1. Situated Learning through the CLOCK Community Legal Companion Scheme
Conference: University of Portsmouth April 2017
Situated Learning through the CLOCK Community Legal Companion Scheme
Ben Waters
Jeanette Ashton

2. Overview Access to Justice Concerns CLOCK – Background
The Community Legal Companion Role
CLOCK in Kent and Sussex (scheme setting up experiences)
Contextual Application
The Project Research and its Findings (So far)

3. Access to Justice Concerns Some Background
LASPO (2012) - substantial scope cuts to civil legal aid.
The Reality:
- Reduction in legal aid;
- Reduction in local authority funding of advice sector;
- High cost of legal services;
- Reduction in court resources (court closures), (+ higher court
fees);
- The prevailing economic situation.
The Effect: “An arguable Justice Gap”!
LASPO Act 2012, resulted in a cut of £89m pa in legal aid on social welfare law, as well as the reductions in local authority funding of advice and legal support, estimated to be at least £40m pa by 2015.
These cutbacks have destabilised and reduced the advice and legal support sector at a time of increased need.
As a result, instead of saving money, the cutbacks are very likely to end up costing more elsewhere in the system.

4. Low Commission Report 2014 Established in late 2012 by LAG to:
- Collate evidence re demand for advice/support on social welfare law;
- Explore options for future provision and funding;
- Develop a strategy for future provision and funding;
- Make recommendations to Govt.
The Report made 100 recommendations:
including……
University law schools should [through collaborative efforts] further develop the ways in which law students can provide pro bono services, including public legal education.
VERSION.pdf
Established in late 2012 by the Legal Action Group (LAG). Lord Colin Low former academic (Law scholar) Leeds and latterly City University.
Key Findings - cutbacks have:
destabilised and reduced the advice and legal support sector at a time of increased need;
As a result, instead of saving money, the cutbacks are very likely to end up costing more elsewhere in the system.

5. Being a Community Legal Companion
CLCs are collaboratively trained to support community partner services to assist in legal needs re: housing, welfare benefits, private family law.
Through guidance in:
- Form filling and application process;
- Unbundling papers in formal proceedings;
- Note taking;
- Assistance in legal and formal proceedings;
- Signposting/referral.
NB Companions never give advice!

6. CLOCK in Kent and Sussex Setting up the scheme
Initially driven by Kent/Brighton family judges;
Meeting with Keele lead, local judges & practitioners, institutional academic staff;
Key part of legal companion role is signposting: finding legal & third sector partners essential;
Recruiting committed students, more than CV!. Leading to Five day training: academic, legal, third sector, court;
Structures: rota, reporting, an evolving process;
Collaborative approach: Sussex/Brighton/court staff/student volunteers/partners. P

7. The Scheme in Operation
CLCs are allocated to the court rota;
Service Users arrive at Court Help Desk via:
- Phone call/ to CLOCK. Admin notifies CLC on staff desk via ;
- Partner provider referral;
- Attending court for hearing.
Drop in (Brighton);
SUs sign a ‘Community Care Letter’;
Signposting policy - to legal aid franchised firms, affordable fixed fee or pro bono services (e.g. Kent Law Clinic and Sussex Family Law Clinic).
Admin system - clock.uk.net national dataset.
NB only one law firm in Canterbury has a LA franchise for family work. None for other civil work. What about Brighton?
Service users are referred to the CLOCK partnership by:
i) Public access to court legal companion help desk, clock
/phone;
ii) Charitable sector access to legal companion help desk;
iii) Private sector clients referred to private law firms (listed as partners on leaflet).

8. The Research – Questionnaire 1
What does it say about experiential learning?
Responses to:
What motivated you to apply to participate in the CLOCK scheme?
Do you think that volunteering as a CLOCK legal companion will support your academic law studies?
What does it say about developing law students’ employability and readiness for the world of work?
What are your career aspirations?
How do you think volunteering as a CLOCK legal companion could support your
future career?
We should say why we are doing it – what are we hoping to achieve etc?
Findings So Far:
Consideration of the perceptions of the Community Legal Companion role:
Their motivations for volunteering for the scheme;
The preparation and training they received from academic leads, Legal partners; Third sector partners and the courts;
The challenges presented by the role;
The supportive link made to their academic studies and the opportunities for ‘key skills’ acquisition (through experiential learning);
Perceptions of employability enhancement and the likely impact of the role in supporting students’ future careers and their readiness for work, will also be considered.
Responses to Q1
Brighton – 69%
CCCU – 70%
Overall – 69.5%

9. The Findings Sample Responses - Motivators
“[It’s] good experience for what I want to do once I’ve finished university. It is a great chance to gain skills that can help in the workplace.”
“One of the main motivators behind my decision to participate in the CLOCK scheme was an attempt to help those who are in need of support and guidance.”
“I wanted to participate because the programme seemed like a great opportunity to gain work experience while giving back to the community.”
“The practical skills I will learn and the experience that can boost my CV.”
“I [wanted to] get first hand, practical work experience in an area of law I would like to specialise in; family law.”
Themes:
Community support/social justice (Green)
Work experience (Pink)
Practical skills acquisition and work experience (Blue)
CV enhancement (Orange)
Specific legal experience (Lilac)

