Scottish University Law Clinic Network 2015 Conference
The work of Innocence Projects in addressing miscarriages of justice will be one of the issues under the spotlight at the Scottish University Law Clinic Network 2015 Conference, which is being hosted by the University of Aberdeen.
The event, which takes place at the Law School on Wednesday June 3, will hear from Professor Julie Price from Cardiff University, who will share her experiences of leading a team of students at the University’s Innocence Project who helped to overturn a murder conviction.
Professor Price is one of a number of speakers who will participate in a range of workshops and interactive sessions taking place as part of the Conference, which is being supported by the Law Society of Scotland.
The SULCN theme for this year is ‘Pushing the Boundaries’, encouraging law clinics and other ‘pro bono’ organisations to consider moving away from traditional models of client representation in a variety of innovative ways, including Innocence Projects, mediation, and strategic litigation.
That theme will be developed by Lindsey Reynolds, Senior Solicitor at the Equality and Human Rights Commission. She will explain how the EHRC assesses which cases to take on and will run a workshop looking at where and when equality rights arguments might arise, and how to identify and pursue them.
In addition, Douglas Bain from the University of Aberdeen will be joined by recent graduate and Aberdeen Law Project volunteer David Ridley to talk about one of the Law Project’s most high profile successes, where they successfully argued that an administration fee charged by a letting agent was an illegal premium.
The Conference will be chaired by Law School lecturer Malcolm Combe, Faculty Director of the Aberdeen Law Project.
He said: “The Scottish University Law Clinic Network Conference is an important occasion, bringing together students from all over Scotland to share experiences and ideas.
“We have lined up a wonderful range of speakers from a wide variety of legal backgrounds, not least Professor Julie Price, who will lead a session based on her experience of leading the first university Innocence Project in the UK to have a case referred to an appeal court, which ultimately led to a murder conviction being overturned.
“In addition, students and delegates will hear about the work of our own Aberdeen Law Project, as well as from the Law Society of Scotland about the Street Law initiative, which a number of our students have participated in.
The conference promises to be a worthwhile and interesting event, and we are looking forward to welcoming all involved to the Law School. Delegates will be tweeting from the event using #SULCN, and I would encourage anyone with an interest to keep an eye out for updates on social media throughout the day.”