Lawzone: Mapping unmet legal need

Abstract

Mapping unmet legal need assists university law clinics plan activities to meet the needs of the communities they serve.  This article, by looking at a project where students started mapping unmet legal need in their locality, will consider the pedagogical issues associated with identifying unmet legal need and how it might enable university law clinics to be better embedded into their local communities by considering aspects of physical and human geography when considering injustice.  It will also look at exiting research methodologies in this area and how mapping unmet legal need can develop students’ empirical research skills.  The article also assesses the project’s aims to develop attributes such as entrepreneurship, as well utilising teaching practices such as visualisation to enable students to think spatially to perceive and understand social inequalities more clearly.  It will argue that involving students in mapping unmet legal need will help them make those services more accessible; devise holistic solutions to clients’ problems; and enable them to work more effectively with other disciplines to both their own and their clients’ benefit.