The Streetlaw Project at BPP
Victoria Speed is Joint Director of Pro Bono & CSR at BPP University Law School. She is responsible for BPP University Law School's Pro Bono Centre, which provides legal advice and education services to the most vulnerable.
About Streetlaw
Streetlaw is BPP University Law School's largest pro bono project. We deliver over 350 hours of Streetlaw workshops a year, around the UK, reaching over 3,500 members of the public. This is public legal education in action, as our students deliver interactive presentations in prisons, homeless shelters, schools and community groups.
Why Streetlaw?
There are benefits to the public in that presentations are often tailored to suit the issues faced by the particular audience in question. For example, our students might be asked by a secondary school to talk about the law on 'sexting' or by prison staff to talk to soon-to-be-released prisoners on the effects, in law, of a criminal record. There are many advantages for students too. They learn to speak on their feet and to explain law in clear and simple language. They also meet individuals for whom law is largely seen as irrelevant to their daily lives and seen as an instrument of the police and government, rather than a tool to improve minimum standards of work and of living.
I've seen law students transformed in these environments, suddenly appreciating the value of being able to understand law and the value that these skills can have in society. They find a purpose for their studies and a motivation for their career. They understand that being a lawyer is more than having a job.
Streetlaw experiences can demonstrate that knowledge of law can inspire an individual to seek help and a community to take action. To learn this as a young lawyer can only be a good thing for the future of legal profession.
