Student activities

Citizens Advice Bureau Pro Bono clinic

Students from The University of Northampton's Law School have the opportunity to provide essential support at the Northampton and District Citizens Advice Bureau Pro Bono clinic, run in partnership with LawWorks

The Northampton-based clinic, which has been operating since September 2011, provides clients with access to free legal advice from Access Legal experts on issues including employment, landlord and tenant, and consumer. Students provide essential support by carrying out research and contributing to interviews.

Negotiation competition 

LLB and Joint Honours Law students are able to learn and practise legal skills and they have the opportunity to represent the University in the annual national student Negotiation Competition.

The Negotiation Competition is a pioneering and successful competition which assesses negotiation skills. Law students work in teams of two and negotiate complex legal scenarios against a team of Law students from a different institution. The students' negotiation skills are judged by a panel of three judges with professional, academic and business backgrounds according to set criteria such as strategy, teamwork, ethics and outcome.

In 2010 Law students Victoria Hajba and Camilla Graham from The University of Northampton beat stiff competition to win a place in the finals of the competition which were held at the College of Law in London. 

Victoria and Camilla were also invited to attend an advanced negotiation skills seminar at the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution prior to the national final.

Margaret Roberts, Senior Lecturer in Law, has been involved in the competition for 10 years:

"The Negotiation Competition is sponsored by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution and is supported by the College of Law. It is an excellent annual event. It helps Law students develop essential skills in negotiation. I am delighted with our students' success in the competition."

Prison visits 

Each year students studying the "Sentencing and Prison" module at stage three visit one of Her Majesty's prisons. On many occasions we speak to the prisoners and in the past have had meetings with young offenders, life sentence prisoners and prisoners on the drug rehabilitation programme. The prisons we have visited include

HMP Bedford

Bedford is a local, category B prison which has been on its current site since 1801. It was enlarged in 1849 and a new gate lodge, house block and health care centre added in early 1990s.

HMP Gartree 

Gartree opened in 1965 as a category C training prison but quickly changed its role and came within the high security system, reverting to a category B prison in 1992.

Since then the population of life sentenced prisoners has been growing and in 1997 its role changed to that of a main lifer centre.

HMP Leicester

HMP Leicester is situated in a commercial and residential district about half a mile from the city centre. It has the appearance of an impressive and strong medieval fortress. The Gatehouse is the oldest part, built in 1825. Further construction took place in 1874 and filled the bulk of the space within the secure perimeter. In 1990 a new visits and administration block was built adjoining the Gatehouse.

HMP New Hall 

New Hall is a closed female local prison which holds adult female prisoners of all categories, young offenders and juveniles on detention and training orders.

HMP Wellingborough

Wellingborough opened as a Borstal in 1963 and held young offenders until 1990 when it became a Training Prison for Category C adult men.

HMP Wellingborough is a dynamic prison that has a clear focus on reducing re-offending. They offer a wide range of activities that help prisoners to lead law-abiding lives on release, resulting in safer communities.

HMP Whitemoor

Whitemoor is a maximum security prison for men in Category A and B. It is one of eight High Security prisons. The prison focuses on settlement (helping those convicted of serious offences to make positive use of long sentences) and resettlement (reducing the risk of reoffending through assessment, work, education and offending behaviour programmes).

HMP Woodhill

Woodhill is a category A prison and in 1998 one wing was re-designated as a close supervision centre, which holds a small number of prisoners who are among the most difficult and disruptive in the prison system.

Old Bailey visit  

Second year students on the 'Criminal Process' module enjoy a day at the Old Bailey in London. This is the central criminal court for the whole of central London - and it will also hear major cases of National importance (such as terrorism perhaps). It stands next to the site of the old Newgate Prison.

The Old Bailey is probably the most famous court in the world, certainly in England and a visit is very special. More information is available about the history and development of the Old Bailey by clicking on this link Old Bailey.

We travel down by coach leaving at the dreadfully early time of 08.00. We have always managed to sit in on very interesting cases, many of them in the National Press. 

Student Law Society 

More information to follow 

Shoosmiths Link Scheme 

• Are you a LLB or Joint Honours Law student?
• Are you interested in a legal career?
• Are you undecided about whether a legal career is for you?

If so, the Shoosmiths / University of Northampton Student Link Scheme could be for you.

The objectives of the scheme are to link a law student with an employee of Shoosmiths. The Shoosmiths employee could be a solicitor, paralegal, trainee solicitor or indeed any employee of Shoosmiths who knows how a large firm works and who has chosen a career in law.

A student will be 'linked' to a Shoosmiths employee and this will:

• Enable a student to gain an insight into and understanding of the structure, workings and variety of positions and jobs within a large law firm and how they 'fit together'
• Enable a student to assess their ambition to enter the legal profession against the reality of the world of work within a law firm
• Enable the Shoosmiths employee to provide advice and guidance to the student in respect of future career options in the legal profession. 

Mentoring scheme

Law students are active in the student mentor scheme, run by the School of Social Sciences in conjunction with the University's Centre for Academic Practice. Mentors are drawn mainly from stage three of the undergraduate Law programmes, and the LLM. Their role is to offer academic and skills advice, primarily to stage one students, but also to stage three dissertation students and new postgraduate students. The mentors can be contacted by email for individual queries, and also run group workshops on skills such as referencing. This provides a useful additional support, alongside that offered by the Law tutors.

Client interviewing 

Volunteering