Legal aid reforms open the door to student lawyers

Are you a law student? Do you think that the legal aid reforms are all bad news? Let me try to change your mind.

I suppose it is fair to say that the reforms coming into force on 1 April are, on the face of it, closing a lot of doors. The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 will restrict the access to justice initiative which mostly finds its origins in the post-war Legal Advice and Assistance Act 1949 - legislation that formed the basis for modern legal aid.

However, it's not all doom and gloom. The increased financial constraints on high-street firms mean that many legal aid clients will find themselves without the free legal advice that they were once entitled to. Does this mean that they should go without advice? No chance. My belief is that students can help fill the gap left by the legal aid reforms by working in law clinics.

Law clinics

When one door closes, another opens. As more people will soon be unable to pay for legal advice, the need for pro bono legal advisers will rise. Student-staffed law clinics will therefore be more essential and hopefully more accessible than ever.

For those who don't know, a law clinic is a body of 'student lawyers' within a university who advise local people, or exclusively the university community, on real legal problems, usually restricted to non-contentious and relatively straightforward issues. There are no appeals to the Supreme Court, unfortunately.

This means that there are a lot of landlord and tenant disputes, small claims civil matters and negligence issues. The work undertaken by law clinics is endless and involves diverse and unexpected areas of law that are often outside students' normal studies, but well within their ability to research.

Mutual benefit

Even if the problem turns out to be something that is just too complicated for students to resolve, the resulting advice letter may be exactly what that client needs to give an instructed solicitor as a shortcut to the heart of the problem. The system can benefit all parties; the solicitors save valuable time, the clients save money and the students gain practical experience.

Of course there are many other ways of volunteering your legal knowledge to those who cannot afford to pay as a private client. The Citizens Advice Bureau seems to be a favourite among law students, but my personal recommendation is still to try working in a law clinic. In a clinic, you will usually be given frequent supervision and direction by a qualified lawyer, which means that your advice will need to be fully researched and accurate to avoid negligence.

Filling the gap

So here's the big question: can law students really plug the gap left by the shrinking of the legal aid sector? Obviously students cannot take the place of qualified lawyers, but that's no reason not to get involved!

My view is that if students did not volunteer, the problem would only grow. Access to justice would be frustrated even more by a shortage of pro bono initiatives.

With more people being simultaneously unable to afford legal advice and unable to turn to legal aid, students can at least cushion the blow of the legal aid cuts. The opportunities for students to get involved with law clinics while at university will hopefully grow following the reforms, something which is brilliant for students, the community and the whole legal profession.

Here are my key reasons as to why having students 'filling the gap' will be so beneficial:

• The impact on access to justice will be lessened by the student body's support.
• Local communities will be able to seek preliminary legal advice from a law clinic before considering further legal action.
• Students will benefit from having their legal studies contextualised by real-life cases.
• New trainees will be more practically experienced and accustomed to applying their knowledge to real situations.

Pro bono work is ideal for any wannabe lawyer. It is necessary, beneficial and, above all, good fun! You'll also be relieving a lot of strain on the legal profession due to the legal aid cuts and it will give you peace of mind as to whether a career in law is definitely for you.

Clinical legal education was also given support at a recent Law Society conference. If you're still uncertain as to whether you think pro bono is for you, I will leave you with a quote from the Law Society president, Lucy Scott-Moncrieff: "[Clinical education] teaches you how to be a lawyer and it teaches you about the realities of access to justice and its importance to the rule of law[…] Your experience in clinic will radicalise you and make you a life-long champion for justice and access to it for all."

Louis Harman is a law student.