Local Lawyers in Schools is an exciting new project from the Citizenship Foundation that facilitates links between legal professionals and schools in the community they serve.
It provides an opportunity for lawyers and trainees to discuss and explore various legal issues with students from a local school. This unique volunteering opportunity draws on the core skills and knowledge of legal professionals together with the Citizenship Foundation's expertise in educational partnerships. It offers clear educational benefits to young people and allows volunteers to gain a real insight into the lives of young people and the issues that affect their local community.
What is Covered
Development
Why to we run Local Lawyers in Schools?
At each session at the school, groups of volunteers use interactive, engaging activities designed to generate discussion around a topic of law. Over the course of an academic year, volunteers will cover a range of topics including Employment Law, Human Rights and Police Powers. Each session is focussed on the key issues and points of interest relevant to young people.
Local Lawyers in Schools is a new development from the Citizenship Foundation, and is a remodelling of our highly successful Lawyers in Schools Twinning Scheme which we have been running for 10 years. This scheme was originally created in 1999 in association with Linklaters and is currently running with over 20 large, often international law firms and in-house legal teams. Following huge demand from smaller and medium-sized law firms and in-house legal teams, unable to cover the cost involved in the fully-supported programme, Local Lawyers in Schools was developed to make it a more affordable, cost-effective option for smaller organisations.
For more information about the Lawyers in Schools Twinning Scheme please visit www.lawyersinschools.org.uk
Why do we run Local Lawyers in Schools?
Through a range of projects, the Citizenship Foundation has been connecting the legal profession and schools for twenty years. Our projects seek to develop the students understanding of the law and examine how the legal system relates to them as individuals, ultimately engaging them in how the society around them operates.
'Citizenship' was introduced as a National Curriculum subject in 2002 (please click here for more information about Citizenship Education). Many teachers have told us that they find the legal aspects of the Citizenship Curriculum particularly challenging as they often have little or no training on the subject and its delivery. We have found that students engage and respond well to those that have an expertise in the law, reacting to the energy, confidence and enthusiasm shown by the volunteers when talking about the law. The Local Lawyers in Schools scheme therefore directly contributes to the National Curriculum in a unique, interactive and thought-provoking way.