THE Mona Law Institutes Unit at the University of the West Indies (UWI) is seeking to roll out a street law pilot project to assist citizens from various walks of life with social development by teaching them to apply law in their everyday lives.

“While it is a law-based programme, the method can be applied to anything,” Director of the Mona Law Institutes Unit, Dr Christopher Malcolm explained to the Jamaica Observer at last Monday’s public lecture on street law, hosted in conjunction with Street Law Caribbean at the Mona campus.

He explained that the programme will also allow law students to earn credits, while at the same time helping them to understand their social obligation to assist persons to become better citizens.

He said that individuals would be trained in the methodology of developing core curriculum for the street law programme.

“For example, we have already created a relationship with Edna Manley (College of the Visual and Performing Arts) to be able to assist them with getting musicians and others to understand their intellectual rights, (and) how to negotiate their rights,” he explained.

Malcolm said that already several partners have come on board, including the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce and the UWI’s western Jamaica campus through which communities in Montego Bay will be included.

Some of the elements of this practical law methodology include awareness of human rights/civil rights, consumer rights, family law, conflict resolution, advocacy, criminal and civil law, and employment law.

Dr Malcolm noted that a wide cross-section of people are being invited for training including the police and medical personnel, as the aim is to involve as many spheres of society as possible.

“We will then develop credit courses for (our students) where we teach them the method, and they develop and take a 12-week programme into the communities. We want to make it sustainable,” he said.

Elaborating on the practicality of the methodology, and emphasising that it is not just for those in the legal profession, Dr Malcolm said, “Let’s say you’re doing contracts. They teach them (citizens) the basics of a contract — what is a contract, basic rights under a contract, what their legal obligations are, and how it is that they interact with the court if they have to go there.”

Citing another example, he said: “If you bought a sweetie this morning, did you get a receipt? Do you understand what that is? Do you understand that you’ve entered into a contract? What happens if the sweetie is bad? Do you have any rights? How can you relate to those rights?”

He added that course participants will then be tested through exercises which enable them to understand how they interact with the law daily.

“From the moment you get up to the moment you go to bed, and even while you’re sleeping, you’re interacting with the legal process. It’s for people to become more comfortable with the law and not to be put off by it, but to embrace it and how to use it for their own good,” Malcolm pointed out.

He said the aim is not to teach people to do without lawyers, but to teach how to understand when a lawyer is needed, what some of the red flags are that indicate that one needs assitance.

Street law is mainstream in a number of countries, Malcolm said, adding that Jamaica should follow suit.

“It’s not just about law. It’s about social sciences,” he remarked.

Specially invited guests for the lecture, entitled Medical law, Ethics and Public Legal Education — a symbiotic relationship, was President of the Commonwealth Legal Education Association and Law professor at the centre for socio-legal studies at the University of KwaZuluNatal in South Africa, David McQuoid-Mason.