LawWorks Annual Pro Bono Awards celebrate pro bono champions
updated on 12 December 2016
The annual celebration of pro bono achievement went ahead in a ceremony on 5 December, organised by LawWorks, hosted by Allen & Overy, and sponsored by the Law Society and LexisNexis.
The awards celebrate excellence in legal pro bono undertaken by organisations and individuals, across nine categories. The winners were:
- Curtis Law Solicitors LLP – Best contribution by a small firm
- Shoosmiths LLP – Best contribution by a firm with an English regional head office
- Travers Smith – Best contribution by a firm with a London head office
- Dechert LLP – Best contribution by an international firm
- Goldman Sachs International – Best contribution by an in-house team
- Claire Curtis of Clyde & Co – Best contribution by an individual
- Frankie Boon of Ashurst – Junior Lawyers Division Pro Bono Award
- The Speakeasy, Cardiff Employment Law Clinic – The LawWorks Cymru Award
- Court of Appeal Permission Application Pro Bono Scheme and K&L Gates LLP and Pause – Most effective pro bono partnership (joint winners)
- Bob Nightingale MBE – Outstanding contribution to pro bono and the advice sector
The event was hosted by television presenter and former barrister, Clive Anderson. The master of the rolls, Sir Terence Etherton, delivered the annual lecture entitled, “Access to Justice”. He said that facilitating the entry of law students into pro bono practice would start with collaboration between universities, pro bono advice centres and law firms: “Students will have had skills training. They will be subject to professional regulation, and they should also be covered by the university or pro bono advice centre’s professional indemnity insurance. The benefit to trainees would be gaining experience commensurate to that provided by a training contract or pupillage and for an equivalent period.”
Further details and photographs of the winners can be found here.
