From Construction Sites to Open Justice: Putting Law into Practice

Open Justice alumni and award winner Myles Mulcahy writes about his International Law project with the South Asia Democratic Forum in this blog written for Pro Bono Week 2026.

When I started my LLB, after many years working in construction and project management, I expected to spend a great deal of time reading cases, learning legal principles and trying to understand how those principles fitted together. What I did not expect was the opportunity, during my third year, to contribute to a project dealing with a real international legal issue.

That opportunity came through the Open Justice Centre at The Open University and its International Law Project.

As part of an International Law team, we undertook our project with the South Asia Democratic Forum (SADF). We looked at the position of minority communities in Bangladesh and considered how legal reform might provide greater protection. Our work developed into proposed legislation addressing minority protection, anti-discrimination and the establishment of a Minority Commission.

What made the project very different from an ordinary university assignment was the opportunity to speak directly with people who had experience of the issues we were researching. This included interviewing people affected by discrimination and violence, as well as legal practitioners and others working within this area.

For me, the interviews became one of the most important parts of the project.

Interviewing somebody about their real experiences is very different from reading about those experiences in a textbook or report. We had to learn how to prepare appropriate questions, how to follow an unexpected answer and, importantly, when not to interrupt. I quickly realised that interviewing is as much about listening as asking questions.

That sounds obvious, but in practice it is a skill. There is a temptation to concentrate on the next question or the legal point you want to explore. Sometimes the more useful approach was simply to listen and allow the person to explain their experience in their own way.

Those conversations also changed how I looked at the research. Legal protections can appear quite comprehensive when legislation is read in isolation. Hearing about the practical difficulties people face when trying to rely on those protections raised questions about enforcement, accessibility, and whether institutions can provide effective remedies.

As an LLB student, this made me think much more carefully about the difference between having a legal right and being able to exercise it.

Our task was then to take what we had learned from interviews, legal research and discussions with SADF and turn it into something practical. We had to consider not simply what legislation should say, but how it might operate. That included questions around enforcement, institutional responsibility and accountability.

Perhaps one lesson from my previous career remained relevant. In construction, something can work perfectly on a drawing but encounter difficulties when someone has to build it. I began to see a similar issue with legislation. A proposal can appear convincing on paper, but ultimately somebody must make it work.

The project also taught me how to work within a legal team. We did not always approach an issue from the same direction. That was valuable. We had to discuss different interpretations, challenge each other’s reasoning and eventually agree what should appear in the final work.

Being selected for the Best Team Contribution to Open Justice Award 2026 was therefore a very welcome conclusion to the project. It also feels appropriate that it is a team award, because what we produced depended upon collaboration and the different perspectives brought to the project.

More importantly, Open Justice changed my understanding of what studying law could involve. For the first time, I was not simply analysing legislation, cases or a hypothetical problem. I listened to people affected by the issues, spoke with those working in the field, and then considered how law might respond.

As I complete my LLB and look towards professional training and, ultimately, practice at the Bar, that experience will stay with me. Legal knowledge matters, but this project taught me something equally important: before trying to formulate an answer, you must first learn how to listen.