Emma Ritch Law Clinic to improve access to justice for sexual offence cases

The University of Glasgow has been awarded funding to establish a unique law clinic designed to increase access to justice in Scotland for complainers in sexual offences cases, through the provision of independent legal advice and representation by practising Scottish solicitors, without charge. The first of its kind in the UK, the Emma Ritch Law Clinic will honour Emma Ritch, a pioneering campaigner for women's rights and graduate of the University, who sadly passed away in 2021. As well as offering legal advice, through a specially constituted legal practice unit, the Emma Ritch Law Clinic will offer innovative teaching to students, enabling the next generation of Scottish lawyers to gain critical legal and ethical skills. It will also produce valuable research, providing an insight into the difference that specialist legal advice and representation can make to complainers' experiences of prosecution, and gather data to better understand why cases might fail to reach, or progress, through the criminal justice system. The Clinic will also instil awareness of trauma-informed lawyering, and the practice of criminal law, an area with longstanding issues in terms of recruitment and retention. Situated in the University's School of Law, it will be led by three Co-Directors, Mr Eamon Keane, Dr Jacqueline Kinghan and Professor Nicole Busby with complementary expertise in legal practice, education and research respectively. Seed funding to establish the clinic has been provided by the Sam and Bella Sebba Foundation with additional support provided by the Scottish Government.