This induction period has seen our cohort of new first year undergraduates out and about in London, tracking down buildings with legal significance throughout Clerkenwell, Holborn and Islington.

Students were provided with a guide listing 4 buildings in the area reasonably locally to City University London. Once they found their sites, they needed to take a photograph outside and do some basic research to answer 3 questions on each location. The final task sees them writing a legal blog by something inspired by their travels around legal London.

Found it! ‘The Cardsharps’ at the Museum of the Order of St John.

With 6 different routes (24 buildings covered!) [check one out], students visited traditional sites such as the Royal Courts of Justice, the Old Bailey and the Inns, but they also took in sites like the Tolpuddle Martyrs mural, Joe Orton’s house and El Vino’s wine bar. Statutes of Thomas Paine and John Wilkes were tracked down and churches located – St Sepulchre’s and Temple amongst them. Students even went on the trail of a very valuable Caravaggio painting at the Museum of the Order of St John, inspired by a legal dispute.

Interested in finding out more about buildings in London with a legal story? Take a look at Amy Woolfson’s excellent London Law Map. This exercise was inspired by this year’s Routledge/ALT Teaching Law with Technology Prize winner, Michael Doherty.

A big thank you to the students for throwing themselves into this activity so enthusiastically! 21 students were selected to have their blogs published on Lawbore  – take a look at their excellent posts. To see evidence of the students out and about in London check out the Flickr album.