The legal teams who acted for families of 96 Hillsborough victims received an award for outstanding achievement at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards (LALYs) this week.
More than 60 lawyers from six law firms and six sets of chambers acted in what was the longest inquest in British legal history, lasting over two years, and involving a million pages of evidence. The jury ruled in April that the fans had been unlawfully killed, and were in no way to blame for the tragedy.
Among those picking up the award was Terry Wilcox, of EAD Solicitors, who told the 500-strong audience that he could easily have been “sitting on the other side of the courtroom” as his brother was a survivor of the 1989 disaster.
Patrick Roche, of Garden Court Chambers, says: “It was a unique privilege and a pleasure to work collaboratively with all of the family teams to achieve our common goal of achieving justice for the 96. The jury's clear conclusions not only created legal history at the end of the longest inquests ever held, but delivered long overdue justice for the families of all those who were killed on that horrific day in April 1989.”
Baroness Doreen Lawrence, who presented the awards, likened the situation of the Hillsborough families to that of her own her family after her son, Stephen, was murdered in a racially motivated attack in 1993.
“It is so important to us to have support from legal aid lawyers. Without that, families like ours would never have got justice,” she said.
Ruth Bundey from Harrison Bundey, said the inquest verdict was not the end of it for the lawyers: “We look forward to prosecutions and new legislation—and real justice for the 96.”
The Hillsborough team included lawyers from Bindmans, Birnberg Peirce, Butcher & Barlow, Broudie Jackson Canter, Doughty Street Chambers, EAD Solicitors, Garden Court, Garden Court North, 1 Gray's Inn Square, Harrison Bundey, Mansfield Chambers, and 4 Paper Buildings.
The other prizes went to: Darragh Mackin, KRW Law (legal aid newcomer); Lou Crisfield, Miles & Partners (social & welfare lawyer); Baljit Bains, Wilsons Solicitors (family legal aid lawyer); Tracy Winstanley, Heaney Watson (family mediator); Elizabeth Callaghan, Dere Street Barristers (legal aid barrister): Philippa Curran, Odonnells Solicitors (mental health lawyer); Clare Jennings, Matthew Gold & Company (children's rights); Simon Creighton, Bhatt Murphy (public law lawyer); Simon Natas, Irvine Thanvi Natas Solicitors (criminal defence lawyer); Anti Trafficking & Labour Exploitation Unit (legal aid firm/not-for-profit agency); and Crowdjustice (access to justice through IT).
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