We are pleased to welcome you to Sunderland Law School as you start the academic year 2020/21.
In your first week of the course, you will be introduced to your Programme Leader and Personal Tutor, David Sixsmith, and our Head of Clinic, Catherine Arnold and her clinic team. Your law course will be delivered using a hybrid model which combines face-to-face and online teaching to ensure that you can undertake your course with us and keep safe. We use the latest in digital technology to support the teaching of our law courses, and this enables you to develop your knowledge and skills through a variety of different learning experiences. Your recorded lectures allow you to view your sessions ‘on demand’ – enabling you to re-watch, pause and rewind your lectures as and when you choose.
During your first semester, you’ll receive weekly face-to-face sessions and participate in a range of online learning activities. These sessions will be specifically designed to develop your legal knowledge and a wide range of key legal and practice-related skills. Your timetable will detail when your face-to-face teaching and live online lectures and classes will take place.
An important part of your course is the work that you will do in the Sunderland Student Law Clinic. You will have a comprehensive induction into clinic practices as well as core Drafting, practical research, and interviewing skills in addition to introducing you to CLIO – our online client management system which will become a vital part of your work in clinic. You will work in firms with other students under the supervision of Qualified Solicitors who will support you with your learning and development.
You’ll meet the law team, your colleagues in your firms and have the opportunity to get involved in a range of extra-curricular activities. For example, you can get involved with Client Interviewing, Client Negotiation and Mooting competitions as well as the Freedom law clinic programme, which is a national programme which focuses on Criminal law and Human Rights cases- if you have time. You can get involved in running our Sunderland Student Law Journal, and you can present at our staff and student research conference. We will continue to review the position on social-distancing and as the conditions develop will adapt our approach accordingly. The team will make sure you are aware of any changes that impact you.
At Sunderland Law School, we are dedicated to providing exceptional student support to all of our law students. So rest assured, we will ensure that during your time with Sunderland Law School, you will receive high quality teaching and a wide range of experiences that will develop your knowledge and skills, preparing you for the career you want.
