Profession celebrates students at LawWorks pro bono awards
updated on 26 April 2018
Students’ exceptional contributions to pro bono were honoured yesterday at the LawWorks and Attorney General Student Pro Bono Awards.
Over 200 guests attended the ceremony at the House of Commons, hosted by High Court judge Sir Robin Knowles, to acknowledge the increasingly vital role that students play in keeping the justice system functioning, following years of devastating cuts to legal aid. Some 40% of the law clinics in the LawWorks network operate through law schools and in 2016-17, 3,150 student volunteers dealt with over 18,000 enquiries from people who, in many cases, would otherwise been unable to access justice.
The winners of this year’s awards, sponsored by LexisNexis, were:
- best contribution by a law school - Plymouth Law School, Plymouth University;
- best contribution by a team of students - The Birmingham Free Legal Advice Group Coordinators (FLAG), University of Birmingham;
- best contribution by an individual student - Catherine Ruta - University of Birmingham; and
- best new pro bono activity - The Family Justice Project, Northumbria Law School, Northumbria University.
The awards were presented by the Attorney General, Jeremy Wright QC MP, who also presented Edinburgh University Free Legal Advice Centre with the Access to Justice Foundation award which recognises the work of individuals and educational bodies in promoting and supporting access to justice and pro bono services.
Finally, Nottingham Law School at Nottingham Trent University was announced as the winner of the Law School Challenge, an annual initiative that sees law schools compete to raise funds for LawWorks and the Bar Pro Bono Unit.
Wright said: “The Pro Bono Student Awards are a fantastic opportunity to acknowledge the committed and hardworking law students who have put in a huge amount of work to help increase access to justice in their communities. This year’s nominees should be extremely proud of their achievements – it is their enthusiasm and generosity which helps preserve the strong pro bono ethos in the UK’s legal profession.”
