The Impact of Policy Work on Employability Skills in the Policy Project Connected to the Criminal Appeals Clinic at the Open University

Abstract

The impact of policy work in allowing students to obtain skills in case work should not be understated.  At the Open University (OU) one of our modules on our law degree incorporates clinical legal education.  The Criminal Justice Clinic (CJC) is a digital clinic that sits within that.  The purpose of the CJC is to assist clients that state they have been wrongly convicted of serious criminal offences and are serving long sentences in prison.  It aims to assist with social justice and provide students with professional skills.  Students research and advise on live criminal cases under the supervision of a solicitor.  They apply legal principles to determine whether there are any grounds for an appeal to be made.  Students have full access to case papers.  It is an innovative project as it aims to teach students legal professional skills working on difficult cases in a digital only setting.  

Last year we set up a system where students undertake a policy project before commencing work in the clinic.  This assists them with acquiring the skills that they need when they work on live criminal cases and helps them understand the background to what they are doing.  Students were split into groups and given a policy project to look at and at the end they provided a report. They worked collaboratively to do so and needed to complete the project within a specific time frame. This paper looks at the practicalities of doing such a project digitally and considers the impact on employability skills.