All news and blog posts

The Centre has joined forces with the MP for Rossendale and Darwin, Jake Berry; Rawtenstall Unitarian Church; and University of Lancaster Law School to offer legal advice to the community. There were successful sessions in January (pictured) and February, with a third one scheduled for Friday 20 March ( this was cancelled due to Covid-19 but we hope to reschedule asap). OU Law students were interviewed on their involvement for BBC Radio Lancashire.

The Open Justice Centre is the first UK university to use legal automation platform Josef to educate Law students, as part of its Digital Justice project. In collaboration with Josef, final year OU Law students are spending 12 weeks designing and building a legal bot (software application) that addresses an area of legal need, such as domestic violence or divorce.

The Open Justice Centre has been shortlisted for the inaugural Thomson Reuters ‘Teaching Law with Technology Prize’ which celebrates innovation and creativity in teaching law with technology.

In this guest blog post Professor Suzanne Rab reflects on human rights, diversity and inclusion in the UK in the wake of the UK’s departure from the EU on 31 January 2020.

Undergraduates from the UK and overseas will be wondering about the implications of Brexit for human rights, equality and diversity law and practice in universities.

Francine Ryan, Senior Lecturer in Law and Co-Director of the Open Justice Centre, has been nominated for a prestigious Law Teacher of the Year Award. Sponsored by Oxford University Press (OUP), the Award is designed to recognise exceptional teachers in the legal field and Francine is one of six shortlisted.

W360 ‘Justice in action’ offers some excellent opportunities to work in communities and give back some of what you have learnt as well as developing those skills you may have newly found. Daniel Doody writes about his experiences of volunteering with Citizens Advice. 

In this guest blog post Professor Suzanne Rab reflects on the opportunities for the practice of EU law for academics and practitioners in the UK and in the wake of the UK’s departure from the EU on 31 January 2020.

Having relished the academic experience of my OU LLB and with the finish line in sight, I was keen to get stuck into some practical ‘lawyering’.  Justice in Action (W360) offered an array of exciting pro bono activities.  Regrettably, practicalities limited my involvement to the online environment, but the innovative course allowed for this and I selected the Open Justice Mediation Project.

I embarked on W360 with a naive view. I had no idea of the political reliance on pro bono and no foresight regarding the profession’s obligations or the diversity of work involved.

My understanding of the value of pro bono legal work has developed in light of my work for the Freedom Law Clinic (FLC) in relation to social justice, personal enrichment, and professional aspirations.

When I signed up for W360: Justice in Action and the pro bono activities, I was driven by selfish motives. I viewed pro bono as an easy option to gain practical experience and remedy the lack of legal work experience on my CVI chose to work at Citizen’s Advice (CAB). I thought this would be interesting, and it was. However, volunteering at CAB unexpectedly changed my whole perspective on pro bono.