Impact case study database

i) A Transformative Pedagogical Impact

Since 2015 CLOCK has been cascaded to 12 Law Schools in England ( Community Legal Education), operating in 9 court centres, with 70 partners (5.5).

Fig 1: Location of the 9 court centres in England operating CLOCK

Based on Krishnadas’ ‘transformative methodology’, the Law Schools deliver litigant-centred, community-based training for over 300 community legal companions, to assist, signpost and monitor access to justice, summarised by Moore and Newbury, with a student reflection “( LIPs) are lost in the system, we are a bridge” (5.2, p52). In ‘Reimagining Legal Education’, Linden et al notes ‘ CLOCK as an effective means of responding to the impact of the cuts to legal aid and… consequent public duty upon universities to act in collaboration with legal practitioners and the third sector in the face of such overwhelming unmet legal need’. (5.3, p15). Moscati affirms ‘ CLOCK does have a transformative impact on students, lecturers and litigants in person… The transformation it brings is adding a new important element to access to justice’ (5.4), for which CLOCK has received national awards for the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Access to Justice’, and ‘‘Benefitting Communities (5.7).

ii) Enhancing the agency of Litigants-in-Person (5.5)

HHJ Perry, Designated Family Judge affirms ‘The Community Legal Companion role carried out by CLOCK at Stoke on Trent Combined Court has proved invaluable in assisting litigants-in-person, whose voice might otherwise have not been heard in obtaining access to justice’.

Fig 2: CLOCK assisted C100 applications, Stoke-on-Trent Family Court, 2019

Since 2015 clock.uk.net has recorded assisting 3712 litigants-in-person https://clock.uk.net/Admin/Applications/. To put this in context, in the last quarter of 2019, CLOCK assisted 150 of the 163 Child Arrangement applications to Stoke Court, to enhance the agency of Litigants-in-Person;

i) ‘ Clock have helped me to understand court papers and what has been required of me during the court process. Having the court companion in the hearings, taking notes has helped me when it is difficult to understand what is happening. Clock have signposted me to specialised counselling and supported my legal aid and pro bono applications, and affordable fixed fee legal advice, that I did not know were available’ (9.10.19)

ii) “ CLOCK got me help from other organisations because I have to find somewhere to live, sort out new schools, benefits and I have debts to pay’ (5.5)’ see also ‘Walking in a Litigant in Person’s Shoes ( https://clock.uk.net/ )

iii) Professional Impact: Building Capacity through Collaborative Practice, CLOCK Community Legal Companion

CLOCK has impacted collaborative practice 5.5, described by Maclean and Eekelaar as ‘ a virtuous circle of activity which benefits clients, students, and the university, lawyers and the courts’ (5.1, p166).

Fig 3: Organisations signposting for CLOCK assistance:

Corryn Schofield, Lewis Rodgers notes; “ We support CLOCK as it is an invaluable service within the area which has greatly assisted a significant number of people. In working with CLOCK we have been able to identify people who were unaware that they were eligible for legal aid and in some cases even identify and successfully apply for Exceptional Case Funding” (3.10.19). (5.5) .

Zabina Azim, Walters and Plaskitt affirms “ Services users have been directed to legal advice through clock, we have been able to reach users who may not have ordinarily sought legal advice. (This has) enabled them to get the advice they required, benefitted their particular circumstances, (and) achieved an outcome that they have thought impossible” (6.10.2019) (5.5).

Co-founder of Voices of Experience shared ’It is because of CLOCK, I and my daughter and many women and their children have been able to get the legal assistance so desperately needed to escape violent and abusive relationships... We now live rather than exist.’ (5.5).

iv) Policy Impact across the Public and Private Sphere; Legal Aid Reform Community Legal Research

CLOCK submitted data to inform the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) post-LASPO Implementation Review. Writing for The Justice Gap, Eleanor Livingston states; “The areas of private family law and public care cases have both been detrimentally affected, with CLOCK going as far as to suggest that the lack of legal aid in some cases constitutes ‘a significant breach of public duty in relation to failing to safeguard the child against the risk of harm”

Lucy Frazer QC, MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Justice affirms “The CLOCK evidence submission has raised particular issues to inform

i) “ a comprehensive review of the legal aid means testing thresholds”

ii) “ to expand the scope of legal aid to cover special guardianship orders”, extending public funding for private family law.

