This week’s Tuesday meeting at Kent Law Clinic was led by the Student Committee Chair Emily Ham.
Student Committee updates:
- Clinic Committee email: The Law Clinic’s Student Committee has a new email address – email klcsc@kent.ac.uk with your pictures, concerns, suggestions etc
- Student Committee social event: the possibility of holding a fundraising social event (such as a pub quiz) and inviting Kent Law School student societies & staff was discussed. Details to follow soon.
Law Clinic case updates:
- Enquiries this week: 63 enquiries have come into the Clinic this week
- Housing case: one of the Clinic’s recent enquiries is from a client who has only just discovered (during the course of applying for a loan) that his former landlord has obtained a County Court Judgment (CCJ) against him for £30,000. The CCJ relates to a rented property that the client left two years ago following the breakdown of the hot water and heating system. Clinic Solicitor Vivien Gambling led a discussion about tenancy agreements (the contract between a landlord and the tenant), Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the obligations of landlords to carry out repairs, and how to apply to set aside the judgment using the Civil Procedure Rules. Vivien invited a small number of law students to attend her first meeting with the client on Thursday
- Clinic Director Graham Tegg asked students with tenancy agreements to read them and report back at next week’s meeting on their understanding of the differing duties placed on tenants and landlords
- Wedding case: Graham reported that this case will be going to trial in February and invited students interested in getting involved to contact him
- Tax credits case: The case (involving an error in the law with respect to child tax credits) was heard at Ashford Tribunal Centre on Monday but was lost as the judge was bound by a decision of the higher court. However, the judge praised the Clinic’s argument and the Clinic will now make an appeal to challenge the decision of the higher court. The case is emblematic of 27,000 other similar cases and, if the Clinic were to win an appeal in the higher court, the Government could potentially face a total payout of £1.7 billion – students interested in getting involved with this case are encourage to sign up on the Clinic noticeboard.
To keep up-to-date with all the latest news and events from the Law Clinic, keep an eye on the Clinic noticeboard (in the main office of the Clinic) and/or subscribe to the Clinic mailing list: kls-clinic@kent.ac.uk
All are welcome to attend the Law Clinic’s weekly meetings held at 2pm on Tuesdays in term time.