and consumer rights.
- Awards & profile: The Newcastle Law School students and our partners have been recognised and acknowledged at the Northern Law Awards being shortlisted (2017, 2024, 2025) and winning the award (2018). In 2024, St Michael’s primary school were eventual winners of the national School’s School Tasking initiative led by Warwick University but with our students working with the pupils from St Micheals.
Lessons learned
- Institutional recognition takes time – ensuring financial support and administrative support is available for these projects run is essential and embedding pro-bono hours into workload models for academic and professional services colleagues requires persistent advocacy. Many hours are added over and above the WAM to ensure time is given to building trust and relationships with partner organisations and to support students involved in the projects.
- Long-term relationships built on trust flourish when expectations, safeguarding and feedback loops are formalised from day one.
- A structured induction and training process (ethics, DBS, safeguarding, pedagogy) keeps quality high as numbers grow.
- Risk management is non-negotiable – align early with insurance, legal and ethics teams within the University; pre-file risk assessments, secure confirmation of partner indemnity for any live client work, ensure appropriate terms of references have been agreed with all partner organisations before students participate in any community/pro-bono initiative.
- Reflection tools must feel intuitive and be meaningful – The NU Reflect pilot taught us that if logging skills feels like admin, students will abandon it.
Tips for colleagues
- Start small, co-create, build trust – pilot with one trusted partner before expanding
- Nail the groundwork – Clear terms of reference, ethical approval, DBS checks and safeguarding training, connecting with our University insurance team, acting with integrity and authenticity are essential.
- Manage expectations – Agree what students can (and cannot) advise on and deliver and schedule regular debriefs. Agree with partners what we can and can’t deliver.
- Capture impact early – Simple feedback forms and reflective logs evidence value for future funding and recognition.
Further resources
• Newcastle Law School Pro-Bono Hub – https://www.ncl.ac.uk/law/study/student-life/pro-bono/
• Street Law workshop toolkit (internal SharePoint)
• Citizens Advice volunteer handbook (partner-shared)
Author
 |
Senior Lecturer, Newcastle Law School |