Teaching firm at Nottingham Law School rebrands as NLS Legal

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Nottingham Law School (NLS) has rebranded its award-winning teaching law firm to reflect its status as a regulated law firm. NLS legal offers a range of services to the community, with students supervised by a small team of experienced lawyers.

The firm was set up in 2015, as an alternative business structure (ABS) and was the first ‘teaching law firm’ of its kind. Nottingham Law School students assist on a range of legal areas, including employment, family, housing, business, civil litigation, intellectual property, special educational needs and disability, welfare benefits and victims’ rights.

As part of its responsibilities, the firm also provides several public legal education sessions each year, to raise awareness of legal rights and responsibilities. As well as helping students to gain much needed legal experience, NLS Legal helps those in most need of legal aid. In the past seven years, the firms the team has secured financial awards totalling more than £5.5 million for its clients.

Laura Pinkney, head of NLS Legal, said: “When we launched as an ABS, we were the only firm of its type in the UK and this model remains rare both in the UK and internationally. As a law firm with a difference, we pride ourselves on providing high quality legal services, promoting access to justice and supporting the development of our students.

“We now offer such a full range of support covering many areas of the law that we felt the time was right for a name change to reflect the services we offer as a fully regulated not-for-profit law firm.”

As a not-for-profit teaching law firm with charitable status, NLS Legal was the UK’s first law firm fully integrated into a law school when it obtained an ABS licence in 2015.