Global Justice Programme wins funding for student placements overseas

A group of three law students will be placed with a leading public interest litigation and constitutional reform organisation in Kenya next summer as a result of a successful application to the University’s Global Opportunities Fund.

The opportunity for students to take up placements in Kenya builds on and extends the School’s pioneering Global Justice Pro-Bono programme founded and run by Professors John Harrington and Ambreena Manji as part of the School’s Law Clinic. The Global Justice programme sees students working with practising lawyers in the UK on issues of human rights and accountability in the developing world.

The School’s Law Clinic is rated as a key factor influencing the choice of prospective undergraduate students to study at Cardiff. The Global Justice Pro-Bono programme has added to this reputation, providing an international focus which is unique in the United Kingdom.

During their placements, students will have the opportunity to work with leading scholars, legal practitioners and members of the judiciary. The students will work on tasks related to litigation, lobbying, research and advice. This is an opportunity to work at the cutting edge of human rights and constitutional law in one of the most dynamic jurisdictions in the common law world. The students will develop as ‘global lawyers’, ready to meet the challenges of transnational professional work.

Student law clinics, at Harvard and Columbia for example, integrate overseas placements into their work in order to deepen students’ experience of transnational legal practice and to enhance their employability as legal professionals, public servants, third sector experts or in international business. Cardiff students travelling under this programme will engage intensively with overseas legal systems and add an international dimension to their understanding of law in action. They will work with Kenyan colleagues in organizations which lead the field in constitutional development and public interest litigation.

Receiving the news, Professor John Harrington said, "We are very gratified to have won funding for this next stage of our Global Justice Clinic. The placement scheme we have designed will foster the development among students of a truly cosmopolitan outlook, helping them to develop as global lawyers ready for practice and service in the UK and beyond. It will enhance employability at a time when British lawyers are looking beyond the regional context in order to develop and renew links in diplomacy, trade and aid around the world."

Head of the School of Law and Politics René Lindstädt said,"Student mobility under the Global Justice Placement Scheme will enhance the global orientation of the School of Law and Politics as a whole, building on the considerable recent investment in International Relations. The Global Justice Pro-Bono programme has contributed to the integration of Law and Politics within the School, with colleagues from both Departments working with students. A practical international mobility dimension to the programme will provide a model for future collaboration and strengthen this effect."