The role of the Policy Clinic: Advancing students' social justice ethos and the value of research collaboration to students, staff and the wider community

The authors of this paper are clinic supervisors at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne, England and Leeds Beckett University, England. The authors are involved in the teaching and development of their university’s respective Policy Clinics. The Policy Clinic allows students to engage in a different kind of clinical legal education. Instead of advising clients on legal issues, students undertake empirical and desk-based research for individuals and organisations. Students work with their clients to consider what laws may require reform and what that reform might look like. In the authors’ Policy Clinic, the students have collaborated with other universities in the UK and abroad on a range of research projects, allowing them to work with other students, extending their networks. Policy Clinics aim to develop the students’ academic and practical skills, but it does this in a different way and we have highlighted in our previous study the value of this approach to the students, the staff and wider community (Dunn et al, 2020).

Drawing on data obtained during the years 2019-2021, this paper will explore how Policy Clinics promote student engagement and build connections. Data has been obtained from both staff and students working in the Policy Clinic, who participated in focus groups and the students also completed a survey. The authors’ Policy Clinic enjoy strong partnerships with a variety of clients and has developed links with charities and other organisations and individuals that have a research need. This paper will outline the types of projects which the students have worked on and the relationships which have developed. The authors will also explore how Policy Clinics advance students’ social justice ethos and the value of research collaboration to the students, the staff and wider community. This paper will benefit all those who undertake Policy Clinic work and those who wish to set up a Policy Clinic.