Student pro bono awards winners revealed

The winners of the prestigious LawWorks and Attorney General’s Student Pro Bono Awards 2020 have been revealed.

The awards, sponsored by Lexis Nexis, celebrate the vital contributions to pro bono work of students and law schools. Although this year social distancing measures mean that there cannot be a ceremony hosted by the attorney general at the House of Commons, a ‘thank you’ event is planned for later in the year.

This year’s winners are:

Best contribution by a law school: BPP University

BPP operates a dedicated family law clinic in Holborn alongside existing advice clinics based in London, Manchester and Leeds, and an employment law telephone advice line which operates in all its centres. BPP also offers an enterprise clinic which provides commercial advice for start-ups and small businesses nationally.

The runners up are the School of Law, University of Leeds.

Nottingham Law School Legal Advice Centre, Nottingham Trent University were also highly commended.

Best contribution by a team of students: Plymouth Law Clinic and Red Cross partnership

The Refugee Family Reunion Law Clinic is run by the British Red Cross. Plymouth is a dispersal city for asylum seekers and, as a result, the clinic runs between 20 to 30 asylum cases at any one time. Students work with vulnerable individuals, many of whom are struggling with mental health issues and facing destitution, whilst being separated from immediate family members.

The runners up are the University of Salford.

Best new pro bono activity: Hertfordshire Law Clinic, Hertfordshire Law School

Some 115 Hertfordshire Law School students from all course levels have taken part in clinics which also offer free advice to low income individuals seeking family law advice. The clinic includes an outreach service to prisoners at HMP The Mount. The clinic also provides advice to small businesses on intellectual property/commercial law.

Attorney General Suella Braverman QC MP congratulated the winners and nominees in a video on the LawWorks website. She said: “It is a delight to mark the contribution of so many of you to our justice system. Pro bono reflects the best of our profession and I’m delighted to see so many, who are at the beginning of their training, so enthusiastic about pro bono. It’s great to see so many innovative and diverse projects which are part of these awards…on behalf of the government I want to say a huge ‘thank you’ to all of you.”

Josh Richman, senior editor of LawCareers.Net and member of this year’s awards judging panel said: “Congratulations to all of the nominees from me and everyone at LawCareers.Net. You should be incredibly proud of your pro bono contributions, which provide a vital lifeline to vulnerable individuals and communities. Without exception, your work was humbling and awe inspiring to learn about – thank you for what you do."