University students to fill legal aid gap

updated on 21 December 2020

University students are playing an important role in providing free legal aid as law schools forecast a rise in demand for pro bono support, following unmet need and the ongoing impact of legal aid cuts.

The number of law schools offering or undertaking pro bono work has increased from 41% in 2000 to 64%, according to a survey by LawWorks and the Clinical Legal Education Organisation.

Of the law schools that responded to the survey, 90% revealed that they expect to see greater demand for their school’s pro bono services before explaining that properly funded legal aid can not be substituted by this student support.

Alasdair Douglas, LawWorks chair, said: “The pro bono work being carried out by law students across the country is remarkable, and it is clear that these students, with the supervision of qualified lawyers, are playing an ever-more significant role in the delivery of free advice to those in need – particularly in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic.”

Student-run advice centres opened at Kings College London, the University of Bolton and the University of Salford in 2019 in an effort to fill the legal aid gap.