A UNIQUE way to help law students from York build their professional legal skills is to be taken around the world.

York Law School at the University of York uses client clinics, where the public can consult students, under guidance, on real legal issues. This helps the budding lawyers to gain valuable experience.

Now college staff are preparing to spend the summer visiting the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos to advise on the development of so called clinical learning in law schools around the world.

Richard Grimes, a qualified solicitor and the University’s director of clinical programmes, said: “The university’s unique hands-on approach to legal study is attracting considerable interest from other universities both in the UK and abroad.

“Over the past year, York Law School staff have made presentations on problem-based learning and its law clinic at a range of national and international conferences."

Mr Grimes visited Georgia on a fact-finding mission in May and will return next month to complete a training manual for use in law schools. Vietnam’s Can Tho University and the NGO Bridges Across Borders South East Asia have also asked the York Law School to assist with a training and development programme.

The overseas initiatives are the latest in a mumber of foreign projects led by the school.

Over the past two years it has worked with law schools in Afghanistan, helping them to design and deliver legal advice clinics to locals, while at the same time giving students the chance to put theory into practice.

Last month, representatives from the Universities of Herat, Al-beroni, Nangarhar, Balkh and Kabul, legal workers and other Afghan organisations took part in a York-led workshop in Istanbul.

The Open Society Institute, which promotes the development of law clinics in Afghanistan, has also agreed to fund a similar programme for academics and practising lawyers from Pakistan.

For more information on the free legal service offered by the York Law School Clinic, or to book an appointment, phone 01904 325819 or email law-clinic@york.ac.uk