Find out more about GO Justice
Glasgow Open Justice (GO Justice) was established in 2018 to provide and encourage opportunities for law students to use their legal knowledge and skills to make a real difference in society. Collaboration lies at the heart of GO Justice; more can be achieved when we work together to design projects and solve problems. Under the GO Justice banner we hope that law school academics, students and external bodies (such as law centres, public interest organisations, charities) will come together in different ways to build different projects and opportunities. GO Justice will continue to evolve as new ideas and partners come on board - we look forward to that adventure!
We currently list a range of organisations such as Citizens Advice Bureaux, Castlemilk Law & Money Advice Centre and Glasgow Community Food Network as our partners. Each year our law students are offered the chance to apply to undertake placements and work experience with these organisations.
What more can we do together?
GO Justice allows us to shine a light on what we already do and will act as a spring-board to redouble efforts to make a wider contribution to society.
GO Justice is an initiative that places huge value on the contribution that law students can offer. Students can go to the GO Justice section of the Employability Moodle to find out more about current opportunities. If you have ideas about collaborations or are passionate about a particular cause that needs some legal thinking then do get in touch via email: maria.fletcher@glasgow.ac.uk
Social justice at UofG School of Law – past and present…
Glasgow School of Law has a strong track record of delivering practical legal advice and support in the community. The very first woman solicitor in the UK was a Glasgow Law graduate! One hundred years ago Madge Easton Anderson made history by becoming the very first woman solicitor to qualify in the UK (in Scotland!). This inspirational graduate of Glasgow Law School also gave up her time to offer free legal advice to the community of Anderston as a “Poor Man’s Lawyer.” Her work laid the foundations for what became a Free Legal Dispensary, running in collaboration with the Law School in the 1930s and 40s. Around this time the Legal Dispensary supported the University Settlement to help set up Glasgow’s first CAB after WWII.
More recently we have partnered with external agencies and organisations to ensure that they get a steady stream of our best and brightest students to help them to deliver access to justice to those most in need. We are proud to have celebrated our 25th anniversary of collaborating with Citizens Advice Scotland in academic session 2017/18. Every year we place up to 30 students in Citizens Advice Bureaux around the city and on the advice phone-lines of Citizens Advice Direct. We are pleased that more and more opportunities are available to students each year through our partnerships with Govan Law Centre, JustRight Scotland, MECOPP, the Legal Services Agency and Shelter Scotland and others.
Our annual GO Justice Challenge, allows students to develop ideas focusing on solving real social justice issues through the law. Find out more at GO Justice Challenge.