The Criminal Justice Clinic is an opportunity not to be missed

'Team Kintsugi' from the Criminal Justice project write about their experiences and how it's an opportunity not to be missed.

Co-authored by ‘Team Kintsugi’ who are:

Kathryn Der Gregorian, Amy Klosek, James Waghorn

As level three law students studying at The Open University, when the opportunity arose to participate in a pro bono criminal appeals project run by the Criminal Justice Clinic, it was an opportunity that was too good to miss.

We entered the project with open minds and open hearts, knowing that what we would be dealing with was a matter that had greatly affected a person's life. However, it is fair to say that none of us knew what we were getting ourselves into embarking on this challenge. But after some excellent training, within a couple of weeks, we were working remotely but collaboratively to establish the knowledge and intent of a defendant convicted under the doctrine of joint enterprise.

When beginning our journey as a group, we came together with many ideas of how to tackle the issue we were dealing with. Is there a prospect of appeal against sentencing and or conviction? We were fortunate that this was not our first foray into a group project, as we had all been separately working on a tutor-marked assignment in which we had to script a podcast with other students from our tutor group. This work provided us with some essential organisation and teamwork skills we now had the opportunity to build on. However, what was new for us was working under and regularly reporting to a supervising solicitor. This motivated us to make sure all the work we were doing was up to a professional standard and reassured us we would be guided in the right direction.

We started the project as a group of six, getting to know each other the best we could and deciding how we wanted to take our first steps. However, we slowly found ourselves dwindling to just a team of three. While this may seem like it would apply extra pressure, we found that we were becoming more tight-knit as a group as our numbers went down. As a result, we felt very comfortable sharing ideas and were not afraid to challenge each other to establish the best way to tackle specific parts of our work. 

Due to the other commitments that we all have, such as family, work, and studying, we all found ourselves in moments where we felt we couldn’t complete our tasks. However, this never became an issue as we had regular online meetings in the secure chat room provided to discuss the case, ensure we were keeping on track, redelegate tasks if not and check that everyone was feeling okay. Welfare checks were important. Not only were we all taking on a heavier workload, but we also learned during training the impact of vicarious trauma and the case we were working on, due to its serious nature, had the potential to cause distress. 

Despite this, the meetings always remained light-hearted. We would also have general chit-chat between ourselves about many topics, such as; our other work with The Open University, our family life, and what we had planned for the rest of the day. We always ensured that when we ended our group meetings, we reassured each other that if anybody was ever struggling to reach out. We found that catching up helped keep morale high and maintained our bond as a group, which we all agreed was especially important with the lack of social contact that we had all faced over the past two years.

We also felt highly supported by our supervising solicitor and designated caseworker. Regular meetings with the supervising solicitor and caseworker were always reassuring as not only were we learning new professional skills, such as using a case management system or drafting legal advice, but we were also handling a real-life case. In the meetings, it was always made clear that the door was open for us to contact anyone from the Criminal Justice Clinic team if we felt that we needed to talk.

We strongly believe that if an opportunity to join the Criminal Justice Clinic is available in the future, anyone interested in a career in law should take it. Working with the clinic provides valuable experience and skills not available within standard law modules for your CV and great opportunities for discussion at interviews. However, working with the Criminal Justice Clinic is not just an excellent career opportunity. The criminal justice system is chronically underfunded, meaning the most vulnerable in our society are denied access to justice. Working with the Criminal Justice Clinic allows you to use your legal knowledge to give those who feel they are not being heard a voice, uphold the rule of law and fight against justice being available only to those who can afford it.

Image credit: Clara Molden / PA Archive / Press Association Images / Universal Images Group

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