Undergraduate Module Descriptor

LAW3167: Access to Justice Clinic

This module descriptor refers to the 2018/9 academic year.

Module Aims

In this module, you will develop valuable skills such as interviewing and counselling, public speaking, and client record keeping, and gain a broader understanding of what access to justice really means. Through studying the legal system in the areas of criminal justice, housing, benefits and employment law, you will learn to identify the barriers to justice. In identifying these barriers, you will discuss and develop pathways for individuals to access justice. You will also learn how to explain complex legal information to laypersons as part of creating this access to justice.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills	1. Demonstrate detailed knowledge of the means through which access to justice can be facilitated, and a substantial range of major relevant concepts and issues 2. Critically evaluate the extent to which access to justice is facilitated in the UK 3. Demonstrate critical awareness of the social and contextual implications of access to justice 4. Identify, explain and evaluate key issues relating to access to justice
Discipline-Specific Skills	5. Demonstrate detailed knowledge and understanding of a range of legal concepts, values, principles, institutions and procedures, and the ability to explain the relationships among them, as well as their limits 6. Demonstrate detailed knowledge of legal concepts and their contextual/social/political implications 7. Demonstrate flexible capacity to define complex legal problems, identify their relative significance and select appropriate methods for investigating and critically evaluating them 8. Select, integrate and present coherently and reflectively, orally and in writing, relevant law and legal/theoretical arguments
Personal and Key Skills	9. Interact effectively and proactively within a team/learning group, to share information and ideas, and to manage conflict 10. Manage relevant learning resources/ information/ learning strategies and to develop own arguments and opinions with minimum guidance 11. Communicate and engage in debate effectively and accurately, orally and in writing, in a manner appropriate to the discipline/ different contexts 12. Plan and undertake tasks, individually and with others, with minimum guidance, to reflect critically on the learning process and make use of feedback 13. Identify, retrieve and use efficiently a range of library-based and electronic resources with minimum guidance

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

It is envisaged that the syllabus will include the following topics, although precise content and order may vary.

Legal FAQs, forms and recourse
Criminal justice, housing, disability, benefits and employment law
Poverty, (mental) health, race and ethnicity, gender, age and the law

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
58	242	0

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity	22	22 x 1 hour Lectures
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity	18	9 x 2 hour seminars
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity	18	9 x 2 hour public legal surgeries
Guided Independent Study	142	Individual reading, research and study: lecture, seminar and surgery preparation and consolidation
Guided Independent Study	80	Summative assessment preparation
Guided Independent Study	20	Formative assessment preparation

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

How this Module is Assessed

In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.

Formative Assessment

A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Group Public Information Leaflet	2 sides of A5	1-14	Group written feedback
Essay plan	500 words	1-8, 10-14	Individual written feedback

Summative Assessment

A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
55	0	45

...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Attendance at public surgeries	10	10 hours (minimum)	1-14	Individual written feedback
Written case study essay	35	2,000 words	1-8, 10-14	Individual written feedback
Individual oral presentation	35	15 minutes	1-8, 10-14	Individual written feedback
Reflective portfolio	20	1,200 words	1-14	Individual written feedback
	0
	0

Re-assessment

Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
Attendance at public surgeries	Attendance at public surgeries	1-14	June-September
Written case study essay	Written case study essay (2000 words)	1-8, 10-14	August/September re-assessment period
Individual oral presentation	Individual oral presentation	1-8, 10-14	August/September re-assessment period
Reflective portfolio	Reflective portfolio	1-8, 10-14	August/September re-assessment period

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Bloch F, The Global Clinical Movement: Educating Lawyers for Social Justice (Oxford University Press, 2010)

Finch E & Fafinski S, Legal Skills (Oxford University Press, 2015)

Keats D, Interviewing: A Practical Guide For Students And Professionals (Open University Press, 2001)

Keyzer P, Kenworthy A & Wilson G (eds) Community Engagement in Contemporary Legal Education: Pro Bono, Clinical Legal Education and Service Learning (Halstead Press, 2007)

Giddings J, Promoting Justice through Clinical Legal Education (Justice Press, 2013)

Griffiths Baker J, ‘Ethical Education through the Student Law Clinic’ 5(1) (2002) Legal Ethics 24

Pleasence P & Balmer NJ, ‘Mental Health and the Experience of Housing Rights Problems’ 2(1) (2007) People, Place and Policy, pp 4-16.

Pleasence P & Balmer NJ, ‘Mental Health and the Experience of Social Problems Involving Rights: Findings from the United Kingdom and New Zealand’ 16(1) (2009) Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, pp 123-140.

Pleasence P & Balmer NJ, ‘The Audacity of Justice: Recession, Redundancy, Rights and Legal Aid’ 9(4) (2010) Social Policy and Society pp 475-488