Abstract
Mapping unmet legal need assists university law clinics plan activities to meet the needs of the communities they serve. This article, by looking at a project where students started mapping unmet legal need in their locality, will consider the pedagogical issues associated with identifying unmet legal need and how it might enable university law clinics to be better embedded into their local communities by considering aspects of physical and human geography when considering injustice. It will also look at exiting research methodologies in this area and how mapping unmet legal need can develop students’ empirical research skills. The article also assesses the project’s aims to develop attributes such as entrepreneurship, as well utilising teaching practices such as visualisation to enable students to think spatially to perceive and understand social inequalities more clearly. It will argue that involving students in mapping unmet legal need will help them make those services more accessible; devise holistic solutions to clients’ problems; and enable them to work more effectively with other disciplines to both their own and their clients’ benefit.
Highlights
This article, by looking at a project where students started mapping unmet legal need in their locality, will consider the pedagogical issues associated with identifying unmet legal need and how it might enable university law clinics to be better embedded into their local communities by considering aspects of physical and human geography when considering injustice
There are a number of related theories which reflect this idea such as rebellious lawyering: empowering clients through grassroots, community based advocacy in low income communities, facilitated by lawyers, to bring about meaningful social change; and client-centred lawyering: the idea that clients should be the primary decision-maker in determining the direction of their legal case or transaction, whereas their advisers should maintain the appearance of neutrality and be as Reviewed Article – Clinic, the University and Society objective as possible
Both theories are united in their belief that the lawyer, and by extension the law clinic, must be strongly embedded in their local communities and serving their legal needs. What are those needs, when can they be defined as legal needs, and why is this of interest? If there is unmet legal need that should be of concern to us as citizens, as it undermines the rule of law; it should be of concern to the legal profession as it shows their services are inaccessible to a section of the public; and it should be of concern to policymakers as it reveals that a section of the public are unable to access the advice they need in order to allow policies to achieve their objectives
Summary
Reviewed Article – Clinic , the University and Society Hythe areas of Colchester where many students live, as well as the pedagogical issues involved in clinic students assessing unmet legal needs. Reviewed Article – Clinic , the University and Society in the collection of data; it develops their entrepreneurial skills as they seek to devise innovative methods to their community’s challenges; and it will make them think of the need to work in an interdisciplinary way in order to devise solutions to the complex, multifaceted and interconnected problems that communities face.
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