Module Directory

Students should choose this module via eNROL. The department will then contact students to advise of the application process. Enrolments are not confirmed until your application has been approved by the Module Supervisor.  This module examines the provision of legal advice through the practical learning of professional legal skills. Students engage in real-life legal scenarios to enable them to develop and reflect on their learning experience, also known as ‘experiential learning.’ Clinical legal education is increasingly becoming central to legal learning in the UK.

On the successful completion of the module, some students will be invited to become members of Essex Law Clinic where the skills learned on the module can be utilised to assist members of the public needing legal advice.

The aims of this module are:

1. To provide students, through experience of clinical practice, with a basic knowledge and understanding of some key concepts and principles central to the work of legal advice workers.


2. To provide students with experience of legal advice work in areas of law including, family, housing, immigration, employment and consumer issues.


3. To encourage an appreciation of the social and political context in which legal advice operates.


4. To introduce students to the practice of reflection on experience to equip them to improve their performance and understanding of legal work.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Understand and critically evaluate the core ethical and professional principles governing the provision of legal services.


2. Skilfully draft a client letter applying a detailed understanding of the relevant law and reflecting the range of practical, professional and ethical skills needed in effective legal advice work.


3. Confidently apply effective and appropriate legal research skills in a focused way to problems or project topics.


4. Assess and critically reflect on the work undertaken and set the work into the conceptual frameworks developed on the rest of their LLB degree programme.

Module Cap Criteria:

Students should choose this module via eNROL. The department will then contact students to advise of the application process. Enrolments are not confirmed until your application has been approved by the Module Supervisor. This is expected to take 1-2 weeks from the point of application.

This module may be undertaken by:

• Level 6 students (15 places).

A cohort of students who successfully complete the assessment will be invited to apply for a place in the clinic. This cohort, which is likely to be approximately 5 x Level 5 students and 5 x Level 6 students (note this number may change depending upon the numbers of existing students and staff capacity). Invitations for this cohort to join the Law Clinic will be based on student engagement with the training and the mark for the assessment.

To join the clinic and undertake cases students must complete all compulsory sessions which consist of:

• client interviewing including practice interviews,


• practical research,


• issues for vulnerable clients,


• professional communication,


• ethics

The module starts with an induction into clinical advice work. It will first provide students with the skills and ethical frameworks necessary to equip them to provide legal services. This is useful as an adviser with the University of Essex's Law Clinic (ELC) and/or for self-development as useful transferable skills for use in the workplace following graduation. Students will be provided with the opportunity both in class and through written assignments to apply their newly developed legal advice skills and to reflect on their experiences in terms of what they have learnt about such skills and their own professional development.

There will also be training in family, housing and immigration law and reflection sessions, known as ‘case surgeries’ focusing on skills learned in the practice interviews and from the content of the module.

This module will be delivered via:

• Weekly two-hour seminars.