News
See our news stories for culture, equality and inclusion at Sussex.
Sussex Law School demonstrates the positive value of law for our local Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller Communities
Posted on behalf of: EDI Unit
Last updated: Thursday, 2 November 2023
Led by Jeanette Ashton and Melanie Hart-Murison, Sussex Law School, which is part of the School of Law, Politics and Sociology, embraced the ethics of the newly secured GTRSB into Higher Eduction 'Pledge' by reaching out to local communities as part of their undergraduate module offer.
‘Street Law’ is now part of the Clinical Legal Education programme – led by Lucy Welsh – following a successful pilot last year working with young people in East Brighton. The initiative is now working with young women and males from a predominantly Irish Traveller background at a Brighton-based local authority site. Supporting young people to reconsider and understand law from their own perspective it also offers an opportunity for Law students to reframe and review their perceptions of how law might be applied to parts of our society less-well understood.
Supported by professional guidance from Friends, Families, and Travelers (FFT), a national but locally based advocate for ‘individuals and families with the issues that matter most to them…working to transform systems and institutions to address the root causes of inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people’ the Law School is also assisting individuals calling FFT’s helpline, primarily for support around land and housing practice. This is a collaboration with the Housing Law Clinic, led by Will McCready.
Our students have received training around the history, culture, and misconceptions of Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller people, and will be able to reflect how elements of legal practice in this domain differs from the more traditional housing issues based around tenancy disputes. The Sussex Clinical Legal Education initiative continues to foster the growing relationship between the University of Sussex, FFT, our own university community of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller students, as well as the larger community within our own immediate locality.