Iii)“Beyond legal aid we have announced a number of policies that build on the evidence received by CLOCK.. for instance the excellent work that CLOCK do in signposting people to resolve their legal problems underlying the value of effective signposting, coordination and advertising of the support already available.” (5.6).

v) Social Impact

CLOCK assisted 160 Litigants in Person in the Covid pandemic, exposing domestic violence in lockdown as a social crisis, and submitted a formal complaint against the former Mayor in breach of the Localism Act for racist posts, which was upheld, ‘We take this opportunity to thank you for the materials which you and your students kindly provided, they were of considerable assistance’ (Monitoring Officer, 2.12.20) (5.9).

vi) International impact

CLOCK has delivered the Community Legal Companion Training to visiting students from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and collaborated with the All-India Access to Justice Strategy, assisting 1,200 disaster affected families in Cochin, Kerala https://clock.uk.net/Pages/International (5.10).

Impact on national and international policy development for new genetic and reproductive technologies in the areas of genome editing and mitochondrial replacement techniques

National policy impact stems from work with the Nuffield Council on Bioethics (NCoB) – on the issue of genome editing. Wrigley’s background paper for the NCoB [5.1] identified many of the major ethical challenges raised by this new technology and formed the foundation for NCoB ’s dedicated working group to explore the issue as a major project. The findings of the first stage of this project have been published as a policy report [5.2].

This project formed part of the basis for a joint statement of the ethics advisory councils of Germany, France, and the UK (2016) [5.3]. Wrigley was also invited as an expert for the NCoB consultation event (31/07/17) to develop guidance on the moral permissibility of genome editing. This consultation, together with Wrigley’s research [3.4], is cited in NCoB’s (2018) follow-up report on ethical and social issues [5.4].

The report and joint statement formed a policy report by NCoB [5.5a] utilised by the House of Commons’ Science and Technology Committee (HCSTC 2017) [5.5b]. Impact followed from the UK government’s response to the HCSTC that all research involving genome editing would be strictly regulated by the UK’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority [5.5c].

International policy impact: Wrigley’s paper for NCoB [5.1] was cited by the Australian Federal Government’s Department of Health Gene Technology Advisory Committee (2015) [5.6a] leading to the Australian Government’s Office of Gene Technology Regulation introducing a review to consider amendments to genetic technology regulations – culminating in a Department of Health review (2018) on the legislation on gene technology [5.6b]. In April 2019, this review led the Australian government to announce plans for new regulation over the use of gene editing.

Research on mitochondrial replacement technologies has influenced and informed policy at an international level:

Wrigley’s research into the nature and use of mitochondrial donation [3.1; 3.3] has been cited by the Australian Parliament’s Senate Committee Inquiry (2018) [5.7a]. His paper [3.1] was also utilised by Senators in Parliamentary debate [5.7b]. The Australian Government response to the Inquiry’s report instigated a major public engagement exercise in Australia (from Sept-Nov 2019) informing legislative review [5.7c].

Generation of public, professional, and stakeholder debate

Research findings have been disseminated through media engagement to inform public and practitioner understanding of ethical and social issues in areas of new genetic and reproductive technologies and of end-of-life care [3.2; 5.10].

Research has generated substantial public and professional debate on matters of national end-of-life care practice and policy. This research [3.5] offered a critical analysis of Neuberger’s government-commissioned independent review of the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient (LCP). Wrigley’s research raised concerns about ethical practice at end of life and highlighted that the independent report had made errors of inference and ethical judgement. Wrigley’s research paper was selected for press release by the British Medical Journal as being of particular importance and interest to the public and the medical professions. Research findings were also covered in the media, including national press and professional publications, with daily circulation in the millions [5.10].

Wrigley’s The Conversation piece on Paralympian athlete, Marieke Vervoort, discussed an approach to viewing euthanasia from the perspective of life-extension rather than life-shortening [5.10] - was reported by Newsweek Japan [5.10]. Wrigley’s invited commentary for The Telegraph focused on the Gosport Hospital Scandal, concerning palliative care for the elderly and the need for a proper understanding of the nature of palliative care amongst the medical profession to prevent such scandals reoccurring [5.10]. With a daily reach of over 800,000, this media output generated 118 discussion comments from the public.

Impact on professional practice around loss and bereavement in the criminal justice system:

Through a Barrow-Cadbury funded project (2016-18), Wrigley research [3.6] was used to produce a guide for professionals [5.8] who support young people in the criminal justice system on matters of loss and bereavement. Wrigley’s work forms a significant part of this practical guidance by establishing the ethical concerns surrounding imprisonment as a punishment when offenders are facing matters of dying and bereavement.

