This week’s Tuesday meeting at Kent Law Clinic was led by the newly-elected Student Committee, chaired by Emily Ham.
Student Committee updates:
- The Makeni Kent Project: an ongoing international collaboration between staff and students at Kent and a Law Clinic at the University of Makeni (UniMak) in Sierra Leone. Bonds between the two Law Clinics were strengthened earlier this year after Kent students raised money to fund a visit by UniMak staff and students to the Canterbury campus. The Student Committee is keen to build on the success of the project, encourage more law students to get involved and produce a report that will help support a bid to raise further funds for more exchange visits
- Social media promotion: The Committee will be working with the Law School’s Communications Team to create Law Clinic related content (including video) for distribution across the Law School’s social media channels which include Instagram, Facebook and Twitter
- Case discussion meetings: The Committee plan to establish an additional regular meeting to enable more law students to get involved with discussions of cases taken on by the Clinic. Details of where and when will follow soon.
Law Clinic case updates:
- Immigration case: Law Clinic Immigration Caseworker Richard Warren invited law student Meka to report on a phone call she had taken during her reception hour. The call had come from a British national (born in Kenya) who entered the UK for the first time earlier this summer (on a valid British passport) to visit family only to be detained as an illegal entrant. The meeting debated the difference between a British National and a British Citizen. Richard will be reporting back at a future Clinic meeting on the progress of the case once further enquiries have been made
- Wedding case: Law Clinic Director Graham Tegg gave an update on the wedding case the Clinic has taken on – a team of students has now met with the client and defence for the claim against her small business has been filed with the court, together with a counter claim
- Child tax credits case: Graham also reported on a child tax credits case the Clinic has been working on for some time for clients affected by an error of law. Students from UniMak helped write submissions during their visit to Kent for a hearing that was subsequently postponed. A new hearing date has been set at Ashford Tribunal Centre for 12 November. Graham will be working with a group of five students to determine final submissions. This will involve reading technical legislation, thinking creatively about the law and formulating a cogent argument – all great skills for aspiring lawyers.
Forthcoming Law Clinic events:
- Friday 30 November in the Moot Room – an interactive debate on the rights of EU nationals in the UK post-Brexit
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.