Street Law: Theory and Practice

27 February 2024

What is this book about?

To access justice, we must know our rights. Yet many of us — particularly those in vulnerable, underrepresented communities are never taught what these are, let alone how to use them. Street Law programmes across the globe are vital to rectifying this, and can help ensure that those who need justice most have the knowledge, skills, and confidence required to achieve it. 

The Street Law is ‘a form of public legal education which aims to increase legal literacy and improve social justice through the use of interactive and learner-centred methods’. It aims to create community and empowerment within community groups and increase confidence around access to, and understanding of, the law.  At its core is a teaching methodology which is interactive, engaging, and empowering.  

The first textbook of its kind, Street Law: Theory and Practice is a companion for all students engaging in either credit-bearing or non-credit bearing Street Law projects. It is aims to be highly-accessible and student-focussed. It teaches its readers not only how to successfully design, deliver, and reflect on Street Law sessions, but also the theory behind this practice. Its original workbook format, including an abundance of questions, activities and prompts, ensures every reader develops a comprehensive understanding of this important form of public legal education. 

Street Law: Theory and Practice aims to be a companion for students determined to become successful, reflective Street Law practitioners, who truly make a difference in the societies in which they live.

What made you and your co-author write this book?

The origins of this book can be traced back to the 2019 UK and Ireland Street Law Best Practices conference when, during an early evening stroll along a London canal side at the end of the first day, Linden and I began to discuss the absence of a resource specifically aimed at supporting Law students who are engaged in the design and delivery of Street Law sessions. 

We recognised that there was, at that time, no book available which prompted students to explore the rich canvas of theoretical and practical issues involved in this increasingly popular form of public and clinical legal education. It was from this discussion that the idea of Street Law: Theory and Practice was born. 

In writing this book we have sought to embody the spirit of Street Law (insofar as is possible in an entirely written format), and all that makes it distinctive, unique and special. Interactivity, collaboration and community have been at the core of our efforts. This textbook is designed for Law students to use in an interactive manner. During the chapters there are a number of activities for students to engage in. There are also frequent opportunities for students to pause and reflect on the points discussed within the book and on the events in their Street Law journey thus far. We have given students space to record their thoughts and ideas in the book so they can return to them and reflect on them over the years to come. 

In true Street Law style, we have not sought to give students all of the ‘answers’. Instead, we hope that students will form their own views and perspectives on many of the topics covered and use these as jumping off points for further debate and discussion with peers and teachers. 

The Street Law community is an extremely generous one and we have tried, where we can, to capture that in this book and to reciprocate the generosity.  Our Street Law journeys were shaped and informed by the many experienced practitioners who have gone before us and who we have referenced in this volume. We look forward to continuing to learn from them, and from our students, in the months and years to come.

What do you hope readers will take away from this book?

Fundamentally we hope that readers will enjoy using this book and find that it helps to support and develop their Street Law practice.  Whether readers are academics, volunteer lawyers or Law students we hope they feel the sense of joy and fulfilment that Street Law can bring.  Something which can be enhanced by understanding the underpinning theory. 

This book has been created to support students on a curricular or co-curricular Street Law activity, however it also has wider scope: 

• We hope that staff working in student law clinics find this a useful tool to design projects and modules. It can be used as a full text or as stand-alone chapters. It can be set as reading for students to undertake, or teaching staff can use the activities to help shape their teaching of Street Law by using the activities within their classes.  
• Clinical legal education (and particularly Street Law) are growing areas of academia.  Staff working in clinical legal education are often new to the space either joining as lawyers from practice or professional services staff within a university. We hope these chapters serve as a useful training tool for anyone new to the field. 
• The Street Law model of university students running interactive workshops in community groups to improve literacy in an area is an easily transferable model within higher education.  Indeed there are likely examples in other areas such as economics, business consulting, public health etc. We hope the principles and methodologies contained in this book will be useful further afield than Street Law. 
• At its heart Street Law contains inspiring, engaging and effective teaching pedagogy.  There is much in this book which we hope will influence the education practices within higher education more broadly. 

Finally, we hope that this book encourages more people around the globe to undertake Street Law or similar public engagement activities in other disciplines.  At its heart Street Law is a teaching methodology for empowering a group and impacting positive change. 

If you would like to read an extract from Chapter 1 (An Introduction to Pro Bono, Clinical Legal Education, Public Legal Education and Street Law) and Chapter 2 (Teaching: Theory, Practice and the Street Law Approach) of Street Law: Theory and Practice, click 'Read an Extract'.