Keshya is a first-year law student, who volunteered with Kent Law Clinic in early 2023. She has been kind enough to share her thoughts on the volunteering experience.
Typically, students who sign up for volunteering sessions come into the Clinic at the same time each week, for a half-term block period. As Keshya demonstrates below, volunteers perform a number of tasks that are essential to both the functioning of the Clinic and their own future legal careers, including obtaining more information from clients or new enquiries by phone or email, assisting Clinic staff on live cases, research, as well as performing general or administrative tasks to help with the running of the Clinic.
I signed up to volunteer for Kent Law Clinic mainly because I had interned at a not-for-profit organisation in my home country of Sri Lanka, and I found that helping clients who relied on operations like the Clinic to be extremely interesting and rewarding. My lecturers and seminar leaders had also encouraged us to volunteer at the clinic as it is an extremely useful introductory insight on how the law is applied within the real world.
At the Clinic, I was given the chance to practice my communication skills as I was tasked with calling clients and gathering more information on their legal problem. As a first-year law student, I found this extremely useful as communication is a large part of being a lawyer, so it was helpful to try it out so early in my degree. Additionally, I also had to draft emails when clients did not answer the phone, so I was also able to practice writing formal emails, another skill that is necessary as I progress in my legal career.
My time volunteering at the Clinic was always interesting as I got to deal with enquiries that focused on different types of law such as family law and civil disputes. This enabled me to better understand which types of law I find interesting and would potentially want to get more involved with.
My experience at the Clinic was a very positive one as I got to develop skills that would help me throughout my law degree and after I graduate. I was also supervised by a member of clinic staff, Vicki, who helped me with my tasks. I found this very helpful as she gave me feedback on my performance and shared tips when writing emails and speaking to clients over the phone.
As a law student I greatly enjoyed my volunteer sessions at the Clinic and found it to be very insightful.