Students and law schools make a considerable pro bono contribution, and their efforts were celebrated at the tenth LawWorks & Attorney General Student Pro Bono Awards.
The awards, on 28 April, were presented by the Attorney-General, Jeremy Wright QC MP alongside LawWorks’ chair of trustees Paul Newdick, and head of legal at LexisNexis UK & Ireland, James Harper.
Nottingham Law School Legal Advice Centre, Nottingham Trent University won in the Best Contribution by a Law School category. The Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre won Best Contribution by a Team of Students for its SPITE Project, which advises people who have had private sexual images of themselves shared as well as campaigning on the issue. Manchester University’s Legal Advice Centre won Best New Student Pro Bono Activity for its Dementia Law Clinic. Fergus Lawrie, at the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic, won Best Contribution by an Individual Student. Lawrie, who oversees 37 student advisors, organised an exchange trip with the University of Miami Health Rights Law Clinic as well as developing with Miami an interactive way of training.
Nottingham Trent Law School’s Legal Advice Centre also scooped the inaugural Access to Justice Foundation Award which recognises the work of individuals and educational bodies in promoting and supporting access to justice, and charities which provide pro bono services.
University of Law won the Law School Challenge for raising the most funds for LawWorks and the Bar Pro Bono Unit. The London School of Economics were also recognised for their efforts as runners up.
James Harper said: “LexisNexis is incredibly proud to sponsor the LawWorks and Attorney General Student Pro Bono Awards. We are committed to supporting access to justice which we believe is a fundamental human right. We congratulate all those nominated and shortlisted for their valuable contributions and we are honoured to support the innovative and vital pro bono work being delivered across the country.”
Between April 2014 and March 2015, more than 2,000 students handled more than 11,000 queries at the 70 LawWorks clinics in law schools.
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