The University of Bristol Law Clinic, Free Legal Advice and Support.
History
We are a kind of safety net, catching anything that falls through the holes in the [legal] system.
Donald Nicolson,
original founder of the University of Bristol Law Clinic.
The University of Bristol Law Clinic is a non-profit organisation that was set up in 1995
to provide free, confidential, legal advice and assistance to those who, for what ever reason,
cannot obtain such services elsewhere. The clinic was the brainchild of Donald Nicolson, a lecturer
in the university’s Law Department, who brought the model with him from South Africa. The scheme in
which he had participated in Cape Town involved a network of local clinics that offered free legal services
and were staffed by student volunteers working under the supervision of qualified lawyers also acting in a
voluntary capacity. As well as directing the clinics, these lawyers provided telephone support and
advice to the students as they worked on the cases they had taken on.
An initial meeting for interested students was arranged in October 1995 and the response demonstrated that
the idea had struck a chord. They had expected to attract about twenty students to the meeting, and had hoped
to enrol half that number as active participants. In the event, some 200 people came to the meeting, 180 of
them became members of the Clinic and 120 took part in a weekend training event.
Services now offered by the law clinic range from advising people of the legal complications and consequences of their position
through to general reassurance and support. Such support might involve accompanying a client to a
hearing and providing explanations, thereby acting as a guide through the complexities of English Law.
The clinic will also help with certain pratical tasks such as filling in application forms and dealing
with local authorities. The law clinic thereby provides help for those who would otherwise go unassisted
and does not encroach upon the work of other organisations or the legal profession.
For more information on the history of the Univerity of Bristol Law Clinic, please visit the
Institute for Volunteering Research or
The Journal of the Institute for Volunteering Research Volume 2 Number 3 Autumn 2000
Colin Rochester, University of Surrey, Roehampton