Course Catalogue

View Specification Document | Reading List

Scotland has world leading homelessness legislation and has sought to strengthen the rights of tenants across both the social and private rented sectors. We know the impact that timely and specialist advice can have in preventing homelessness and improving housing conditions. This course will look to address the access to justice gap between law and practice by providing supervised advice and representation to some of the most marginalised in our communities, working in collaboration with community based partners operating on the front line.

This clinical course will provide students with an opportunity to develop lawyering skills and better understand the ethical and practical issues arising from social justice lawyering. Students will be supervised by a staff member who has experience of running a specialist housing law practice.  As well as developing practical skills, this course will encourage students to critically reflect and analyse how the law and legal systems interact with those living in housing crisis, with a view to students developing the ability to advocate for wider social change.

This course will consist of 10 2hr sessions throughout the semester.

For information, clinic casework tasks as part of the course might include:

■ Legal research on points of law raised by clients' cases and other relevant matters;

■ Noting taking in client appointments and/or tribunal hearings;

■ Opening case files and recording relevant client information;

■ Assisting with the drafting of correspondence;

The course is open to students on both the Scots and Common law LLB programmes.

Students are expected to have enrolled and participated in the Level 4 Access to Justice in Theory and Practice (LAW4155) course before undertaking the clinic. If a student has not met the assessment requirements of the pre-requisite course in circumstances where good cause has been accepted, then the course convenor may exercise discretion to allow that student to participate in the Clinic. 

Students will only be admitted on to one clinic course (e.g. Housing & Homeless Law Clinic; Racial Justice Clinic; Emma Ritch Law Clinic) during their honours years.

None.

The course will be assessed on two pieces of summative assessment, as follows:

1. Learning Journal (up to 10 pages of materials and 2000 words) 50%

2. Critical reflection (2000 words) 50%

1. To develop practical lawyering skills including client communication, advocacy and legal research through the delivery of client facing advice on housing and homelessness law issues;

2. To provide a structured and supervised introduction to the ethical responsibilities of practising lawyers and essential legal skills;

3. To enable students to reflect on the impact of independent advice and representation in this area in advancing social justice with a specific focus on housing and homelessness; and

4. To provide students with a unique insight into the housing crisis the country faces and the role and limitations of the law.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Identify the relevant law and procedure and articulate coherent legal strategies to progress client cases; (ILO 1) 

2. Develop applicable transferable legal skills such as research, analysis and provision of advice in written form to resolve the needs of vulnerable clients through the use of the law (ILO 2) 

3. Critically evaluate the limitations and benefits of the provision of trauma informed legal advice and representation to people in housing crisis. (ILO 3) 

4. Critically reflect upon the ethical and professional responsibilities of lawyers in advocating for social change (ILO 4) 

5. Critically reflect upon the law's potential and its limitations in delivering access to justice and social change understood as wider structural or systemic reform (ILO 5)  

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components of the course's summative assessment (which includes by design the undertaking of supervised clinical project work).