The move will not only allow the Clinic to reach more people in urgent need of legal help but also give even more students with valuable hands-on experience in real-world law.
Last year alone, the Clinic helped more than 4,000 people across the West Midlands and involved 200 law students in a wide range of impactful projects.
Students have been actively engaged in:
The Clinic is the largest deliverer of pro bono law within Birmingham city centre and won the Pro Bono Award at the 2026 Birmingham Law Society Awards.
The Law Clinic has stepped in to fill gaps after government spending on legal aid fell by £728 million, the equivalent of 28 per cent, between 2012 and 2022.
“We want to give back to the community but also recognise that many of our students belong to our local community, building their civic and ethical identity as law students,” said Fiona Farrell, Associate Professor and Director of the Law Clinic.
“The Law Clinic takes students from theory to practice-based education
“We want to be able to offer this type of education to more students, because we really believe in the impact it’s having on their studies and employability, but also the local community.”
In conjunction with the Central England Law Clinic (CELC), BCU students have been providing legal advice on employment, housing, social welfare and immigration matters.
Head of Employment and Discrimination at CELC, Katherine King, said students’ input has been invaluable: “The Law Clinic means we can be more responsive and help more clients.
“This relaunched space will give us an opportunity to expand our own remit in Birmingham and be more versatile in the work we’re doing.
“The most difficult stage of a legal career is to get that first job, so the Law Clinic can help students by giving them practice experience and confidence.
“We hope to inspire the next generation of social welfare lawyers here.”
One of the students involved in the Law Clinic is Khadija Bashar, who was named Outstanding Student Contribution of the Year at the 2026 Birmingham Law Society Awards.
“Seeing in real time through clients’ stories what they were living through made it much clearer to me what we were doing and the work of law beyond academia,” said Khadija.
“Real life experience is not something you can get in a classroom because you're not able to engage with social situations, people's emotions and the delicacy of language in the same way when you're watching slides in a lecture.”