10. The Findings Sample Responses – Supporting Studies
“Currently I am studying family law….and have found that a lot of family cases have been assisted by the CLOCK scheme. This has allowed me to view the theoretical teachings of this module in practice.”
“I think it will provide me with valuable experience in terms of what to expect when it comes to dealing with real life disputes as well as understanding the legal environment.”
“[Being a Companion] has provided me with knowledge of some of the legal paperwork which I will be dealing with as a solicitor, which I would not have become familiar with through the study of my degree alone.”
“It is putting what we learn about into practice.”
“I have already found that I have used skills that I learned from the dispute resolution module, such as filling out an N1 Claim Form has been useful. It is an opportunity to apply some of the knowledge I have learned to real experiences.”
Themes:
Subject specific – e.g. family law (Blue)
Form familiarisation (N1 Claim Form) (Pink)
Putting theory into practical (Orange)
Reality – real time experience (Green)

11. The Findings Sample Responses – Future Career Support
“I believe that CLOCK will support my future career as a solicitor as it will help me stand out from my peers, help my experience in the legal sector & communication with individuals in difficult situations.”
“I believe volunteering as a CLC for CLOCK will help my LPC applications and give me something interesting and relevant to discuss in interviews.”
“The programme helped me to know more about the procedures when bringing a claim to court. As a solicitor, I will be talking to clients and helping them fill forms in some cases. The CLOCK programme is directly tailored to the experience I need.”
“Dealing with the service users, gaining experiences with an office environment and dealing with paper work are useful skills for me to have.”
“I’m looking to go into the police side of the Law, this has taught me how to be more personable and confident with talking to the public, as well as useful court experience.”
Themes:
Future career support as a lawyer (Blue)
Assist with applications (further study/jobs) (Green)
Procedural justice - knowledge and awareness (Pink)
Experience of court and office environment (Orange)
Confidence (Lilac)

12. The Findings Sample Responses – Career Aspirations
“I want to be a lawyer, I am currently applying for LPC’s and having the companion scheme on my CV will be invaluable.”
“I’m looking into helping youth offenders and having practical experience with a variety of people and cases should support this.”
“I would like to have a career at the Bar. CLOCK will support this by giving me great opportunity and experience which will help me to stand out for future employers, scholarship boards and law schools.”
“I am unsure, however it is giving me experience in different areas of Law. It has actually showed me that I don’t want to go into property or the majority of the areas we work with. I want to go into criminal.”
“My career aspirations are to eventually become a practicing Solicitor.”
Themes:
Uncertainty (Pink)
Solicitor (Blue)
Barrister (Orange)
Other (Green)

13. The Research – Questionnaire 2 (After 3 months)
What does it say about experiential learning?
What have you most/least enjoyed?
Has the role supported your academic studies?
Has the role helped you develop key skills?
Focus Group
Involving a group of 6 Brighton Companions.
Responses to Q2
Brighton – 71%
CCCU – 49%
Overall – 60%

14. The Findings Sample Responses
“It enables us to understand the court process better than fellow law students who are not part of the scheme.”
“I’ve already been asked about it at interviews and it is a very interesting talking point.” 
“It’s helped me to apply skills I have already and to use them in a novel situation.”
“[CLOCK] has made me more organised and given me a professional work ethic that I can apply to my studies.”
“it is very rewarding to be a small part of making such a stressful and complicated process more transparent and manageable.”
Employability / CV enhancement: (Green)
“Not only does it look good on your CV, but CLOCK has helped develop key skills which employers look for: client contact/customer care; organisational skills; professionalism”
“I’ve already been asked about it at interviews and it is a very interesting talking point.  Additionally, it enables us to understand the court process better than fellow law students who are not part of the scheme.”
Community support: (Blue)
“it is very rewarding to be a small part of making such a stressful and complicated process more transparent and manageable”
“the sheer feeling you get from helping people and even just supporting them and talking through things makes me feel like I’m making a difference (be it a cliché)”
Supporting academic studies: (Pink)
“[CLOCK] has made me more organised and given me a professional work ethic that I can apply to my studies.”
“It has taught me how precise legal language must be and [the] importance of condensing an argument.”
“It’s been a great insight into the barriers faced by those accessing the courts/justice system, or trying to.”
Skills development: (Yellow)
“It’s helped me to apply skills I have already and to use them in a novel situation e.g. when a litigant comes into the room, you have no advance notice of what he/she will need help with, and it’s essential to be calm, inspire confidence, listen and fully grasp the issues before jumping in.”

15. The Findings Sample Responses – Focus Group
“It’s good to get involved in the community.” P
“We are a bridge.”
“Applying the theory to the practice, it’s very exciting.”
“[Being a Companion] makes me want to learn, [it] motivates me.”

16. Contextual Application
Of experiential (situated) learning, clinical legal education, employability and communities of practice;
The pedagogical link. Literature grounds
our theories;
- Kolb (the learning cycle);
- Moon (reflective/experiential learning);
- Dewey (active/experiential learning).
Employability. More recently this has attracted academic commentary;
- Bermingham (Kingston - what lawyers want);
- Dickinson/Griffiths (Sheffield Hallam - embedding employability);
- Baron/Corbin (La Trobe Melbourne - communities of practice.).
Translation of theory into practice
Paul McKeown, (Northumbria University), UK – The Northumbria Study into volunteering and pro bono work, 2016.
Jill Alexander, Carol Boothby (Northumbria University) Impact of clinical education on employability, 2016

17. Any Questions?
Responses to Q2
Brighton – 71%
CCCU – awaited