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Street law projects

Open Justice is working to provide opportunities for OU law students and academics to engage with their communities through providing public legal education opportunities in schools and community groups.

So far our students have delivered Street Law sessions to High School pupils on human rights, social media law and legal careers .

If your organisation would be interested in working with Open Justice to provide public legal education opportunities on legal topics of importance to your community, please contact us.

Open Justice and OU Law Society Street Law project   

How to get involved

The Street Law project offers Public understanding of law (PUL) 'Street Law' workshops in secondary schools and community groups with the aim of promoting a greater understanding of law and legal issues. Through the interactive workshops, audiences engage on legal issues that are of particular relevance to them through a range of activities.

This project could be for you if:

  • You have a connection with a local secondary school or community group which would like to host a Street Law workshop and /or
  • You would like to participate in facilitating a Street Law workshop with a small group of law students

So, if you....

  • Are a current law student or alumni or a member of the OU Law Society
  • Are interested in pro bono work
  • Have a connection with a local school or group or you want to take part in a pre-recorded presentation (we can help to locate a school for you if needed)

....then we want YOU to apply !

Please let us know via this webform if you would like to apply and/or if you have a school or community group that would like to get involved. Expressions of interest are open to all students, but if there are too many volunteers we will prioritise level three students followed by level two.

If you would like further details please read the student information sheet 

We also have an information sheet  that can be given to schools and community groups to explain what a Street Law session is. Please note that we cannot guarantee a Street Law session as it will depend on where student volunteers live. If you know a school or a community group which may be interested in hosting a Street Law session, please complete the online webform found above.

Street Law testimonials

Quotes from students and teachers who have been involved in our recent Street Law activities.

My topic was knife crime, I knew children love to sing so I made up a song about knife crime and got the children to sing along, it was a great ice breaker, as it made the children more relaxed and friendly. My best advice is to be yourself, remember the children are just as nervous as you, also try not to use complicated words, speak to the children in their own language, show them that you understand the problems young people go through and get them involved by asking questions. Most of all relax and enjoy yourself, my goal was to stop a child from getting involved in knife crime. Hopefully I succeeded.

The presentations all went really well and the students coped well with a lively audience! The subjects were all relevant and pitched correctly. Huge thanks to them for coming in and for delivering confidently to a tricky audience!

We had a really enjoyable afternoon at the college, the staff were lovely and very helpful and fed and watered us well! The stop and search presentation went fairly smoothly, the students were engaging with us and by the end of the second presentation were more than happy to ‘get involved’. We used some of the PowerPoint presentation for the social media presentation, but mainly we got the group talking about the advantages and disadvantages of social media and touching on the law and relevant cases. The students probably knew more than we did, which was no surprise really, but they were all a very accommodating /forgiving bunch.

I am extremely nervous when it comes to public speaking, however, above all else I wanted to try and make a difference, even if it was a difference to just one person it would have been worth it. I used this to get me through the day, with the level of questions from the students it was clear that we had been able reach them, which was all the reward I needed to help me going forward.