Success for clients through law student Letter Writing Clinic
Access Social Care, working in partnership with University of York, have piloted a Letter Writing Clinic where law students support Access Social Care clients to write a letter to their local authority about their social care issues.
Students receive Care Act training and are supported by Access Social Care throughout the process, to enable them to provide one off assistance to clients. Students talk to the client at length, either on the phone or via Zoom and use the information they gather to generate a template letter using Access’ award-winning legal advice chatbot ‘AccessAva.’ The template letter is then amended to produce a bespoke letter for the client to send out to the local authority to try to resolve their social care issue.
It is hoped that the student clinic will raise awareness of community care law as a potential career pathway. Unlike other areas of law, community care law is not generally covered by universities in their law courses. The lack of awareness about community care law is a contributing factor in the decline of community care law as a specialism for aspiring lawyers. It is hoped that the Letter Writing Clinic will ignite the interest of law students in community care law and encourage them to want to specialise in this area when they qualify.
The Letter Writing Clinic has also been developed to compliment Access’ award-winning legal advice chatbot ‘AccessAva.’ The students provide additional support to people who are unable to use Ava and thus lets them benefit from the legal advice given online by AccessAva.
Access’ Pro Bono Manager, Danielle Zeider who set up the clinic explains why it is so important to students and Access:
“The clinic is providing an opportunity for students to learn about community care law and put their learning into practice in a real life situation. The clinic also enables Access Social Care to assist more clients in a timely manner.”
104 applications to take part!
York Law School had an unbelievable 104 applications to volunteer for the clinic! Of these, 15 were selected to take part in the clinic. Dr Jed Meers, Senior Lecture at York Law School who has been instrumental in facilitating the clinic, is very pleased with how the pilot is going:
“The clinic is giving students a great opportunity to learn about community care law and develop soft skills such as effective communication skills and letter writing skills. It is really popular with the students.”
The Letter Writing Clinic has recorded its first successful outcome which has led to a client being repaid a significant sum of money as a result of a missed direct payment from last year. The missed payment has meant the person with social care needs has had to miss out on taking part in activities such as swimming lessons, that are crucial to their wellbeing. The care plan of the person with social care needs is also going to be reviewed to make sure that their needs are being fully met. The outcome was achieved within 2 weeks of the letter being sent! The payment now means the client can re-start the activities that were so beneficial to their wellbeing.
The students involved in this case worked hard to obtain relevant information and write a robust letter citing the law to achieve the positive outcome for the client. Esme Edwards, the student who wrote the letter, explains what motivated her to take part in the clinic and what her experience was like:
“I was really excited when I saw that this opportunity was available as community care law is not an area currently covered by my degree and so allowed me the opportunity to explore an area of law I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. I found it really rewarding to be able to talk to and support the client with their issue, and then see the positive impact our letter had had on their case. I thoroughly enjoyed my time volunteering for this clinic.”
Want to get involved?
We are keen to hear from universities with an interest in offering this opportunity to their students. We want to shape the programme in a way that best meets the needs of students and institutions so that these lawyers of the future can make a real difference in this important area of work.
Email miriam.valencia@accesscharity.org.uk to arrange a conversation about how we can support law students with an interest in this career pathway.