No previous dedicated guidance has been available to professionals in this area. This guide has been tested in practice at a large HM Prison and Young Offenders Institute. The range of different practitioners and agency professionals engaged is detailed in a final report for the Barrow-Cadbury Trust (2020) [5.9], which outlines the scope of institutional developments that followed the implantation of the Guide.

Influence on policy formation processes

Crime Prosecution Service: John Edwards, Senior CPS Policy Advisor, states that Sharpe’s arguments in 3.1, 3.3 & 3.5 have had a direct impact on the thinking behind the CPS’s draft revisions “of the ‘Evidential considerations’ in the draft revisions to the legal guidance” on sexual offences (5.3). The ‘Evidential considerations “are fundamental questions in assessing whether a case meets the evidential test for prosecution” and “the draft section draws on some of Professor Sharpe’s concerns regarding the need for those in the criminal justice system to better understand the behaviour of trans persons and suspects” (5.3).

Amnesty International: commenting on 3.1 & 3.2 and on Sharpe’s contribution to an Amnesty organised coalition of experts focusing on overcriminalisation of sexuality and reproductive conduct, Jaime Todd-Gher, Policy and Strategic Litigation Advisor, reveals that, “[Sharpe’s] precise understanding of the discriminatory impact of relying on cis-normative constructions of ‘consent’ as a standard for determining criminal liability for sexual offences deepened the coalition’s discussion and ultimately Amnesty International’s broader analysis of the human rights impact of state criminalisation practices” (5.5). Amnesty now also use the example of ‘gender fraud’ prosecutions in their capacity building and training regarding these issues (5.5).

Influenced lawyers’ understandings of relevant issues and strategic approaches to representing trans people in gender fraud cases

Sharpe provided legal and strategic advice to criminal defence barristers in R v McNally [2013] and R v Newland [2015] (and retrial 2017). Commenting on the research, Nigel Power QC, defending in R v Newland states that Sharpe’s publications (3.1 & 3.5) enabled him to make “a proper assessment of the legal strategies that might be adopted around consent and deception” in relation to gender ‘fraud’ (5.1). Barrister, Tom Wainwright, defending in R v McNally [2013] CA and junior in Newland [2017], states: “[Her] articles (3.1, 3.3, 3.5) are essential reading for anyone carrying out this area of work” adding that Sharpe's research has been particularly helpful in his consideration of “the possibility of judicial review by those affected by R v McNally” (5.2).

Sharpe was also invited by TELI (Transgender Equality Legal Initiative) to participate in legal workshops held at barristers Chambers (Garden Court, June 2016) and solicitors offices (Linklaters, November 2016) in London in response to 3.1, 3.2 & 3.3. Barrister, Allan Briddock, and co-founder of TELI, stated that Sharpe’s research “has assisted in helping to formulate a TELI law reform agenda on this issue, one that involves working with activists, practicing lawyers and a range of institutional stakeholders, including the CPS and the EHRC” (5.4).

Challenged conventional wisdom and enabled improved public understanding

Sharpe's media engagement and journalistic publications have brought her research to a broader audience, stimulating public debate and understanding about the prosecutions. For example, she published articles in The New Statesman (2013, 2015, 2015 - daily readership 120,000) on various aspects of the McNally, Newland and Lee Mason cases, including the punitive sentencing in the two former cases; in Inherently Human, a gender, sexuality and law blog at Durham University (2013, 2015, 2016, 2016, 2017); in Legal Voice, legal professional blog 2017); and in The Conversation (5.7). All were extensively read, shared and commented on. The Conversation article on the Gayle Newland case (2017) was read almost 5000 times, elicited 30 comments from readers and was republished on four platforms (5.7). In 2015, Sharpe was invited to discuss the high-profile case of Newland on LBC Radio (average audience 462,000) and internationally on Canadian Radio Station CBC (The Current Show) (5.7). Her research and insights about the case were then drawn on in media debates and coverage of the case during 2015, including in The Sun (daily reach: 2,955,000), The Mirror (daily reach: 440,671) and Global News Online (5.7).

Sharpe’s research also significantly influenced and helped shape the writing of the play Scorch, by playwright, Stacey Gregg. After first experiencing difficulties getting backing for the play, Gregg started to include Sharpe’s research in the commissioning process which led to a productive dialogue with funders and collaborators and ultimately to Scorch being staged, touring internationally and winning a series of prestigious awards (e.g., Irish Times Best New Play) and has had a real impact on public perceptions of the relevant issues (5.6). Gregg reports: “we were able to circulate [Sharpe’s] articles and blogs and discuss the below the line commentary in response to them as indicative of the general public’s response” which “informed our approach to our anticipated audience and the prejudices or questions they may bring” (5.6).