Public Legal Education cert for Street Law volunteers
Over 30 trainee solicitors from the PPC course attended a Diploma Centre conferral event at Blackhall Place on Thursday 19 March to receive Certificates in Public Legal Education, presented by Mr Justice Max Barrett.
This year’s Street Law programme saw 36 PPC trainees selected to participate from over 100 applicants.
The selected group undertake rigorous training in the learner-centred Street Law approach and subsequently lead a six-week Street Law programme for Transition Year students in one of our 12 partner DEIS schools in the local community.
In addition to teaching at these partner schools, trainees also facilitated workshops in Wheatfield Prison and Oberstown Children Detention Campus and hosted a programme at the Law Society for fifth and sixth year students from the Trinity Access Programmes Pathways to Law initiative.
John Lunney of the Law Society, who leads the Street Law programme, said: “The trainees’ volunteer work on Street Law proves that even as law students, they can make a real difference, empowering others with knowledge, confidence, a sense of fairness and a positive perspective on the law.”
The ceremony marked the conclusion of this year’s Street Law programme a central tenet of the Law Society’s commitment to Public Legal Education.
Originally developed in Georgetown University in the United States, the Street Law programme has been run by the Law Society since 2013.
5,000 TY pupils
To date, over 5,000 transition year students have completed the programme.
Prizes were also awarded on the night to the two trainee pairs who designed the best original lesson plans. The award winners were Carla Fahy (Matheson) and Ciarán Traynor (William Fry) for their lesson on Garda powers, and Eoin Kennedy (Crowley Millar Solicitors) and Larissa Mirt (Matheson) for their lesson on liability in tort.
The trainees were also joined at the event by solicitors from A&L Goodbody, McCann FitzGerald, and Community Law and Mediation. These solicitors were awarded Certificates in Public Legal Education after receiving training from the Law Society Street Law facilitators, and running an effective PLE programme in their own community.