Transcript
Jack Crisp::
Pro bono means to me offering up some of my available time that I have to help people within my local community. And I think it also means-- well, personally I think I've built a lot of confidence through doing pro bono work in terms of getting to know how the legal system works in the UK. So it's been useful for that. I think it's useful to engage in pro bono work because it's really practical in terms of what you learn.
So when you're studying, it's very theory based. You might be by yourself at your desk not really communicating to anybody else. So it gets you out. It gets you meeting people. It gets you interacting. You meet lots of people from different backgrounds. And from an OU perspective, I think it's very handy because you're generally, you're by yourself and you're not interacting with others so you are getting out and having that exposure.
There were several reasons I decided to volunteer at Citizens Advice. So one was because I don't know other volunteer or free legal service in England and Wales that offers such a wide range of assistance. It really is a generalist legal advice service. And I thought that would be a good basis to learn more about the law. And two, because it's local, so it's not far from where I am. So it's very easy to commute and to get there. And because I'm not really completely decided on what I want to do with my law degree.
So to have, again, that generalist approach and so I can suss out and get exposure to what different parts of areas of law I might be interested into, I thought Citizens Advice would be good for that. I was surprised that there wasn't as many services available to them. If Citizens Advice wasn't there, I'm not really sure how these people would get the sort of assistance that they would need. I think the majority are legal issues. But there's also other issues that link towards that. So it might be relationship issues within families that it might be a bit tricky to deal with. Or it might be debt, which isn't so much to do with the law, but they might need assistance with paying back money they owe, for example. So it's good at Citizens Advice in the sense that you look at a more holistic approach of how you can help somebody.
And it's not just the law, but it's actually trying to look after that person and their entire situation that they're faced with. I think when you do have a legal problem, it can lead to other problems within your life. So, for example, if you are made redundant and it might be an unfair dismissal, for example, there may be a legal problem there. But then you're not getting money coming in, because you're not working. So it might affect paying your bills or contracts that you might have which you're not able to pay anymore or it might affect your housing. So if you're owning, you might have problems with your mortgage or you might have problems paying your rent. So it does affect their whole life rather than just that one legal issue that they might originally first be coming to Citizens Advice for help for.
I think there's many things that a law student can gain from volunteering. So, again, you're meeting people. So you're meeting other law students. But surprisingly, you're also meeting a lot of retired solicitors and barristers as well. I hate the word networking, because it sounds a bit too robotic for me. But you are building relationships with people who know a lot about the law. And I think that's really useful to have those connections. And I think you also gain a sense of pride that you've been able to help somebody at the end of the day. So it's a good feeling when you leave the office knowing you've helped someone with an issue that might be quite serious for them.
If you're thinking about volunteering at Citizens Advice, or any sort of pro bono work, I would say stop thinking and just do it. I think it's been an invaluable experience for me personally. And I don't regret doing it at all.